Every week from now until the end of the season, we will take a look at players with less than 10% ownership (Yahoo!) who should be on your radar in deep leagues. The majority of fantasy baseball leagues are mixed leagues with 10 to 12 teams, though we know many of you play in 18- to 20-team leagues and/or AL- or NL-only formats. This column is for you all.
Longtime featured player Luis Arraez has finally graduated off this list, leaving me with another high-average, low-everything else middle infielder from the American League to fawn over.
He is featured along with six other players in this week’s deep league adds.
Matt Albers, RP, MIL (6% Owned)
I have to imagine this isn’t the name you were expecting—or wanting—to see on this list this week, but with the Brewers giving Josh Hader a break, Matt Albers came on and earned his fourth save of the season late last week.
The veteran right-hander now has a 3.78 ERA on the year, along with an 8.94 K/9 and a 3.61 BB/9.
He’s not the best option for vulture saves right now—far from it—but for teams desperate for saves or who want a handcuff for Hader, Albers isn’t the worst option out there.
Hanser Alberto, 2B/3B, BAL (6% Owned)
Orioles infielder Hanser Alberto has been a mainstay in these columns, and one look at his .319/.341/.429 slash line should give you an indication why. He doesn’t contribute much else, with just seven home runs and four steals, but his extremely high contact rate does allow him to chip in the batting average department, which is always nice.
Plus, the excellent Ben Palmer wrote a piece about streamers this coming week, and he noted that Alberto and the Orioles are facing a bunch of left-handers.
Alberto is slashing a wicked .400/.414/.521 against lefties this season and should absolutely be in all deep-league lineups this week while he lays waste to some left-handed pitching.
Mark Canha, 1B/OF, OAK (6% Owned)
Hello, old friend. Mark Canha has been on this list for nearly all of the past five weeks or so, and even if I want to, I can’t find an excuse to not list him.
Since the All-Star break, Canha is slashing .302/.400/.517 with six home runs, 17 RBI, and two stolen bases along with an 11.1% walk rate and a 26.7% strikeout rate. If you’re thinking, “Yeah he had a hot run in July, but he’s cooled off since then,” I submit to you his August numbers: .340/.431/.460, one home run, eight RBI, two stolen bases, 12.1% walk rate, 32.8% strikeout rate.
Yes, the strikeouts are concerning, and yes, the Statcast data is rather pedestrian considering his power output. But Canha has been doing this for the entire year and is worth a look in all 14-team leagues or deeper.
In fact, if you are in a 12-team OBP league, Canha would be an excellent replacement for many of the first basemen who have gotten hurt lately, including Joey Votto, Michael Chavis and Luke Voit.
Travis Demeritte, 2B/SS/OF, DET (3% Owned)
The Tigers shipped closer Shane Greene to the Atlanta Braves at the trade deadline, getting a pair of quality prospects in return: left-hander Joey Wentz and infielder-turned-outfielder Travis Demeritte.
After hitting .286/.387/.558 with 20 home runs, 74 RBI, and a 137 wRC+ at Triple-A, the Tigers decided Demeritte was immediately ready for a spot on their 25-man roster. He has now started every single game for the Tigers since coming up and has hit seventh in every contest except one, when he hit sixth.
Demeritte is slashing a respectable .267/.328/.433 with one home run and three stolen bases in 68 plate appearances.
In leagues where he is eligible in the infield and the outfield, Demeritte is worth a look in 14-team formats or deeper—and especially those that count OBP as his 10.3% walk rate would play up.
Josh Naylor, 1B/OF, SDP (1% Owned)
The Padres have such an influx of high-level prospects, it’s easy for some of them to get lost in the shuffle. First baseman/outfielder Josh Naylor is one of them, as his big league debut has gone relatively unnoticed thanks in part to his supremely talented teammates overshadowing him and in part because he hasn’t been all that good.
However, his numbers since the All-Star break have been sneaky good. He’s slashing .327/.390/.635 with four home runs and 10 RBI, but most importantly, he has a 10.2% walk rate and an excellent 15.3% strikeout rate—massive improvements from where he was early in the season.
Naylor has settled into the second spot in the lineup, and as long as he remains up there, he is worth a look in deep formats (14 teams or deeper). He’s probably not on the 12-team radar just yet, but he should be owned in more than just 1% of leagues.
Rowdy Tellez, 1B, TOR (1% Owned)
After spending the past month in Triple-A, the Blue Jays recalled slugging first baseman Rowdy Tellez. Tellez is expected to play quite a bit down the stretch, likely replacing Justin Smoak in the starting lineup.
Tellez hit .227/.280/.436 with 14 home runs, 40 RBI and one stolen base before getting sent down in July, and while he won’t contribute much in the batting average department, the power is very real, as evidenced by his 90.4 mph exit velocity.
Hitting the ball hard and hitting a lot of home runs is obviously good, and doing it in the middle of a lineup that also features Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (assuming he’s healthy), Bo Bichette, and Cavan Biggio is even better—and makes Tellez worth a look in AL-only and similarly deep formats.
Sam Travis, 1B/OF, BOS (1% Owned)
The Boston Red Sox love employing lefty-mashing bench bats, and the loss of Steve Pearce has opened up the job for first baseman/outfielder Sam Travis.
Travis has taken off in his 107 plate appearances, slashing .265/.318/.490 with six home runs, 15 runs, 15 RBI, and two stolen bases.
Even though playing time limits his value to deeper formats, his current level of production does merit consideration in AL-only formats and other similarly deep leagues—particularly those where you can sub him in and out on a daily basis.
If nothing else, he’s worth a look in DFS formats as well whenever Boston is facing a subpar left-handed opponent.
(Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire)
Albers got a save on 8/14 – not over the weekend. But yes, scoop him up because Hader has been horrible since July 1
Good catch – thank you!