Luke Voit & Adam Engel: Deep League Wire

In just a couple of days, rosters will expand, new faces will be recalled, and you’ll have a slew of choices for your deep league teams. But until that time, you’re still stuck with the same group of mehs. Here are two recommendations.

Luke Voit | 1B NYY | CBS 10% Owned

It kills me to include Voit here as his opportunity comes at the expense of one of my favorite targets at the beginning of the season, Greg Bird. Although he started the season late because of injury once again, Bird has had 288 plate appearances to show the form that excited us last September, and he’s done absolutely nothing with them. With the Yankees looking forward to the playoffs, they can’t afford to keep waiting around for Bird. So, they acquired Voit before the non-waiver trade deadline and he’s been mashing since his recall.

The 27-year-old is too old to be considered a prospect and he obviously won’t maintain a HR/FB rate above 30%. Heck, he’s never even posted a mark above 15% during any stint in his professional career. But, he’s in an excellent lineup, in a good home park, and has the chance to seize the first base job away from Bird…as long as he keeps hitting, of course. The good news is he doesn’t strike out at an alarming rate, and will take a walk.

He’s not going to be a savior or come close to keeping this pace up, but the potential every day first baseman for the Yankees needs to be owned in deep leagues, at the very least.

Adam Engel | OF CHW | 2% Owned

It’s hard to believe that Engel has essentially held the starting center field job for the White Sox all season, despite posting a putrid .276 wOBA and only delivering about average defense. But, it’s happened, and the Sox obviously don’t have any real alternatives to turn to, otherwise they would have already. His overall season like isn’t for the faint of heart, but he’s shown some better pop in the past, and even getting on base just 28% of the time has yielded 14 steals in 20 attempts. Those steals are valuable in deep leagues, even if they don’t come with much else.

Of course, Engel is an extremely flawed hitter. For one, he rarely walks, which is a problem when you possess below average power and strike out at a worse than average clip, supported by an inflated SwStk%. So just getting on base has been a struggle. And two, even when he does put the ball in play, too many of them have been fly balls. Of those fly balls, too many have been pop-ups. One wonders then how he has managed a .320 BABIP. There’s no way he owns legit .320 BABIP skills, so don’t think that his batting average might be neutral for your deep league team. The luck could continue, sure, but it’s not the favorite here.

So basically, you’re rostering Engel if you need steals and for the fact that he does start on most days. Don’t be surprised if he hits a couple of more homers the rest of the way, but it’s likely all you’ll be getting is a handful of steals.