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The offseason is officially no more, but Spring training is here, and with it comes the daily influx of baseball news that fantasy managers have missed in the last few months. Lineup news, actual games happening, constant waiver wire moves, pitching assignments, and bullpen usage.
Baseball is back, and so too is fantasy baseball, with drafts either starting in the near or not-too-near future for many. This column aims to cover any and all fantasy baseball news, big or small, and how it pertains to your fantasy team. Spring training or the regular season, it's covered here.
Has a player who's usually been hitting in the middle of a lineup suddenly batting eighth or ninth for an extended period? The fantasy implications will be covered here. The same goes for injuries and injured placements and whether or not you should consider picking up a player who was recently called up. Basically, any kernel of fantasy news and its relevance to fantasy managers could be covered here. Today, the news of the day is the fantasy impact of Orlando Arcia looking set to play shortstop for Atlanta and the Colorado Rockies optioning Nolan Jones to Triple-A.
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Fantasy Baseball Impact Of Orlando Arcia Potentially Starting At Shortstop For Atlanta
Atlanta announced in a tweet from the team’s official Twitter account on Monday that infielders Vaughn Grissom and Braden Shewmake were both optioned to Triple-A.
The move opens the door for Orlando Arcia to step in at shortstop for the National League East club. And while it remains to be seen how long he’ll remain the starter – or how long Grissom and or Shewmake will be in the minors – Arcia could be an option for fantasy managers in deeper leagues.
In addition to the fact that hitting regularly in Atlanta’s lineup will give the veteran plenty of RBI and run-scoring chances, the 28-year-old should post solid numbers at the plate if his 2022 metrics repeat themselves.
In 234 plate appearances, the former Brewer logged a 7.5% barrel rate to go along with a 9.0% walk rate while striking out just 21.8% of the time. He also crushed fastballs, with a .273 average, a .281 xBA, a .369 wOBA, a .390 xwOBA, and six home runs in 129 plate appearances against the offering.
We’ve seen him register reasonably productive fantasy seasons before as well, so there is a bit of a precedent here. Arcia hit .277 with a .324 on-base percentage, 15 home runs, and 14 stolen bases in 548 plate appearances for Milwaukee during the 2017 campaign. He also hit .223 with a .283 on-base percentage with 15 home runs and eight stolen bases in 546 plate appearances during the 2019 season.
In short, he’s someone to keep an eye on in the season’s early goings. Regardless of how long he starts regularly for Atlanta, Arcia could be a prudent waiver wire pickup for those in deeper leagues trying to patch together replacement production in place of someone like Grissom or an injured middle infielder.
Fantasy Baseball Impact Of Nolan Jones Being Optioned To Triple-A
Nolan Jones, who joined the Colorado Rockies in an offseason trade with the Cleveland Guardians, has been optioned to Triple-A, per a tweet from the Rockies' official communication department’s Twitter account:
Jones hit .244 with a .309 on-base in 94 plate appearances for the Guardians last season, and while it was a small sample size, he did make plenty of loud contact while with Cleveland, logging an encouraging 14.5% barrel rate, a .461 xwOBAcon, and a 49.1% hard-hit rate.
However, the 24-year-old struggled in Cactus League play, batting .186 with a .250 on-base percentage and a stolen base in 48 plate appearances. It's again a relatively small sample size for Jones, but the fact that he's been optioned to Triple-A does clear up Colorado's third base situation to a degree.
Mike Moustakas, who has been covered in this column before, and Elehuris Montero are the most likely candidates to see playing time at third base. Both have been productive so far in Spring training. Moustakas has logged 24 plate appearances for Colorado as of the beginning of play on Tuesday, batting .435 with a .458 on-base percentage. He's also collected four doubles and a home run.
Montero, meanwhile, is hitting .298 this spring with a .365 on-base percentage in 52 plate appearances. He's collected four home runs in those 52 plate appearances.
As with Jones, we're dealing with relatively small sample sizes for both players and while the Spring training production is encouraging, it's worth waiting a bit to see if it'll carry over into the regular season before making any moves to add them to fantasy rosters – especially considering neither hitter topped an 80 wRC+ last season.
Furthermore, this could be a timeshare. In addition to Moustakas and Montero, Harold Castro and Alan Trejo could theoretically figure into the mix as well.
This is probably a situation for fantasy managers outside of deeper leagues to avoid for the time being.
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