I already covered by thoughts on Anthony Gose to nab 40 steals in my 10 bold predictions — so he’s obviously a lock to do so, amirite — but I’ll elaborate a bit more. I love his speed potential and I see Jake Marisnick in a very similar way.
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If opportunity knocks, then Steven Souza is pounding on your door while calling your phone and blowing up your email inbox. I almost included Souza in my 10 bold predictions, but I believe he warrants more than just a quick blurb there.
Traded to the Tampa Bay Rays from the blocked off outfield of the Washington Nationals this off-season, Souza figures to be a staple in either corner for his new club. Now entering his age-26 season, Souza appears to be poised for an under-the-radar impact fantasy season. His skill set — plus playing time — make him a likely four category player. For two consecutive seasons he has nabbed at least 25 steals without being caught more than seven times and hit for at least 15 home runs.
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In his first extended stint of big league action, Kevin Kiermaier has shown a talent for hitting right-handed pitchers. To say a left-handed hitter can do damage against opposite-handed pitching is no new development, but Kiermaier has seemingly flown beneath the radar.
The 24-year-old has made it into 99 games thus far and has accrued 336 plate appearances. His overall .262/.314/.452 isn’t too inspiring, although his numbers versus righties is a strong .282/.340/.498, good for a 139 wRC+ in 267 PAs. Of his 10 home runs, nine have happened while facing a righty. The table below displays some relevant splits.
| AVG | OBP | SLG | BABIP | K% | BB% | GB% | FB% | HR/FB% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vs LHP | .188 | .212 | .282 | .244 | 26.1% | 2.9% | 58.1% | 20.9% | 11.1% |
| Vs RHP | .282 | .340 | .498 | .314 | 17.2% | 7.1% | 51.3% | 32.8% | 14.5% |
While Alejandro De Aza did move to Baltimore recently, as far as I know, he did not join the New Day Co-Op. Instead he joined the Baltimore Orioles as their a reserve outfielder. In my imagination he sat down with the rest of the O’s players and held a meeting of sorts, where they collectively decided to handle the gang from New York.
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After being traded, changing leagues and posting his worst major league season of his career, a reasonable person may ask why on earth I’d be buying Allen Craig. His current .237/.291/.348 equates to a brutal 81 wRC+ and he’s still on the disabled list to boot. We can address the DL issue first, as the Boston Red Sox may activate him as soon as Friday. With that out of the way, on to the (potentially over the top) optimism!
The 30-year-old first baseman/outfielder’s rate stats are clearly way off, however many of his peripherals appear to be in line with his career averages.
| K% | BB% | Swing% | Contact% | SwStr% | BABIP | GB% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 6.5% | 19.4% | 46.3% | 84.1% | 7.2% | .281 | 56.3% |
| Career | 7% | 18.3% | 45.6% | 82.8% | 7.7% | .330 | 46.6% |
For those of you in the race at this point of the season it is a lovely yet frustrating time. In an attempt to help ease your burden of decision making I present two American League outfielders who are somewhat largely available and can help your team in various ways. The percentages next to the websites represent the ownership rate, not their availability.
Dexter Fowler — 15% ESPN/32% Yahoo! 44%/CBS
The Houston Astros activated Fowler from the 15-day disabled list today after missing time with an intercostal strain. He is expected to return to the lineup later today and should reclaim his spot at the top of the order. For fellow on-base percentage league players, Fowler is manna from BB% heaven. His career 12.5% walk rate helps drive his career .366 OBP. Fowler isn’t known for his power however his OBP and to a lesser extent his batting average should make him a playable fourth/fifth outfielder in all but the shallowest of leagues. One note is Fowler isn’t running as often as he has in previous seasons. Whether the muscle strain prevented him from sliding into bases is a mystery, though it would make sense as I wouldn’t want to dive or slide with an injury. Anecdotal thoughts aside, the lack of the steals doesn’t seem to be a team philosophy as the Astros’ 85 steals is fifth most in baseball. Context is key of course and the team’s 24 CS mean they’ve attempted 109 steals on the year, seventh most in the league. Even without the steals Fowler is an immensely useful player, one who I was far too low on in the early goings. Pick him up to give yourself a boost in the rate stats.
Jarrod Dyson — 4% ESPN/3% Yahoo!/10% CBS
Though he isn’t a full time starter, Dyson brings value to your fantasy team with his legs. His 26 steals are third most in the AL and he has appeared in just 86 games this season. On top of his running game, Dyson has contributed at the plate, hitting a respectable .286/.335/.342 in 218 plate appearances. A .344 BABIP has certainly helped inflate his AVG, however his 63.1% ground ball rate is the second highest in the AL (minimum 200 PAs). Grounders go for hits at a higher rate than fly balls — but less often for extra base hits — and Dyson has been burning worms at an impressive clip. Dyson should find himself in the lineup most days where the Kansas City Royals are up against a right-handed pitcher, but it isn’t a full blown platoon situation just yet. Lorenzo Cain is hitting at a solid rate against lefties and righties, though he has been getting more starts in right field recently. Dyson has started 50 games in center against Cain’s 63 starts there. Dyson has an additional 25 appearances in CF, meaning the Royals are using him as a late inning pinch runner/defensive sub type player. He can still accrue value in a part time role, he’ll just require you to pay that much more attention to your daily lineups.
Rather than get dragged into a pizza-themed battle again, this month’s tiered rankings will be named after my favorite “Futurama” background characters. In order to qualify as a background character, they must appear in at least three episodes and cannot be a main character like Fry, Leela, etc.
Still in a tier by himself — despite the recent back pain — even if he does end up on the disabled list. Rather than being his usual incredible self, this year Trout has merely been really, really good. Hopefully his back issues can be resolved without a trip to the DL.
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This month’s updated rankings will be tiered alongside my favorite pizza styles. Now I’m probably opening myself up to a ton of criticism — even more than usual — because my tiers will be severely bias in favor of midwestern pizza. Sorry New York/Brooklyn style, I just don’t love your pizza like my Chicago deep dish. As always, this is a ranking based on my rest-of-season thoughts.
Chicago style deep dish
New month, new set of rankings, and still no surprise here at the top. As noted by the tall, handsome and brilliant Jeff Sullivan, Trout is striking out a bit more this season than what we’ve seen form him before. I’m not concerned with the uptick in strikeouts yet. He isn’t flailing at offerings outside of the zone as his 25.8% O-Swing% is in line with his career 24.6% mark. For a specific restaurant, Giordano’s is the place to go.
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Welcome back to another year of ranking the American league outfielders! Prepare yourselves for awkwardly shoehorned pop culture references from years past and hopefully a bit of baseball analysis. To kick off the year in style, rather than “tier one, tier two” and boring things like that, I’ll present the tiers in order of my favorite fictional TV/film Presidents of the United States. If it weren’t for that fictional part, Daniel Day Lewis would run away with it for his performance in “Lincoln.”
President Josiah “Jed” Bartlet – “The West Wing“
You were expecting maybe, uhh, the Addams family? I don’t think I can add much on top of what has already been said, re-hashed, repeated and summarized already. Just know Trout is pretty okay at that baseball thing.
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Per usual, this is the rest-of-season thoughts on the American League outfield. All stats cited are through August 12, 2013.
Tier One
Mike Trout
We’ll be telling our children and grandchildren about how we remember Mike Trout’s first two seasons and hopefully his entire career. Right now he is simply in a class by himself. Trout fills up the stat line and is the ideal fantasy player. He does it all.
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