Is it Legit 7/9: Three Up, One Down

Let’s take a closer look at four players that have been performing either especially well, or particularly poorly over the past week or so. All ownership figures refer to ESPN leagues.

Avisail Garcia – 29 AB | 5 HR | .414 AVG – 53.9% owned

Avisail Garcia is known in the fantasy baseball community for overachieving and outperforming his peripheral numbers for the entirety of 2017 when he batted .330 with 18 home runs, all while sporting an astronomical .392 BABIP. Now, he is once again hitting well, batting .339 with 6 home runs since returning from the DL on June 22. This year, his BABIP is sitting at a reasonable .330, especially considering how hard he is hitting the ball. Since returning from his DL stint, Garcia is sporting a 50%(!) hard-hit rate, along with a 29.5% line drive rate. The combination of those two stats should lead to a high BABIP, but more importantly, a high average. LEGIT

Tyler Anderson – 16 IP | 0 ER | 3 BB | 17 K – 28% owned

Tyler Anderson is coming off of two fantastic eight-inning outings, in which he prevented any runs from scoring while punching out 17. The first of these two starts came against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodgers Stadium on June 29. His cutter and fastball did the majority of the work, but he had the Dodgers baffled all night. His next start was home, at Coors Field, against the San Francisco Giants. Despite the Coors Effect, he impressed, throwing 8 shutout innings with 9 Ks. He leaned on his fastball and cutter here again, but saw great results nonetheless. Anderson has a solid 12.3% whiff rate on the year, but I will have to agree with Nick and stick to the Rocky Mountain Way. Still, if he meets those requirements, give it a shot. LEGIT…ish

Aaron Hicks – 18 AB | 5 HR | 8 RBI – 68.7% owned

On the first of July Aaron Hicks hit three home runs. Since then, his bat has stayed hot, hitting .389 in that span. In 2018, he is sporting the highest hard-hit rate of his major league career at 42.8%. His .266 BABIP may seem low for a player with his speed, however, his batted ball profile may shed some light on the oddity. Hicks hits a lot of flyballs (42.9%) without many line drives (18.3%). So, he may be hitting the ball hard, but a lot of those balls are falling into the glove of an outfielder. While Aaron Boone seems intent on getting Hicks regular at bats, even in the crowded Yankees outfield, a tweaked hamstring during Saturday’s game has kept him out for the weekend. While I think he can definitely be a useful player in 12 team leagues, I don’t think we should expect this power surge to continue. Not Legit

George Springer – 21 AB | .190 AVG | 0 HR

The Houston Astros have been winning of late, but it has been largely without the help of George Springer. The 28-year-old center fielder has been ice cold, batting just .190 since June 1! His batted ball profile has remained fairly similar to his numbers from last season, however, the overall production just hasn’t been there. Since the start of June, he has been walking at an increased rate, which is encouraging. One notable difference that may be contributing to his cold bat is his infield fly ball rate. Since June 1, he’s been popping the ball up in the infield at a 14.3% rate, easily his highest since he’s been in the major leagues. So, while he may still be seeing the ball well, he’s getting under it too much. Besides that stat, everything else seems to be in line for the most part, leading me to believe that Springer will come out of this funk. Not Legit