Every Wednesday, Dapinder joins Pitcher List to outline the best position player buys and sells of the week. He’ll outline the hitters to trust in your lineups and who to shop while their price is high. Make sure to stay ahead of the curve and use the market to your advantage.
BUY
David Dahl (OF, Colorado Rockies) – Dahl has been promoted to the Rockies. He comes with the advantage of playing in Coors Field! Dahl is a power and speed threat 24 HR and 39 steals over his past two seasons in AA and AAA. He should get some playing time in the near future with Parra out. If the Rockies do trade an outfielder, Dahl will benefit from playing time the most.
Jeff Bandy (C, Los Angeles Angels) – In deep leagues or in two catcher leagues, Jeff Bandy is a the player to target. He’s been playing every other day and playing well hitting .385 over his past three games. He doesn’t strikeout a whole lot nor does he walk much. Bandy should only be owned in the deepest of leagues where he can provide some value.
Ryan Shimpf (2B/3B, San Diego Padres) –Schimpf has been scorching hitting .344 with five home runs over the past two weeks. He’s a 28-year-old who has finally gotten a chance in the bigs. He has had a very good walk rate in the minors and it looks like he has carried that patience with his 12.7% BB%. Ride him out while he’s hot.
Joey Gallo (3B/OF, Texas Rangers) –Gallo is high risk – high reward. First things first, he will be getting some starts at first. Secondly, he did improve his strikeout rate this year in AAA. He struck out in 30% of plate appearances. That’s not good, but better than the 39% he had the year before. Third, he has massive raw power. With his lowest Isolated Power being .255 in AAA throughout his minors career, Gallo can challenge for a home run crown. The batting average won’t be pretty but the home run count very well could be.
Alex Bregman (SS, Houston Astros) –Bregman is arguably the number 1 prospect in baseball. He’s hit 20 HR across AA and AAA this year. He hit .297 in AA and .333 in AAA. He will get playing time at third. He has a good bat and is definitely worth a look.
Alex Dickerson (OF, San Diego Padres) –Dickerson stands to gain the most playing time after the Melvin Upton Jr. trade to Toronto. He’s had a low strikeout rate this past week. He has cut his strikeout rate in AAA to the lowest of his career this year and it has carried over to the big leagues. He’s got a decent bat. With sufficient playing time, he’s a good bet to hit over .250 with ten home runs.
Jedd Gyorko (1B/2B/3B/SS, St. Louis Cardinals) –He can play every infield position except catcher; what more could you want. Well Gyorko is on a hot streak. With four HRs and a .292 average, Gyorko should be owned while he mashes. In deeper leagues, his multi-position eligibility and averagish stats warrant consideration.
Ender Inciarte (OF, Atlanta Braves): Every year stolen bases become more and more rare. Inciarte has 11 and definitely has ten more in him. He’s averaged 20 a season since coming into the league in 2014. His batting average is also likely to increase. He has a below average BABIP. He needs to cut down on the popups. Inciarte provides the ever elusive steals, a decent batting average, and not much else.
SELL
Ian Desmond (SS/OF, Texas Rangers) –Desmond has been very good this year and will parlay his production into a sweet contract. Desmond’s .379 BABIP is well above his career .328 and his 23.2% HR/FB% is also due for a regression. He’s also rocking the second highest ISO of his career.
Jay Bruce (OF, Cincinnati Reds) – Jay Bruce is rocking a .292 ISO. He’s never done that before. The closest he’s been was in 2012 when he had a .263 ISO. For only the second time in his career his batting average is above .270. Lastly, Bruce’s HR/FB% is above his career average of 16.8%.