Hitters to Watch
Pardon the brief intro, but I’m coming to you live from Disney World! I wanted to give you a few guys to look for on your waiver wires this weekend!
Mike Tauchman OF – NYY | 141 wRC+
With the absurd number of injuries that have struck the Yankees, it’s kind of surprising that Tauchman is just now breaking through. He got some playing time in April, but couldn’t make it happen, posting just a .177/.282/.387 line as a .211 BABIP held him back. He has become a lineup staple since the All-Star break and he’s absolutely raking. He has a .413/.471/.825 line with 6 HR and 4 SB in 70 PA and I’m sure Alex Chamberlain’s wife is tired of hearing about his crush’s numbers every night! With Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Hicks on the IL, Tauchman’s playing time should be solidified for the foreseeable future. Buy!
Willie Calhoun OF – TEX | 125 wRC+
Calhoun has bounced up and down from Triple-A throughout the season, but he should finally stick for the remainder of the year. Since returning on July 26th, he’s gone off in a 10-game run including a .325/.357/.775 line with 4 HR in 42 PA. The 24-year old kinda sleepwalked through last year, making his frustrations about being in Triple-A known, but he hasn’t made those same mistakes this year. He’s crushed it while in Triple-A (138 wRC+) and made the most of his limited MLB samples prior to this recent call up (101 wRC+ in 99 PA). Calhoun should be a power/AVG asset the rest of the way while sitting in the middle of the lineup.
Aristides Aquino OF – CIN | 244 wRC+
Aquino probably deserved more attention for hitting 28 HR in 78 games at Triple-A, but the bouncy ball has undercut a lot of interesting seasons as it’s obviously a key factor. Aquino has displayed power throughout his minor league career, but this is another level with a .337 ISO behind those 28 dingers. He has hit the ground running with the Reds, smacking 3 homers and posting a filthy .429/.455/.905 line in his 22 PA. When Yasiel Puig was dealt, attention turned to Phillip Ervin possibly nabbing the bulk of that playing time, but Aquino has usurped the role and will be a fixture in RF (and the middle of the order) if he continues to show top shelf power.
Anthony Santander OF – BAL | 118 wRC+
Santander got going just before the All-Star break and has maintained that momentum since, posting a .312/.345/.541 line with 8 HR in 169 PA since June 21st. He has been rewarded by ascending the lineup and locking into the #3 spot over the last few weeks. The switch-hitting former Rule 5 pick never really got a chance to finish developing in the minors because of that Rule 5 status so he’s essentially learned on the job. It’s not a particularly dynamic profile, but there is some juice here for deeper leagues, especially those in need of volume since there’s no reason he won’t remain in the heart of lineup the rest of the season.
Ryan Goins 2B, 3B, SS – CWS | 144 wRC+
Yes, that Ryan Goins. He only has 81 MLB PA this year, but he also posted a 139 wRC+ in 316 PA at Triple-A thanks to a .322 AVG and 10 HR. The one-time glove-only utility infielder has found some punch in his bat at age-31 thanks to work at Triple-A Charlotte with former MLBer Frank Menechino. Goins is elevating and hitting the ball harder than ever. His 36% flyball is 6 points better than his career mark while his 35% hard-hit rate is well above the 28% clip he had each of the last three seasons in a part-time role with Toronto and Kansas City.
J.D. Davis 3B, OF – NYM | 133 wRC+
Once relegated to a lefty-masher role, Davis has been installed as the full-time leftfielder since Robinson Cano’s injury (which moved Jeff McNeil from LF to 2B) and he’s running with it. He has started 14 of his last 17 games and he’s hitting .412/.492/.706 with 3 HR and even a chip-in stolen base. Davis absolutely crushes the ball regularly. Since July 20th (the start of that 17-game run), he has a 55% hard-hit rate and just an 8% soft-hit rate.
Jon Berti 2B, 3B – MIA | 117 wRC+
Berti was recalled on July 31st and he’s hit a cool .412 with 3 SB in 34 PA. He’s batted 1st or 2nd in each of the seven games he’s started and he could add more positional flexibility the rest of the way. In addition to qualifying at 2B and 3B in most leagues, he’s been playing SS and OF this year.
Jeff McNeil is playing mostly RF. He’ll move to LF when Lagares goes to CF and Conforto moves to RF. That means Davis will sit sometimes with a lead.
Yes, Davis frequently gets removed for defense after his third at bad.
Teams are so weird removing someone for defense when more balls are put in play in the early innings. I get they don’t want to burn warm bodies, but you’d figure a hitter should enter early in the game, not later. The Mets have good pitching, so they don’t need to use bulk guys, but I would think the ideal sort of set up, would be you have your defensive liability bat for your opener when he comes to the plate. Franmil Reyes would of been perfect for this, then double switch your bad defense offensive guy out.
There is no such thing as Early Inning Pressure Situation.
Doesn’t matter. It has nothing to do with pressure.
My bad, we had him at 2B on Roster Resource and I was going off that. I know that Panik is there now, too, so he’ll take 2B for now
A lot of these guys are not going to be available in any competitive league. That is the issue just looking at % as they don’t encompass all leagues. For example, in the 15 Yahoo pro leagues I am in, Aquino is available in 0 of them, despite being only 47% owned. In response to Tauchman, I wonder what happens when Stanton and Hicks return. Both are getting playing time, obviously, but he has hit so well that you cannot expect him to stop playing, right? I’d imagine Gardner is the one losing the everyday role, but I’ve been wrong before.
I think the issue is that most non-money leagues (and some money ones) are filled with a lot of idiots and/or absentee owners, especially this time in the season. Unfortunately, there is really no way for Paul or anyone else to know what the ownership is like in “active” leagues. I’m not sure there is any real solution, sadly.
You are right. Didn’t mean Paul, just in general.
I imagine there is a way to further flag “active leagues”, by looking at # of transactions, filtering out leagues with a high % of teams with no recent transactions, etc?
Every article needs to be evaluated within the context of one’s own situation. I’m on the opposite end of the spectrum with a relatively shallow 10 teamer. Until very recently, all these guys were available on the wire. I have no use for articles like Podhorzer’s Deep Dive column since nobody in my league would ever roster any of those guys, but I don’t whine about them.
I play in competitive leagues in the NFBC landscape (so there’s $ behind them) and at least 2 of these guys were available in every one of my leagues (12- and 15-teamers in question). I understand some of y’all play really deep leagues where maybe only one or even perhaps none of these guys were available, but I felt this cast a wide enough net for general population.
Just putting a bow on it re: NFBC, here’s how many leagues these guys were picked up in across the entire NFBC universe:
Aquino – 350 (#1 pickup of the week)
Tauchman – 229 (#2)
Berti – 198 (#4)
Davis – 156 (#6)
Santander – 21 (a mid-level pickup, his big week was 7/28 when he was 4th-most in 167 lgs)
Goins – 5 (still available in each of my leagues)
Calhoun – 4 (he was definitely a “Last Chance Saloon” kinda guy, mostly intended for 8- and 10-teamers)
Nobody expects every single player listed to be available in every single league. And most of the guys in the article were actually available in the majority of YPros. Those leagues are pretty shallow
Playing in AL or NL only leagues, many of these articles have little relevance. Guys like Tauchman, Calhoun, and Santander are LOOOOONG gone. Might be useful to have a portion of the site content geared towards AL or NL only audiences.
What percentage of leagues are Only leagues?
I play in 4 out of 4 “only” leagues
Thanks Paul for posting from Disney. Seeing Ryan Goins on the list does seem ‘goofy’ but he does belong right now.
What kind of Mickey Mouse operation are you running here? I don’t mean to be Cruella, but your ranging Jafar and wide, picking Daisies instead of laying Lilo and Stitching together some good articles! Jiminy Cricket, don’t get Grumpy just get someone Elsa to do it!
We can add this to the dad joke hall of fame! Nice work Trotter76.
looooool well done
Aaron Judge is on the dl?
Nice call on Aquino, who hit 3 HR last night, in just his 10th major league game. His SLG is now 1.250, and wRC+ 332.
Aquino’s -1.2 Fld in 10 games lines up with his physical presentation haha get a DH NL
His speed score is right next to Puig, and above guys like Dee Gordon, Pollock, Eaton, etc. He stole a fair amount of bases in minors, and looks to be quite fast. Maybe just bad defense or small sample size, but his physical presentation doesn’t look like a bad D guy.
I thought he looked like a scarecrow trying to run
True, but a fast scarecrow:)