Super Cheap Power: Navarro and Dominguez
He is owned in 1% of Yahoo! leagues despite having 11 home runs and a .366 OBP and .527 SLG. He missed a bit of time due to Chase Utley destroying him at home plate but other than that he seems to be playing every day and has somewhat resurrected what seemed like an absolutely dead career.
This has me interested in leagues in which I am down in power. Navarro has never seemed like much of a power hitter but he has cut down on his strikeouts and has upped his walk rate to levels not seen since 2006. Is the power here to stay at this level? Probably not, as his HR/FB rate of 20% is exceedingly high, but he is giving himself the best shot he’s had to produce by staying patient at the plate. Combine that with him hitting in a homer friendly home park for the first time with any amount of legitimate plate appearances and you can be confident that at least some of the power increase is real.
He is somewhat of a desperation pickup, and three of his 11 home runs came in one game, but if I am desperate for power and need a bit of help at the catcher position I am looking right at Dioner Navarro and taking the risk.
Matt Dominguez
We know what he can’t do, and that is hitting for a high average and avoiding striking out. What he can do however is hit for some power. Dominguez has been stroking home runs in the minors since 2008 and continues to do so this year. In 167 career major league games he has a pitiful .278 OBP but a solid 22 home runs, 17 of which have come in 119 games this season.
He has also helped in the RBI department a bit this year too and is available in 89% of Yahoo! leagues. It must be perfectly understood that if you acquire him you are going to take a big dip in the average or OBP department, whichever your league uses, but if you can stomach losing a bit of ground in those departments to jump a few spots in home runs than Dominguez could be a solid add.
There are a few other qualified power hitters that are available on the cheap, but almost none that are as widely available as Dominguez and Navarro. They are not the most reliable guys to grab, which is why their ownership is so low, but if you are desperate for power and are close to being in the money in your league – it is time to start taking some risks. Grab Dominguez or Navarro if you are getting lackluster production in the power department and are comfortable elsewhere.
Ben has been at RotoGraphs since 2012 and focuses most of his fantasy baseball attention toward dynasty and keeper leagues.
In a 12 team 5 cat + OPS, who do you like to *ahem* replace Miggy while he heals up:
Dominguez, Middlebrooks, Gyorko, Reynolds, Iglesias
Thanks!
Gyorko guaranteed playing time and least likely to destroy your average.