Jake Cave (OF, MIN) - Fantasy Baseball Draft Values

February 7, 2019

Minnesota Twins outfielder Jake Cave is a 2019 fantasy baseball draft value. His ADP is undervalued, making him a potential draft bargain and late-round OF sleeper to target.

BALLER MOVE: Draft target ~pick 300

CURRENT ADP: ~405 overall

ANALYSIS: Bouncing around from the Yankees to the Reds before he found a home in Minnesota, Twins outfielder Jake Cave made his MLB debut in 2018. After a 2017 season where he had a .305/.351/.542 slash line in the minors with the Yankees, Cave was sent to Triple-A with the Twins after he was acquired, posting a .269/.352/.403 slash line. In 91 big league games, though, Cave showed more of the power that led to him hitting 20 home runs in Triple-A in 2017. Cave had a .269 batting average in the majors as well, and a more disappointing .316 OBP, but he had 13 home runs and 32 extra-base hits in just 309 plate appearances.

As stated above, Cave's 250 plate appearances in Triple-A were nothing special, as he had just 16 extra-base hits and 54 R+RBI. While this was uninspiring, remember that Cave had 94 extra base hits in 2016 and 2017 in the Yankees system and his .352 OBP in the minors in 2018 was the best mark of his career. While his plate discipline from the minors disappeared once he made it to the majors (18 walks and 102 strikeouts), Cave's power returned.

Cave is going 405th in drafts on average, basically making him unowned in standard leagues. This is not to say that you should run to draft a player whose ADP is between Danny Salazar and Matt Strahm, but it is to say that fantasy owners need to remember him as the season progresses. Considering that he will be widely available in most leagues, look to see if Cave's adjustments can make him a viable OF3 in deeper leagues.