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Ben Rosener looks at the fantasy baseball impact of Raimel Tapia reportedly signing with the Milwaukee Brewers and the New York Mets signing first baseman Luke Voit to a minor league contract.
Major League Baseball’s regular season is here, and with it comes the daily influx of baseball news that fantasy managers missed in the winter months. Lineup news, actual games happening, constant waiver wire moves, pitching assignments, and bullpen usage.
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 Raimel Tapia reportedly signing with the Milwaukee Brewers and the New York Mets signing first baseman Luke Voit to a minor league contract.
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Fantasy Baseball Impact Of Raimel Tapia Reportedly Signing With The Milwaukee Brewers
Raimel Tapia reportedly signed with the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday, per a tweet from The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. Rosenthal tweeted the following:
Tapia previously appeared in 39 games for the Boston Red Sox earlier this season, hitting .264 with a .333 on-base percentage and a home run in 97 plate appearances. The outfielder was walking at a career-high rate (9.3%) in the smaller sample size and had added six stolen bases.
The stolen bases were particularly notable considering Tapia had eight during the entirety of the 2022 season for the Toronto Blue Jays. A season in which he logged 433 plate appearances in 128 games as well.
He’ll give Milwaukee another outfield option. And while Brewers outfielders have ranked decidedly middle of the pack in terms of fWAR this season (among other outfields), only four teams have gotten a lower collective wRC+ than the 90 metric the Brewers have gotten from their outfielders this season.
With Tyrone Taylor, Garrett Mitchell, and Jesse Winker all on the injured list, there’s potential for Tapia to step into somewhat of a consistent role. If he continues to steal bases as he did earlier in the season, he’ll certainly be a useful fantasy option moving forward. However, given his lack of power -- the veteran has never topped nine home runs or a 5.6% barrel rate in a season -- he would likely only be an option for fantasy managers in deeper leagues.
Fantasy Baseball Impact Of Luke Voit Signing A Minor League Contract With The New York Mets
Veteran first baseman Luke Voit has joined the New York Mets on a minor league deal, per a tweet from the National League East club’s official Twitter account on Monday. Also per the tweet, Voit will join New York’s Triple-A affiliate.
Voit previously appeared in 22 games for the Milwaukee Brewers earlier this season, batting .221 with a .284 on-base percentage and a pair of stolen bases in 74 plate appearances.
And while he didn’t connect on a home run while with the Brewers, Voit has hit 20 or more homers in three of his last four seasons prior to the 2023 campaign. That included the 2022 season where he hit .226 with a .308 on-base percentage, 22 home runs, and a stolen base in 568 plate appearances split between the San Diego Padres and Washington Nationals.
Voit will provide the Mets with some additional depth in the minors. It’s definitely worth following fantasy-wise to see not only how he fares at Triple-A, but how the Mets perform moving forward.
Regular first baseman Pete Alonso is currently on the 10-day injured list. It’s possible that Voit could be a quality streaming option for fantasy managers in deeper leagues if he’s able to crack the major league roster while Alonso is out injured.
When Alonso hasn’t played first base this season, New York has primarily utilized Mark Canha and Mark Vientos at first base. Neither had more than 60 innings at the position this season as of the beginning of play on Tuesday.
It’s also worth noting that there’s a bit of long-term upside this season -- regardless of the first base situation -- if Voit can make it onto New York’s major league roster and produce. Of course, this is all purely speculative, but the Mets' designated hitters haven’t enjoyed the most success at the plate this season. Because of that, it isn’t hard to see Voit potentially hitting his way into something of a regular role if he's productive. Again, that’s purely speculative.
So far this season, the Mets' designated hitters are tied for the fifth-lowest collective wRC+ (92) in the sport. They’ve also produced just nine home runs and a .315 on-base percentage in 330 total plate appearances.
Only six teams have gotten fewer home runs from their designated hitters. All told, 18 teams have seen their designated hitters log a higher on-base percentage.
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