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BALLER MOVE: Add in Deeper Leagues
OWNED IN: 11% of Fleaflicker Leagues
ANALYSIS: Despite the preseason surplus of outfield depth the Boston Red Sox had, injuries to Hanley Ramirez, Daniel Nava and Shane Victorino forced the team to make a move, acquiring Alejandro De Aza from the Baltimore Orioles after he had been designated for assignment. Starting the year with the O’s, De Aza was slashing just .214/.277/.359 with three homeruns and seven runs batted in 112 at-bats. He has caught fire in Boston, hitting .319/.356/.623 with three dingers and 14 RBI in just 73 AB’s.
While you can thank a .358 BABIP since joining Boston, he has seen spikes in plenty of other statistics. De Aza has a career K% of 21.3%, and hit an all-time high of 30.4% to start the year in Baltimore. Since joining Boston, he has lowered this number to 17.8%. He also has a .304 ISO since the move, thanks to 12 of his 22 hits going for extra bases. On the season, he has been the 461st most productive fantasy player, right on line with his original rank of 420. However, he has improved to 171st the past month, and as high as 11th in the past week thanks to a current nine game hitting streak.
De Aza is on a major high right now, and is still only owned in 11% of Yahoo leagues. That is thanks to his uncertainty in Boston’s lineup for the rest of the season. Hanley Ramirez has recently come back from dealing with a left hand injury. With that, De Aza seems to be fourth in the outfield with Ramirez, Mookie Betts and Jackie Bradley Jr. If De Aza continues to produce at the level he is, the struggling Red Sox have no reason not to put him in their lineup, and the same applies to your fantasy team.
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