I Don’t Know on Third: Chase Headley and Trevor Plouffe

Despite my deep interest (obsession) with baseball, the end of the season always seems to bring a moment or two where I look at the final line of a player and think, really? When it’s just the end of May and players have a handful of home runs or a steals or RBI, you name it, it’s not always obvious that they’re actually producing at a fairly solid clip. Two players whose names aren’t new to anyone kind of fit this description right now — and are widely available in most standard formats: Chase Headley and Trevor Plouffe.

Headley obviously isn’t a world beater, he’s not going to single handedly win your fantasy league, but what he can do is at least contribute nicely across three categories, and it’s not out of the question he could pitch in with seven or eight steals. Right now, Headley has more RBI than guys like Mike Moustakas, Adrian Beltre, and Pablo Sandoval. He has more home runs than Evan Longoria. He’s hanging in there with a .253 batting average and a BABIP of .293, well below his career rate of .329.

Now, you might have Josh Donaldson or Todd Frazier and if so, well bully for you — but many of us are scrambling for a third baseman, or worse, that corner infield slot, and when you look up at the end of the season and Chase Headley posts 18 home runs, 75 runs, 75 RBI while hitting .255, you might wonder why you didn’t just run him out there on a consistent basis. And a cursory glance at Yahoo! and ESPN leagues, it appears that he’s widely available, with ownership in the 20 and 30 percent range.

Plouffe (\ploof\) has even lower ownership rates in Yahoo, and he’s basically on pace to be Headley with a few more home runs, fewer stolen bases, but a good chance to hit for 15-20 points higher in batting average. He’s now a staple in the cleanup slot in the Twins order, after starting the season back in the 6th slot — so his opportunity for RBI couldn’t be better. Plouffe didn’t start the season terribly well, but in May he’s hit .296/.376/.543 with four home runs, six doubles, and 18 RBI — all with a .339 BABIP, which isn’t otherworldly.

He’s about on pace for roughly 20 home runs, 70 runs scored and 80 RBI while hitting about .265 or so — and that’s not a far cry from what projection systems were spitting out for a guy like Kyle Seager coming into the season. Now I’m not saying that Trevor Plouffe will outpace Seager offensively, but the point is — if you were targeting a guy like Seager entering the season, you can pretty much have those counting stats for free if you want ’em in Plouffe.