Three Players for add for Week 14
It’s been a few weeks ladies and gentlemen, but I am back with some players to add recommendations for Week 14. I apologize for the gap. I felt as we reach the halfway point of the season in June, it would be helpful to throw some articles in targeted specifically on the strategic aspect of the game and how to manage your roster based on your place in the standings. If you haven’t seen them, check them out in the Dugout right here on Medium.
A quick refresher as it’s been a minute. I have profiled below a few players I am heavily investing in on my fantasy teams this week. They are less than 75% rostered on Yahoo (mostly far below that number). I believe these players have the chance to give your fantasy team a real boost and there is a decent chance they are available in your league as well.
Willy Adames- SS- Milwaukee Brewers (44 percent)
Adames is now the new poster boy for the change of scenery narrative. Man, what a tear he’s been on since being traded to the Brewers. In a little over a month, he’s hit .296 with eight homeruns and is currently residing in the three hole of a lineup he rejuvenated upon arrival.
Adames has improved his launch angle to 18.3 degrees, has a barrel rate of 12.4 percent and a hard contact rate of 48.1 percent. In addition to that though, his homerun to flyball rate is actually slightly below his career norm (17.3 percent for ’21, compared to an 18 percent career rate). That’s the nerdy stat way of saying this. Adames is hitting the ball in the air more than he ever has before. He’s hitting the ball harder than he ever has before. But the ball isn’t leaving the yard at an abnormally high, fluky rate compared to his baseline metrics. That, my friends screams sustainability. Remember when Christian Yelich came to Milwaulkee and tweaked his swing to hit more balls in the air?
Now to be clear, Adames is not Yelich. But to see him only rostered in 44% of leagues is crazy to me. I know Shortstop is a deep position, but it’s not like he’s only been hitting like this for a few days. He’s about six weeks into his reign of terror in the NL Central. He was solid at the dish in each of the last two seasons and he was previously regarded as a top prospect in Tampa’s system. He’s got some pedigree to him and when guys with pedigree change scenery or make a big adjustment, good things happen.
Zach Thompson- SP- Miami Marlins (43 percent)
Total opposite of what I just said about Willy Adames. Thompson does not have the pedigree. As a fifth round pick back in 2014, Thompson has spent six years refining his craft in the minors and hadn’t been used as a starter since 2017, pitching in High A for the White Sox organization. It took like 73 injuries to starting pitchers in the organization for the Miami Marlins, a 35–47 team, to give him a shot. But as a 27 year old rookie, he is dealing at the moment.
Through 18 innings (3 starts) he has hung two wins, 25 strikeouts, a 1.50 ERA and 1.00 WHIP. Stunning stuff. Now, let’s set expectations accordingly here. He doesn’t throw overwhelming gas, with a fastball averaging 93 MPH and he has been a little fortunate. His expected ERA sits at 3.33, still very good but two full runs higher than his actual ERA, so some regression should be expected. Though his 1.71 FIP indicates he has genuinely pitched really well and regression may not be particularly severe for him. Also, his strand rate and BABIP are practically dead on with MLB averages, so he’s not SUPER lucky either. Throw in that he’s pitching in one of the most pitcher-friendly parks in the league and he is a nice blend of unexpected talent meeting some good fortune. Oh and by the way, his cutter is lethal.
Again, I think there is some legitimacy here, but in the end, pitchers who only have one truly lethal pitch and the rest of the arsenal is “meh” tend to be streaky and prone to the occasional blow-up. (Chris Paddack) Don’t forget, the Marlins are terrible and have a very shaky bullpen, which caps his win upside, especially since he hasn’t been pitching deep into games. But I like what I see here and I am buying in anywhere I can find him.
Myles Straw- OF, SS- Houston Astros (57 percent)
I liked Straw coming into this season as a deep league sleeper. I rarely recommend a guy who really only contributes to one category in a column like this, but here’s the deal. It’s July. The free agency pool is dry and people out of the race in your league are going to start checking out, which dries up the trade market. Steals are hard to find and at this point and Straw has already provided 13 of those this season.
Straw is a decent hitter. Not a star in the making, but he doesn’t strike out a ton (18.5 percent), has a pretty good feel for the strikezone (20.9 percent chase rate) and consistently makes an elite level of contact on pitches in the zone he swings at (93 percent). That said, he has no power with three career homeruns over 177 games and remember, I said he is a decent hitter, not a great one. I believe his career .259 average is about what to expect from him overall. Even with his hot hitting recently, he’s still only hitting .268 on the season.
If nothing else though, he’s been batting leadoff or second over the weekend and at spells throughout the season and when a guy can get on base at a decent clip and steal bases atop one of the most potent lineups in baseball, he can chip in pretty heavily in the runs column as well. That should be a compelling enough case for him to be a solid three category contributor while his streak remains and at this point in the season, I will take the help I can find. Especially when it comes to steals. Once he cools off, or if he gets dropped back to the bottom of the lineup, move on. But for now, enjoy the ride. He needs to be rostered in more than 57% of leagues.
