Ottoneu Hot Right Now: July 30, 2025
The 2025 version of Hot Right Now will typically include three sections:
- Current Auctions: A closer look at players being auctioned at a high rate.
- Roster Adds: Analysis of players with high add% changes.
- 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
Kade Anderson – 45 current auctions
In Eric Longenhagen’s recent Pre-Deadline Top 100 Prospects Update, Anderson was listed in the “Big League-Ready Mid-Rotation Starters with Risk” section, and Longenhagen wrote:
This contingent includes the 50 FV pitchers whose long-term ceiling could be bigger than that grade. All of these guys could move into the 55 FV tier during the next few months if they continue to throw strikes. Obviously, Anderson’s timeline for a move into the 55s is more April/May of next year, as it’s unlikely he’ll pitch again in 2025.
Thanks to our recently added college stats leaderboards, you can see that Kade is at the tippy-top with some impressive college stats. The Seattle Mariners noticed, too, and drafted Anderson with the third overall pick out of LSU. An update to The Board places Anderson as the 10th highest-ranked pitcher. He is a great addition for teams in Ottoneu leagues looking to stockpile prospects or for those in a rebuild.
Alex Freeland – 37 current auctions
Taken in the third round of the 2022 MLB Draft by the Dodgers, Freeland was listed as a “Power Bats with Hit Tool Risk” in Longenhagen’s Prospect Update referenced above. He’s hit 12 home runs and stolen 17 bags in AAA this season, and has been called up to the big league squad to show what he can do. Hyeseong Kim 김혜성 김혜성 was placed on the IL with a shoulder injury, and Enrique Hernández remains out with an elbow injury. Adding Freeland may be a long-term play with some frustration, as it doesn’t seem like there’s room for him to stick in the big-league lineup. Still, he’s proven himself as a power hitter who takes his walks in the minor leagues.
Liam Doyle – 34 current auctions
Doyle was the fifth overall pick in this year’s draft, and the Cardinals selected a pitcher who we now list in the “55 FV Prospects” bucket. Michael Baumann wrote a great piece during draft week, Jamie Arnold vs. Liam Doyle: Fast-Moving College Lefties Go Electric, in which he noted Doyle’s evolution as a college pitcher and his atypical “looks”:
Doyle and Arnold are a little weird. They’re small, they don’t have prototypical arm actions. You don’t have to know a thing about pitching to understand why Doyle can climb the ladder so effectively with his fastball, or how Arnold can make guys fall over swinging at a slider in the opposite batter’s box. But it’s not what Skenes, or Cole, or even Chase Burns, looks like on the mound.
Can you sneak him onto your roster and wait for however long it takes for the Cardinals to get him major-league ready? It could be a while.
Roster Adds
Mickey Moniak – Add% Change (7 Days) – 19.9%
Moniak was red hot in June, when he slashed .300/.364/.760 in 16 games (55 PAs), even if his K% was a high 29.1%. So far in 19 July games (65 PAs), he’s backed it up with a .369/.408/.692 slash line and a lowered 19.7% K%. The 27-year-old journeyman is having a career year. His current wOBA (.360), K% (24.1%), Z-Contact% (85.2%), and HardHit% (46.5%) all sit as career bests. He has tremendously improved his ability to hit fastballs, as indicated by a career-high pVal and batting average as well as a career-low SwStr% (negating the 33 pitches he saw in 2020). Last year with the Angels, he finally got the chance to play regularly, though he only recorded 124 games. This year with the Rockies, he’s on pace to match that mark. That’s mostly because his career batting average against lefties is .185 (.248 vs R). RosterResource lists him in a platoon, but if you can keep an eye on matchups and move him into the lineup against righties, Moniak has real value for contenders at this point in the season.
Brice Matthews – Add% Change (7 Days) – 16.8%
The 23-year-old second baseman made his major league debut on July 11th and has accumulated 40 plate appearances since. Let’s get the bad stuff out of the way first; he’s striking out 45.0% of the time, is making contact with the ball in the zone 64.6% of the time, and four-seam fastballs seem to be his kryptonite. Still, he’s barreled the ball up 26.3% of the time and has managed to hit three home runs. In his mid-July prospect report write-up, James Fegan wrote:
Matthews is a special all-around athlete with electric bat speed that produces exit velos above the major league average out of a schmedium frame. But despite the level plane of his swing path, Matthews is still swinging under high fastballs at a truly prodigious rate and doesn’t elevate the ball enough to wring out the full rewards when he does make contact.
In 73 AAA games before his debut, he was able to hit .283, even with a K% over 30%. However, it seems that big league pitching and defense have taken away those “fall in for a hit” opportunities. If you’re in a roto-league and have a future full of high batting average, maybe you can take a chance on the Astros’ fourth-highest-ranked prospect, but there’s still too much that needs to click for Matthews to be fantasy relevant in 2025 and beyond.
Hot Performers
Stats reflect the last 14 days for both hitters and pitchers. Players selected are usually rostered at lower levels.
Kyle Higashioka – 9.0 P/G
He’s recovered from a rough June (.178/.288/.222 in 52 PAs) with a very nice July (.392/.396/.725 in 53 PAs).
Tyler Heineman – 8.2 P/G
The 34-year-old catcher has played in 42 games in 2025 and holds a .343/.405/.520 slashline. Where has this come from? A .405 BABIP, maybe? The journeyman veteran’s xBA is .232.
Aaron Civale – 7.9 P/IP
Things don’t look great on the season as a whole, but Civale has put together two solid outings. In his most recent outing, he held the Cubs to only three hits while walking no batters, giving up no home runs, and striking out six. In the game before that, he gave up one run to the Pirates, but struck out six and walked only one batter. Those back-to-back games of six strikeouts are Civale’s two best games all season.
Mike Burrows – 7.2 P/IP
The 25-year-old now has 11 starts on the year and has limited home runs to only one in his last four starts. His 2025 14.7% K-BB% is just inside the top 75 among pitchers with at least 50 IP, and while he has limited homers recently, his season mark sits at a high 1.38.