If you own Anthony Rizzo in an OBP league, then you’ve been perfectly happy with him so far, in fact you’ve probably been thrilled. He’s had great power, the runs and RBIs have been there, and his OBP is at .376, he’s what you wanted. But if you own Rizzo in a standard league, you’ve been understandably somewhat disappointed by the .238 batting average. Well Rizzo certainly helped you out on Wednesday night, going 3-3, 2 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI and he’s going to be fine the rest of the season. The big thing to point to for that poor batting average is a .221 BABIP. Otherwise, he looks great. His strikeout rate is down, his walk rate is up, his whiff rate is down, the home runs are good, he’s fine, and he’ll be fine, so if someone is trying to buy low and you on Rizzo, don’t sell for anything less than what you expected from him initially. And if someone in your league wants to give up on Rizzo, go grab him fast.
Let’s take a look at some of the other performances from Wednesday:
Chris Davis (1B, BAL) – 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI. Strikeouts and home runs, that’s what Chris Davis does.
Jonathan Schoop (2B, BAL) – 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI. Nice to see Schoop get a home run, as his last one was just over a month ago. He’s still got great power and I’m still expecting him to end the year with more than 20 home runs.
J.J. Hardy (SS, BAL) – 1-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI. Good for J.J. but there’s nothing here, he’s pretty terrible at the plate now.
Jose Bautista (OF, TOR) – 2-4, 1 HR, 2 R, 1 RBI. Bautista is heating up, batting .408 with six home runs over the past 15 days, that’s impressive.
Kevin Pillar (OF, TOR) – 1-5, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI. Pillar comes back from a brief suspension and smacks a home run. He’s great and will continue to be great (and has a good shot at a 20/20 year).
Devon Travis (2B, TOR) – 1-5, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI. Travis has been on a tear lately, hitting .408 over his last two weeks, and he’s not showing any signs of stopping quite yet. While I’m sure he’ll calm down somewhat, the power is decent, he’s healthy, and he can maintain a good batting average, he’s worth a pickup in deep leagues.
Ryan Goins (2B/SS, TOR) – 2-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 4 RBI. Nice game for Goins, but he’s generally been pretty bad this year and will likely continue to be.
Domingo Santana (OF, MIL) – 1-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 3 RBI. Santana is quietly having a nice little fantasy year that should warrant your attention. The slightly elevated BABIP means the average will come down, but he could end the year with 20+ home runs, 10 steals, and around 60+ runs and RBIs each all while batting in the .250-.260s. That’s useful.
Keon Broxton (OF, MIL) – 1-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI. Man, Keon Broxton has been on a tear. After posting a horribly disappointing April campaign, Broxton has been batting .345 with four home runs and seven stolen bases over the past month. Now, the strikeouts are concerning (especially in OBP leagues) and the ridiculous BABIP suggests regression, but he’s a good hitter, and if you held strong through April, good for you. And if you bought low, congratulations.
Khris Davis (OF, OAK) – 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI. The average is horrible but the power is ridiculous, you know what you’re getting with Davis.
Jed Lowrie (2B, OAK) – 4-4, 1 R, 2 RBI. Lowrie has been killing it lately, hitting .311 with five home runs and 20 runs over the past month. He’s cut down on strikeouts, upped his walks, increased his hard hit rate by quite a bit, and is hitting less groundballs. Is he a .300 hitter all year? No. But could he hit in the .270s the rest of the year while (at least) doubling his home run total? Sure.
Jose Abreu (1B, CWS) – 4-5, 1 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI. Jose Abreu’s great, what can I say? Two straight games with a home run now.
Leury Garcia (OF, CWS) – 2-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI. I talked about Garcia the last Batter’s Box I did and here he is once again. Keep an eye on him, and if you want to pick him up and ride out the hot streak, I don’t blame you.
Jake Lamb (3B, ARI) – 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI. Jake Lamb’s a great home run hitter and he’ll keep it up all year, don’t you worry.
Adam Duvall (OF, CIN) – 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI. Duvall’s finally settled down in the average department, as expected, but he’s still got awesome power.
Carlos Santana (1B, CLE) – 3-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 3 RBI. Santana finally seems like he’s coming around, batting .270 over his past 17 games. Here’s hoping he keeps it up.
Didi Gregorius (SS, NYY) – 2-3, 1 HR, 2 R, 1 RBI. Like I said last Batter’s Box, Didi has been a great real-life MLB player, but not a great fantasy player due to a lack of production in counting stats. Though I will say, he won’t hurt your team necessarily.
Anthony Rendon (3B, WAS) – 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 3 RBI. More home runs from Rendon, if you bough low on him early on, good for you.
Trea Turner (2B/SS/OF, WAS) – 1-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 SB. It’s what Turner is good at, stolen bases.
Carlos Gonzalez (OF, COL) – 3-5, 1 HR, 1 R, 3 RBI. It’s been rough as a CarGo owner, trust me I know, but he’s been batting .280 over the past month, and that’s with limited at-bats in Coors. Things will get better, I promise.
Michael Saunders (OF, PHI) – 1-2, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI. A real nice night for Saunders from an OBP perspective, but he’s been generally pretty rough to own this year.
Mike Napoli (1B, TEX) – 2-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI. Napoli will kill you in batting average, but he’ll end the year with 30 home runs, so if you need the power, he’s there, and cheap.
Hunter Renfroe (OF, SD) – 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI. Renfroe has been on fire the past couple weeks, batting .292 with four home runs, 11 runs, and 10 RBIs. The power is legit, and he’s worth riding the streak.
Albert Pujols (1B, LAA) – 1-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI. Pujols is good for home runs and RBIs, and he’s provided that somewhat this year. The average has been kind of rough, and injuries are always a concern.
Steven Souza (OF, TB) – 2-3, 2 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI. Well hello Steven Souza. After a great start to the year, Souza has been pitiful over the past month, batting .173 with three home runs (two of which came on Wednesday). This is what happens when BABIP regresses.
Colby Rasmus (OF, TB) – 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI. Colby Rasmus and his rumspringa beard had a nice game, but he’s been pretty bad.
Adam Frazier (OF, PIT) – 2-2, 1 HR, 3 R, 3 RBI. Frazier has had a fantastic year as a real-life player so far, but he just doesn’t have the power or stolen base potential to be a worthwhile add in fantasy.
David Freese (3B/1B, PIT) – 1-5, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI. Good for Freese, but he’s been bad, hitting .161 over the past month.
Jose Osuna (1B/OF, PIT) – 2-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 3 RBI. Osuna got some playing time, which he doesn’t often get, and made the most of it.
Jose Iglesias (SS, DET) – 3-4, 1 HR, 3 R, 2 RBI. Really nice night for Iglesias, but he’s unfortunately been pretty bad all year.
Alex Bregman (3B, HOU) – 3-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 SB. Bregman doing a little bit of everything Wednesday night. The lack of power has been disappointing, but it’s getting better.
Yadier Molina (C, STL) – 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI. Hey, good for Yady. It really says something about the catcher position that someone producing relatively minimal stats for fantasy, like Molina, is ranked as the seventh-best catcher in fantasy right now.
What do you think about Matt Holliday in an OBP H2H 14 teamer? Drop him for someone like Leury Garcia, Ryon Healy, Cesar Hernandez or Yoan Moncada? Heck even Dexter Fowler is out there. I like Holliday’s walks this year, but idk how to feel about him.
I see everyone was high on Randal Grichuk before the season too, he’s out there as well. What was the hype? And is he someone I should at least have on my watch list?
For Holliday, I actually like him, especially in an OBP league. The strikeout rate is up a little bit, but his walk rate looks good too, and it’s producing some good OBP numbers. If he keeps walking the way he is, I think he’ll be good. The power is there, as always, and he’s in the right lineup to get good RBI numbers. The big question is just going to be health.
For Grichuk, a lot of people liked him in the preseason because of the power potential. He was a guy whose average wouldn’t *kill* you (though it was still low) and would give you a good shot at 30 home runs. Unfortunately, the average has been awful this year, though I do believe it’ll get a little better (like maybe he bats in the .240s the rest of the way). The power hasn’t really been there either, and that’s been thanks to his HR/FB rate which has been lower than he’s had in the past. His hard hit rate hasn’t declined enough to warrant a plummeting in HR/FB rate, so the power will be there, but I think we’re looking at 20-24 home runs instead of 30, and considering you can get a guy who will bat .240 with 25 home runs just about anywhere, he’s just not all that interesting.