Ottoneu Hot Right Now: May 19, 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

J.T. Ginn — 58 current auctions — 14.9% roster%

J.T. Ginn took a no-hitter into the ninth inning in his start yesterday. Instead of completing that feat, he made a different kind of history, allowing a walk-off home run just two batters into the final inning of the game. Despite the hugely disappointing end to the night, his final line was still very impressive: eight innings, two hits, one walk, and 10 strikeouts.

Ginn has actually been pretty solid over the last few weeks. He started May off with an ugly start against Cleveland but his last three starts have been excellent; he’s allowed just four runs over 22 innings with a phenomenal 7.0 strikeout-to-walk ratio. His sinker-heavy arsenal has helped him keep the ball on the ground but that pitch also has the 11th highest whiff rate in baseball for that pitch type. His secondary offerings are merely average which limits his ceiling a bit, but he’s proven he can be effective enough with his excellent sinker doing most of the heavy lifting.

This is probably pretty obvious for any pitcher on the Athletics, but the one caution I’d voice is his home/road splits. Over the last two years, he’s run a 6.38 ERA while pitching in Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento and a 2.51 ERA on the road. If you can manage avoiding his home starts, he could be a useful part-time starter for your fantasy squad.

Gavin Sheets — 56 current auctions — 68.2% roster%

Last week, Gavin Sheets collected 10 hits, a double, and four home runs en route to winning NL Player of the Week honors. After breaking out last year in his first season in San Diego, Sheets has been even better this season. He’s already blasted nine home runs, nearly half way to the 19 he hit last year. His underlying metrics are all in line with what he accomplished during his breakout, with small improvements across his barrel rate, contact rate, and walk rate. It’s a solid profile with a bit more power production than expected.

The Padres have pretty aggressively platooned Sheets which limits his usefulness somewhat. He’s only made two starts against left-handed pitching this year and collected just 13 plate appearances against a same-handed pitcher. He has crushed right-handed pitching throughout his career, so as long as you can manage a platoon hitter in your lineup, he should prove some value for your fantasy team.

Brayan Rocchio — 48 current auctions — 37.3% roster%

At one point, Brayan Rocchio was a top prospect for the Guardians. He had struggled to live up to that pedigree over his first three seasons in the big leagues but it looks like he’s put everything together this year. The biggest difference is a strikeout rate that’s been cut in half, from 20.1% to just 10.1%. While a few of his underlying plate discipline metrics are improved — his contact rate is up three points — it doesn’t seem like they should support such a low strikeout rate. Even if he sees some slight regression in that area, the additional balls in play should support a league average batting line.

Middle infield is always a position of need for Ottoneu teams, especially after injuries to guys like Carlos Correa, Jacob Wilson, and Corey Seager have whittled down some of the top options at the position. Rocchio isn’t a particularly exciting replacement but he should provide a bit of value at a thin position. One thing to monitor is how the Guardians’ handle their roster once Gabriel Arias returns from his hamstring injury in the coming weeks. Rocchio has outplayed Arias this year so it’s possible this won’t be an issue, but it’s possible he could lose a little bit of playing time come June.

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

Jake Bauers — 10.8 FGPts/G (last 14 days) — 39.4% roster%

Over the last two weeks, Jake Bauers has collected 13 hits, five doubles, and two home runs in just eight games. On the season, he’s produced a .288/.361/.511 slash line, good for a 141 wRC+ and has played his way into a platoon role for the Brewers. His breakout has been driven by a significant improvement in his contact quality; his hard hit rate is a career-high 54.7% and he’s managed to cut his strikeout rate to 21.3%. Those improvements were born from adjustments he made to his swing late last year.

With Jackson Chourio, Christian Yelich, and Andrew Vaughn all finally healthy, the Brewers have a very crowded group of players vying for time in left field, first base, and designated hitter. Chourio and Yelich are key players in Milwaukee’s core so Bauers and Vaughn are essentially splitting time at first base. Bauers has stolen a few starts in left field to keep his bat in the lineup recently, giving him a little more flexibility than Yelich or Vaughn, but he’s still sitting regularly against left-handed starters.