Ottoneu Hot Right Now: July 21, 2026

Hot Right Now (HRN) is a weekly Ottoneu feature focused on popular players currently being auctioned or players who you should think about auctioning in your Ottoneu leagues. Even if you don’t play Ottoneu, we’ll be highlighting players you should be looking at in deeper and keeper formats. In this feature, we will break down players into two sections:

1. Current Auctions: A closer look at players being auctioned at a high rate.
2. Hot Performers: Players with a high P/G or P/IP over the last 14 days who are also rostered in 80% of leagues or less.

The RotoGraphs 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

Roch Cholowsky — 51 current auctions — 61.9% roster%
Vahn Lackey — 41 current auctions — 21.8% roster%
Jackson Flora — 39 current auctions — 17.2% roster%

It’s convenient that these three top draft picks are being auctioned so heavily because it gives me an excuse to wax about the risks of rostering recent draftees. Ottoneu seems like the perfect format to actually consider rostering these brand-new prospects — deep rosters and a salary cap give you the option to take a long view towards rebuilding your squad if that’s how you want to approach playing fantasy baseball. But even with those structures in place, rostering a recent draftee is a pretty risky bet.

Consider this: Roch Cholowsky’s current average salary in Ottoneu is $7.9. Even if you think his ETA is sometime next year — a rather aggressive timeline even for a college star — you’d be rostering him at $8.9 after his salary increases this offseason. Do you think he’ll produce nearly double-digits in value for your fantasy team right off the bat? What do you think his ceiling looks like as his salary only increases from there?

FanGraphs has a 55 FV grade on Cholowsky after being drafted, which would land him somewhere between 11th and 30th on the preseason top 100 list. Bryce Rainer also has a 55 FV grade, is nearly the same age as Cholowsky, and probably has a similar ETA to the big leagues. Rainer’s average salary in Ottoneu is $1.6. It’s not a perfect comp — Rainer was drafted out of high school and has about a year of professional experience under his belt already — but it does paint a picture of how prospects in that FV band are valued by other Ottoneu players. If I take the average salary of other similarly graded prospects at similar ages and compare them to these three recent draftees, here’s what those comps look like:

All three of the recent draftees being auctioned at a high rate are being rostered at a higher salary than their established prospect comps. Cholowsky is the big outlier — being the number one draft pick will do that — but even Lackey and Flora are outpacing similar prospects in that FV tier and age bracket. Grady Emerson hasn’t been added to the Ottoneu player universe yet because he hasn’t finalized his contract with the Rays. As soon as he signs, I’d bet he’d become a highly auctioned player, but this exercise gives you a reasonable ballpark for how to value him.

I’m probably more prospect averse than the average Ottoneu player, and I definitely understand the excitement surrounding the newest prospects in baseball. It’s also an opportunity to add top prospects to your fantasy squad because they’re all available on the waiver wire for anyone to bid on. Still, I wouldn’t pay more than $3 for any of these guys, which probably means I’m getting outbid by someone else who is much more comfortable rostering prospects.

Lane Thomas — 47 current auctions — 13.1% roster%

In the month of July, Lane Thomas is running a 195 wRC+ with four home runs in 15 games. That’s helped him push his season wRC+ up to 111, the highest it’s been in a full season in his career. Back in 2023, Thomas looked like a core piece of the Nationals lineup, posting a 28 HR/20 SB season with a 109 wRC+ and solid outfield defense. He crashed back down to earth in ‘24 and spent most of ‘25 on the short side of a platoon in Cleveland with a 48 (!) wRC+.

This return to form is built on a few key improvements to his peripherals. He’s improved his contact rate by 10 points to a career high and also cut his chase rate by a couple of points. That’s helped him boost his walk rate by three points and cut his strikeout rate to a career low. On the batted ball side of things, his contact quality is slightly improved and he’s elevating and pulling the ball much more often when he makes contact. These are all small changes that add up to a big bounce back season for Thomas.

With the Royals crashing out of the AL playoff picture, it’s pretty likely Thomas will have a new home in the next few weeks as the team looks to trade anyone that isn’t part of the future in Kansas City. Thomas’s value could change dramatically depending on where he ends up, especially if he finds himself on the short side of a platoon again. I think it’s worth it to try to add him now if you’re desperate for an outfielder, but be aware of his potentially fluctuating future.

Hot Performers
Players with a high P/G or P/IP over the last 14 days rostered in 80% of leagues or less.

Ty France — 8.1 FGPts/G (last 14 days) — 1.7% roster%

Ty France has been one of the hottest hitters in baseball over the last week; he’s blasted five home runs over his last six games. In July, he’s batting .320/.368/.700 (a 184 wRC+) with six multi-hit games. After starring for the Mariners a few years ago, he’s bounced around four different organizations these past two years. He latched on with the Padres this year and has slowly worked his way into a mostly full-time role as their first baseman.

Even when he was pounding the ball in Seattle, his batted ball peripherals always lagged behind his actual production on the field. A swing geared for spraying line drives and a low strikeout rate helped him make the most of his mediocre contact quality. This year, he’s posting career-bests in hard hit rate and barrel rate and his swing speed is a tick higher than it has been. He’s also adjusted his batted ball profile to pull the ball in the air a little more often. He’s sacrificed his strikeout rate to produce all that hard contact, but that trade off has worked out so far.

Like Thomas above, France could be on the move at the trade deadline, though the Padres might just hold everyone and see if they can sneak into the NL Wild Card. There aren’t many landing spots where France would unseat an incumbent first baseman or designated hitter on a contending team, so from a fantasy perspective, it’s probably best if he stays in San Diego this summer.

Keider Montero — 7.4 FGPts/IP (last 14 days) — 58.7% roster%
Chad Patrick — 7.1 FGPts/IP (last 14 days) — 64.0% roster%

I lumped these two guys together because they’re currently playing similar roles for their respective ballclubs. I even wrote about Keider Montero earlier this month in this column. In five relief appearances since being bumped from the starting rotation, he’s posted a 2.08 ERA and a 2.10 FIP in 13 innings with a single three-inning save. All five of his appearances have been multi-inning affairs. It’s largely the same story for Chad Patrick. This month, he’s made six relief appearances — four of them covering multiple innings — with a 1.64 ERA and a 2.74 FIP and two holds.

It can be hard to roster these kinds of bulk relievers in Ottoneu because it’s hard to predict when they’ll get their opportunities and they’re usually spending a few days recovering from their longer outings. Earning a handful of points from these guys while they’re pitching out of the bullpen is a nice bonus, but I’m keeping both of these guys on my watchlist because I’d want to add them to my roster if they ever get another look in the starting rotation. (And it looks like Montero is getting that opportunity with a scheduled start on Wednesday.)