Ottoneu Hot Right Now: June 18, 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
Brandon Walter – 58 current auctions
In three games started this season, Walter has a 1.53 ERA (2.88 xERA) with a slider/sinker combination where each pitch grades above average by Stuff+. Staying focused on the pitch mix, Walter has three different fastballs (SI, FC, FF) and the four-seamer has a 25.0% swinging strike rate. He’s only thrown 20 of them, but that’s an impressive mark. He’s mostly reserved the pitch for righties so far, but you can see he’s locating, or trying to locate it, at the top of the zone:
After analyzing a pitcher with an assortment of fastballs, a clear next step is to ask the question: Does he have a breaking ball he can throw for strikes? The answer is yes. His changeup’s called strike rate of 14.3% is well above average among pitchers who have thrown 50 of them in 2025. There are lots of good signs coming from Walter. The Astros have several pitchers on the long-term IL, and it’s unclear how long that list will include Lance McCullers Jr., so Walter has a path to staying in the rotation.
Wenceel Pérez – 48 current auctions
Perez was activated from the IL in late May and has played all over the outfield for the Tigers. In only 18 games and 62 plate appearances, Wenceel has a .316/.355/.702 slash line. He’s a switch hitter who was tagged with a platoon marking by RosterResource at the start of this year, but has since had it removed. Perez’s profile is a little confusing. In his 2024 rookie season, he walked 7.5% of the time and struck out 21.6%. Those aren’t super impressive marks, but decent for a rookie. Still, he displayed subpar HardHit% and Barrel% metrics, but good contact rates. He did not make Detroit’s Top 31 Prospect List at the start of 2024 due to “Not Quite Enough Defense.”:
Pérez fell off the list when he stopped playing shortstop. He now has some experience in center field, and if it turns out he can actually play there (he is not as good a defender as Trei Cruz, in my opinion), then he’ll stick around on the 40-man as upper-level depth.
But stick around Perez has, and he’s right in the “upper-level depth” role currently. Now, in 2025, his profile looks different as his contact rate has decreased along with his BB%, but his barrel and hard hit rates are on the rise. This may be just a small sample blip, but Perez could be sacrificing some contact for power while still limiting strikeouts. If he can continue to hit from both sides of the plate and play in the outfield, he’s likely to stick in the lineup.
Michael Toglia – 45 current auctions
Toglia was so cold in early June that his photo was featured in Ottoneu Cold Right Now: June 5, 2025, as his K% was nearly 40.0%. He had just been demoted to AAA. He struggled to hit fastballs, make contact with any pitch in the zone, and simply was not hitting. Now, all is gravy, right Justin Mason?
Toglia just got recalled from AAA where he was hitting well, but still striking out at a 29% clip. He needs to keep the strikeouts in check if he wants to be able to unlock the power that is apparent in his bat.
No, I guess the minor league reset didn’t suddenly cure his affinity for striking out. He’s played in three games since his promotion, and he’s hit three home runs. If you roster Toglia, you will accumulate home runs and extra-base hits when he’s hot, but he’ll be tough to hold through the cold streaks.
Roster Adds
Abraham Toro – Add% Change (7 Days) – 23.0%
Apparently, both Toro and Devers don’t mind playing 1B now, and Toro has solidified his spot in the Red Sox lineup with Alex Bregman on the IL. While he is a switch hitter, he’s in a projected platoon and may not face lefties. Still, Toro has a long enough track record of hitting to believe his current .297/.331/.505 is due to a hot bat rather than the new normal. His career slash line is .226/.289/.366. He typically hits from the left side against right-handed pitchers, and he’s pulling the ball at a 45.2% clip. That’s one of the highest marks of his career, and it seems to be working for him as he’s hitting .333 on pulled balls with three home runs. He’s currently on a 14-day hot streak with a .283/.350/.472 slash line and six extra base hits. Just take Jeff Zimmerman’s advice:
Abraham Toro: Starting and hitting (5 HR, 0 SB). So many worse options out there.
Brady House – Add% Change (7 Days) – 21.78%
The 22-year-old third baseman has played in three MLB games and has four hits in 13 plate appearances. In the tiniest of sample sizes, he has a 93.3% zone contact rate and has only struck out 7.7% of the time. Let’s check in on his prospect report to see if this is the profile we expected:
His contact and chase rates (68% and 36%, respectively) are suspect, and some of what we’re seeing with House’s swing does give us pause about him continuing to make sufficient levels of contact now that he’s reached Double-A….There’s still a ton of volatility here, but the power upside is significant, and House’s defense gives him another tool that’s relatively resistant to slumping and should help keep his profile afloat if it turns out his hit tool is a long-term problem.
That was written over a year ago, and in 2025’s 65 AAA games, House struck out at a 26.5% clip. Only time will tell if House will become fantasy-relevant. Right now, he seems like a high-ceiling $1 Ottoneu flier. Certainly, the Nationals need an everyday 3B.
Hot Performers
Stats reflect the last 14 days for both hitters and pitchers. Players selected are usually rostered at lower levels.
Mickey Moniak – 12.4 P/G
With six homers in his last 46 plate appearances, Moniak is “Making the Rockies Look Good”. He may still have struck out at a 26.1% rate in that time, but his slash line reads .317/.391/.829. His hot-streak batting average is well above where it sits for the year as a whole, but his 2025 slugging percentage is currently .475. Take a look at his player page, and you’ll see impressive Z-Contact%, Barrel%, and HardHit% numbers improved over last season.
Gary Sánchez – 11.1 P/G
Grand slam Gary is at it again since being activated from the IL on June 14th. His four hits in his last four games have brought his June slash line to .364/.417/.909 in only three games. He is the Orioles’ second-string catcher behind Adley Rutschman, who seems to get more days off than in the past in 2025.
Spencer Strider – 8.1 P/IP
Nothing says “I’m turning a corner” like a 13-strikeout performance, and that’s exactly what Strider had against the Rockies in his last appearances. He went six innings, gave up no home runs, and walked only one. That’s a perfect recipe for an Ottoneu points boost special. He’ll need to string together a few more appearances against better offenses where he limits walks and home runs before the fantasy community is convinced he’s back to “Ace” status, but this is a good sign.
José Soriano – 7.8 P/IP
The lines from Soriano’s last two game logs show zero home runs given up, three walks, and 18 strikeouts. His last two starts (14 IP combined) have arguably been his best of the year. The underlying metrics may tell more of a cautionary tale, as 60.0% of his batted balls were hard hit against the Yankees in his latest outing, and his velocity was down ever-so-slightly. Still, he has a slider with a well-above-average swinging strike rate.