Nyjer Morgan, Eric Young, Jr: NL Outfielders

These speedy outfielder dudes should be rostered in leagues in which they should be rostered, know what I mean?

Nyjer Morgan (Yahoo 11% owned, ESPN 7.1% owned)
Say what? What did Nyjer Morgan do to you to deserve these low ownership rates? Yes, he’s a little… excitable. Yes, he has an inflated BABIP (.465) that will return to earth. Yes, he has some plate discipline problems (4.4% BB, 25.4% K). Yes, this power he’s showing right now (.237 ISO) is not real when looked at in the context of his career numbers (.084 ISO). Oh, and yes, he’s a lefty with a poor platoon split so far in his career (.574 career OPS versus LHP in 300 at-bats) that might be platooned with Carlos Gomez in the outfield (.663 OPS versus LHP in 467 at-bats). All those things are true. Also true are the facts that Morgan has good speed. He has a strong enough glove to ignore some of his offensive faults. And Morgan is no offensive sinkhole like Gomez. Lastly, being able to play righties is much more important than playing lefties. There are more of them! Morgan should easily out-produce his ZIPS projection for plate appearances the rest of the way (287 plate appearances), given that two-thirds of the season remains and he should start in at least two-thirds of those games. Even with his plate discipline problems, Morgan mostly puts the ball on the ground and uses his speed to put up decent batting averages. Expect him to manage at least .280 in that category. This is one of those flawed real-life players that should be owned in most leagues that have twelve or more teams.

Eric Young Jr. (Yahoo 6% owned, ESPN 6.6% owned)
Amid rumors of a possible demotion headed his way, Dexter Fowler was instead disabled this weekend. A strained left abdominal muscle means that he’ll be out at least two weeks and a couple of interesting names will get some burn. First in line is Eric Young Jr, who has the wheels of his father but maybe not the infield glove. Now, with center field open, he’ll likely play every day and rack up the steals. His lack of power and line drives, and average-ish strikeout rate, mean that he won’t likely have a batting average even as nice as Nyjer Morgan’s, so he’s more of a deep-leaguer. The second-base eligibility is icing on the cake. Keep an eye out for Charlie Blackmon, too. He’s raking in the minor leagues (.346/.402/.582) and is a long-time NERD high-scorer. He’s probably more of a natural center fielder, and the team could play both him and Young if they want to avoid playing Ty Wigginton or Jonathan Herrera on any given day.