More 2nd Basemen Making an Impact : Herrera, Nix and Getz

by
April 20, 2011

Last week I looked at a few 2B that were getting more playing time than expected when the season began. I have continue on this week looking at 3 more 2B that weren’t expected to have much of an impact this season.

Jonathan Herrera: 39 PA/0.359 AVG/1 HR/4 SB – 36% owned – The 26 year old Herrera has been a pleasant surprise this season for the Rockies. Even though he didn’t start the season at 2nd base, he has only been benched twice since starting in game six and has taken advantage of the situation.

He currently has a slash line of 0.359/0.510/0.513. Along with getting on base half the time, he is showing some of his speed by swiping 4 SBs so far this season. Also, he is a nice source of runs, 10 in just 12 games played. The amount of runs scored should not really be a surprise for someone getting on base 1/2 of the time and has CarGo, Tulo and Helton hitting after him.

There is no way that he is going to continue to get on base at his current clip, but if he ends up batting 0.300, with 100 runs and 20 SBs, he may just be one of the top fantasy steals of the year.

Jayson Nix: 42 PA/0.238 AVG/2 HR/3 SB – 3% owned – Nix is qualified at second base, but is getting all his playing time this season at 3B. He is doing OK. The 28 year old currently has a slash line of 0.238/0.360/0.429 to go along with 2 home runs and 3 stolen bases. His 0.238 may look low, but it is actually a career high for him which is being helped by a career high BABIP of 0.308.

His major problem has been that he has struck every third time he come to the plate. He may regress a bit to his lifetime rate of striking out 1/4th of the time. His walk rate of 16% has help his baseball value, but for fantasy leagues that use AVG, those walks are of no help. Toronto has now placed him at the bottom of the lineup in 6 of the last 8 games, so he will have less at bats and chances to score or drive in runs.

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Right now Nix looks like an replacement level option at 2nd base in deep or AL only leagues.

Chris Getz: 57 PA/0.263 AVG/0 HR/2 SB – 2% owned – Getz has started all but 2 games at 2nd base for the Royals this season. Getz is mainly known for his defense and that is why he has been playing quite a bit. He has little fantasy value though. He will probably hit around 0.260 and generate no home runs. He does steal a few bases and since he is usually in the 1st or 2nd spot in the lineup, he may score a few runs this season.

Another problem is that his playing time is not assured. The Royals right now have Getz, Aviles and Betemit swapping between 2nd and 3rd base. Getz started the season hot compared to Aviles, so he has gotten more playing time recently. Getz has sense cooled off, so Aviles may be seeing more time at second. Betemit and his 1.010 OPS looks entrenched at 3B for now. This situation becomes even more jumbled once the Royals call up top prospect Mike Moustakas to play 3B.

Right now Getz is a possible option at 2nd base in deep or AL only leagues for owners that are needing some SB help.





 

Jeff, one of the authors of the fantasy baseball guide,The Process, writes for RotoGraphs, The Hardball Times, Rotowire, Baseball America, and BaseballHQ. He has been nominated for two SABR Analytics Research Award for Contemporary Analysis and won it in 2013 in tandem with Bill Petti. He has won four FSWA Awards including on for his Mining the News series. He's won Tout Wars three times, LABR twice, and got his first NFBC Main Event win in 2021. Follow him on Twitter @jeffwzimmerman.

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teddy ballgame
14 years ago

Let’s be realistic here – there’s no way Chris Getz is available in AL-only leagues.

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Jim
14 years ago
Reply to  teddy ballgame

Very true. Also, to be realistic, it’s only Aviles and Betemit that are playing 3B for the Royals, not Getz. So, no one should be picking up Getz in the hopes of having someone who can play 2B and 3B.

(Basically, Aviles will start at 2B when they want to give Getz a day off, and he’ll start at 3B when they give Betemit a day off. They may even use Aviles at SS to spell Escobar now and then. My guess is that the Royals may even move Getz later this season to a contender needing a reserve IF and just put Aviles back at 2B full-time, but that has little to do with fantasy baseball, so I’ll end here.) 😉

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