No, Really, Add Yuniesky Betancourt
Let me preface this by saying that Yuniesky Betancourt is not a good player. He’s been worth 2.8 WAR in 3475 plate appearances. That’s horrendous. In purely fantasy terms he’s never been particularly good either. He doesn’t hit for power, or run, or hit for a high average, or get on base. But, because he can play shortstop, not very well mind you, teams have given him over 500 plate appearances a season five years running.
He began this season just like any other, i.e. badly. In May he hit .176/.200/.289. Things started to come around in June as his OPS for the month ended at .690. Then it was summer time and Yuni was livin’ easy. He had a great July, for him, hitting .299 with a .752 OPS and 13 runs and 13 RBI. He’s carried that over into July as well as his .953 OPS would attest. To make it simple, over the last 30 days he’s hit .380 with 3 HR, 20 RBI and even 2 SB. Only four other shortstops have been better than Yuni over that time: Troy Tulowitzki, Jimmy Rollins, Asdrubal Cabrera and J.J. Hardy. Those four are owned in over 70 percent of leagues while our man Yuni sits at just 28 percent. He’s hit so well that even noted fantasy writer Jason Collette traded Jason Motte for him a few weeks ago.
We all know that the shortstop position is as shallow as a kiddie pool. Any unexpected production is welcomed with open arms. He’s not likely to keep this up until the rest of the season, but if you have a void at shortstop, or own a slumping player like Elvis Andrus or Alexei Ramirez, it’s worth overlooking the name and trying to cash in on the hot streak while you can. Another player in a similar situation to Yuni’s is Cliff Pennington. He’s owned in just seven percent of leagues but has hit .342/2HR/13RBI/2SB over the past month. Unlike Betancourt he’s been a good hitter relative to his position in his short career, so it may be more than a fluke.
Betancourt may not get many more hot streaks like this. Do him a favor and pick him up. He’s been a punching bag for so long that I’m sure he’d appreciate seeing his ownership percentage tick up over the 30% barrier.
Erik writes for DraysBay and has also written for Bloomberg Sports. Follow him on Twitter @ehahmann.
rotographs credibility ruined
Hahmann already took care of that with his HanRam fiasco. How in the fuck is this guy allowed to write about baseball in any professional capacity
No way. I would rather have Stephen Drew on my team right now.
While you’re at it, go pick up Willie Bloomquist who has a line of .333/6R/HR/5BI over the past week. And remember to have fun while you are chasing your tail.
I added him while Reyes is down. Working out well so far!
I don’t disagree with anything you write, but the Fan in Fantasy tells me it’d be impossible to root for and respect my team if I got that guy. Its like a Clubhouse Cancer in Roto.
This August run, which is what makes his numbers look good, is fueled by a .455BABIP. He is walking less (2.4%!) and striking out more. Why should we predict him to be any better going forward than we thought he would be a month ago?
Betancourt or Eduardo Nunez until Hanram returns?
I’d probably go with Yuni. ARod is coming back in less than a week so Nunez could see less playing time.
Which one is worth having, of these three?
David Hernandez
Rex Brothers
Vinnie Pestano
Hernandez would be my choice.
This article is really terrible. It presupposes that hot streaks are predictive, and that its worth running out and grabbing person because they’re hot, despite the fact that we have no idea whether they’ll continue to be hot. Where’s the proper analysis looking at sustainability? At true talent levels? A retrospective that he has been good recently is useful, but the idea that because he’s had a streak we should automatically look at going and getting him is crazy.
I agree with this article. On the season Yuni is hitting .270, which won’t kill you (especially as a shortstop) with 8 HRs and 4 SBs. That isn’t so bad. Erik isn’t telling you to pick him up in a 12 team league, but in deeper leagues he isn’t a bad option. Yes, his BB rate is low, but so is his K rate. In both 2007 and 2008 he had 36 and 38 doubles, which is pretty good.
Luis Soho FTW!!!
Yuni hit decently in KC last year and should be better in than that in hitter friendly miller park.
Hopefully your league doesn’t have a scoring system for UZR
I’ve been trying to sell my opponents that title for years, can’t seem to keep a straight face throughout though
Betancourt liked this story so much, he hit a home run today.
I think it’s silly how some of you commenters find the suggestion to add Betancourt so appaling. Sure, in real life Betancourt is a bad shortstop. But in the fantasy world, where only offense counts, he has some value at the weak shortstop position. I just took this articles advice and added him to fill in for An injured Hanley Ramirez. When I checked the waiver wire, Betancourt leads all waiver wire shortstops with 51 RBI. He is 2nd on the list with 9 HR. So he is likely to give you some counting statistics. Betancourt typically bats 6 or 7 in a potent Mileaukee lineup. If you look at his splits you’ll see that he has typically hit better in the 2nd half. As a brewer fan I understand the distaste for Betancourt. As a fantasy owner I say go with him as a short term solution at SS. Your other waiver choices are likely Darwin Barney, Omar infante, Alex Gonzalez … Whatever
It’s not the suggestion that rankles – it’s the poor supporting analysis. This is Yahoo-level work, not Fangraphs-level. I’d absolutely love the suggestion of adding Yuni if it was supported by something suggesting his recent production was sustainable – i.e. more than “he’s hot”. Batted ball data, plate discipline data, really anything even if a very small sample. Picking up overlooked players who are playing below their true talent level is a key step towards winning your fantasy league; chasing players on “hot streaks” is a sure way to lose.
The point is that the idea that he should be added based on everything he’s already done and not what he should do in the future flies in the face of what this site sells every day.
We should play Betancourt over Alexei and Andrus so we can enjoy the ride of Yuni regressing to the (crappy) mean while players that have already proven they are good players sit on the bench? It’s silly.
How’s that Ynui add workin out for ya this week?