Ottoneu Hot Right Now: July 28, 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

Christian Encarnacion-Strand — 45 current auctions — 22.4% roster%

It wasn’t too long ago that Christian Encarnacion-Strand was a highly regarded prospect in the Reds organization. An exciting debut in 2023 turned sour after he posted a 48 wRC+ across 65 games in ‘24 and ‘25. Cincinnati dumped him to the Orioles in April and Baltimore recently recalled him to the majors a week ago. In seven games with the O’s, he’s knocked 10 hits and three home runs.

The biggest issue with Encarnacion-Strand’s profile as a prospect was a dangerously low contact rate and a high propensity to chase out of the zone. His contact rate with Cincinnati sat around 73% with a 40% chase rate. With Baltimore’s Triple-A squad, that approach was essentially unchanged — he was running a 71.9% contact rate and a 44.7% chase rate with Norfolk — and it doesn’t look like it’s any different in the big leagues. It’s only seven games to analyze but his chase rate is all the way up at 54.7%, though he’s been making more consistent contact (81.4%). I wouldn’t expect that contact rate to stay so high with such a high chase rate, and as soon as he starts swinging and missing more often, his results will start to crash.

To me, it doesn’t seem like there are any meaningful changes to his approach, which probably means he’s the same Quad-A player with power as his one carrying tool as he’s always been.

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 — 11.5 FGPts/G (last 14 days) — 13.7% roster%

I included Ty France in last week’s edition of this column. Since then, he’s collected nine hits, two doubles, and a home run. Here’s what I wrote last week and it still holds true a week later:

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.

Brent Headrick — 10.9 FGPts/IP (last 14 days) — 50.0% roster%

The Yankees bullpen has been a little shaky behind closer David Bednar and top setup guy Fernando Cruz. Enter Brent Headrick. He’s emerged as one of the best relievers in New York’s relief corps and hasn’t been pigeon-holed as a left-handed specialist. He’s worked his way into a critical setup role, bridging things before Cruz and Bednar can finish off any close game.

Headrick’s strikeout-to-walk ratio is solid, but the biggest reason why he’s seen such an improvement this year is because he’s allowed just a pair of home runs in 52 innings this season. His underlying contact metrics have improved, so it’s not just a matter of good batted ball luck; his groundball rate has increased by more than nine points and his hard hit and barrel rates have dropped significantly. You can chalk up the additional groundball contact to a new sinker and splitter he’s added to his pitch mix this year. A deeper repertoire could also explain how he’s been able to better manage the hard contact he’s allowed in the past.

Since the beginning of July, Headrick has allowed just a single run, six hits, a single walk, all while striking out 20 in just 12 innings. He’s earned four holds during this stretch. Now is the time to add him if you need relief help.

Joc Pederson — 9.2 FGPts/G (last 14 days) — 16.3% roster%

Joc Pederson has continued his hot hitting since I last wrote about him back on July 7. Since that date, he’s added 14 hits and five home runs in 12 games. After blasting a pair of home runs on Monday, his season line is up to .254/.343/.513, good for a 138 wRC+. Here’s what I had to say a few weeks ago and it still holds true today:

It wasn’t that long ago that Pederson posted a 152 wRC+ with the Diamondbacks in 2024 and all of his batted ball metrics are similar or improved this year. The issue with rostering him in fantasy baseball is his lack of positional eligibility. He’s only eligible at UTIL which means he needs to be better than whoever your best bench bat is. He was that good in ‘24, and he’s trending that way this year, but that lack of flexibility will mean that he won’t fit on a lot of rosters.

Luis Rengifo — 8.4 FGPts/G (last 14 days) — 6.4% roster%

Since being recalled by the Padres on July 10, Luis Rengifo has banged out 13 hits and two home runs in nine games. He has quickly claimed a full-time role bouncing between the infield and outfield in a lineup starved for competent hitters. Rengifo really struggled in his final year in Anaheim last season and was even worse in Milwaukee to start this year. It’s just a nine-game sample, but his batted ball peripherals look greatly improved in San Diego. Most importantly, his swing speed is up to 72 mph, a tick higher than it was earlier in the season. I wouldn’t recommend going out to grab Rengifo until he shows these improvements are for real, but if the Padres helped him figure out how to unlock a harder swing, he could be an interesting pickup for the stretch run.