Ottoneu Hot Right Now: August 6, 2025

The 2025 version of Hot Right Now will typically include three sections:

1. Current Auctions: A closer look at players being auctioned at a high rate.
2. Roster Adds: Analysis of players with high add% changes.
3. Hot Performers: Players with a high P/G or P/IP in recent weeks.

The FanGraphs Ottoneu team plans to run this feature weekly, updating fantasy managers on the biggest movers in Ottoneu leagues with an analysis of how these players could or could not help your roster.

Current Auctions

Jakob Marsee – 52 current auctions

To say Jakob Marsee is off to a hot start to his MLB career is an understatement. Through 17 PA entering play today, he has 6 H (including a HR, a 3B, and 3 2B), plus 5 BB. If you want to quibble with anything, you could point to the 5 K – nearly a 30% K-rate – but do you really want to quibble?

Even under the hood, the barrel rate is good (two barrels!) and the HH% is absurd and the EV is excellent. Again you could look at one thing – the Max EV of 105.7 – and maybe ask questions, but it’s not really much to be concerned about.

But it was only a month ago that Eric Longenhagen ranked him as the 27th best prospect in the Marlins org and said he was on the “4th/5th OF line.” If his defense holds up in CF, he could find himself as a regular but that isn’t a guarantee. But for now, he is getting a real shot.

From a fantasy perspective, Marsee is more speed than power. He gets on a base at a high clip thanks to consistently high walk rates, but striking out just above 20% of the time, and without much power, he is unlikely to post big averages. The power is the biggest question mark especially for Ottoneu. In 5×5 leagues, his speed is a carrying skill, as he has consistently hovered around 50 SB per year, but he might struggle to get to 15 HR against MLB pitching.

Longenhagen compared him to Jake McCarthy, but I think there is a bit more to like here for fantasy. McCarthy has higher end Max EV, but doesn’t get into the top of his exit velos as often and Marsee reportedly has more loft in his swing. Plus the walk rate gives him a higher floor.

All of that is enough to spend a couple bucks giving him a look and making another decision either when he goes cold or in the off-season.

Warming Bernabel – 43 current auctions

All the intro about Marsee applies to Bernabel. Great start, just in more than 2x as many PA. The differencees: He isn’t walking, but he isn’t striking out either. He isn’t making as much hard contact. He also doesn’t have Marsee’s speed.

But I am definitely less interested in Bernabel than Marsee. The ability to put the ball in play is great, and will play up in Coors, but I’ll take Marsee’s K’s given they come with a bunch of walks, as well.

Bernabel looks a bit, to me, like a poor man’s Luis Arraez. He will never match Arraez’s K-rates, but he is going to have to survive by putting the ball in play and getting high BABIPs, because he isn’t going to draw walks or hit for power. His home park will make that easier, but it doesn’t feel sustainable to me.

Carson Benge – 41 current auctions

Benge has been getting some hype in the Ottoneu Slack, and I think that is playing a role in this surge to new roster rate heights.

Benge was a 2024 first-round pick by the Mets and has put up an excellent 2025 season across High-A and Double-A, hitting 12 HR with a .438 wOBA and 19 SB. He’s starting to make his way up top 100 lists and given he was a college draftee and is already handling the high minors, there is good reason to think he could be up next year. Where there is space for him is to be determined, but the Mets just traded to put Cedric Mullins in CF and he’s a free agent after the season. Benge looks like he should be able to play CF at the MLB level so that spot feels like it is there for him to take.

Benge isn’t going to carry your team in power or speed, but he will help in both areas. Good K-rates and good BB-rates suggest he’ll be a useful player across the board. He strikes me as the type of guy who we sometimes think of as better for real life than fantasy – contributes in all categories, but great in none, while playing a premium defensive position that we don’t care about in our world.

But those types play up in Ottoneu points leagues and 4×4 leagues, and I think that could be true for Benge. He’s very much a worthwhile stash.

Roster Adds

JoJo Romero – Add% Change (7 Days) – 42.2%

There isn’t much to say here. Romero is a solid RP with an inconsistent track record having a very good season who has been thrust into the closers role after the trade deadline. That’ll boost his value in all but 4×4 leagues and make him a must-roster in 5×5. So yeah, if you need pen help, not a bad place to look.

Troy Melton – Add% Change (7 Days) – 37.0%

With the Tigers trade deadline additions, Melton has been pushed to the pen. Pending injury recoveries, he could be next in line to start again, but for now, he needs to be looked at as a reliever/prospect stash.

And that has value! Especially for rebuilding teams looking to maintain a viable roster, including a bullpen, Melton both immediately fills a need and serves to provide long-term potential value.

And he is really interesting, even if you are not rebuilding. Stuff+ looks good, the minor league numbers were excellent, and there is a path to him providing value today, even while we wait to see if he can emerge as a rotation piece for the future. He’s a good stash.

Hot Performers

Stats reflect the last 14 days for both hitters and pitchers. Players selected are usually rostered at lower levels.

Andrew Vaughn – 10.4 P/G

I was all set to ignore Vaughn – he has been widely added and would have come up next had I gone one spot deeper in the previous section – but I can’t ignore a guy who shows up on that list AND this one. He’s been on fire since coming to Milwaukee and while his quality of contact isn’t a ton better, he is pulling the ball a bit more and going oppo a LOT less and that is good to see. Add in a big improvement in chase rate, and you have some real reasons to buy in and see if this lasts.