RADIO
Welcome to week 10 of the fantasy baseball season. We’re continuing our mission to find you the best and brightest players with second base and shortstop eligibility. As noted last week, the own percentage of players are beginning to settle in, so this list may begin to have a bit less turnover, allowing us to go back and focus on a few of the names we wrote about in-depth earlier this season.
In week 10, we’ll focus primarily on two new names (only one graduate and one cut bait this week), and we’re also going to highlight one name who has been on the list a while, while giving updates on the other seven.
Friendly reminder, we are using Yahoo ownership percentages and position eligibility. On to the middle of the infield!
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- Cut List - Players To Consider Dropping
Week 10 Middle Infield (MI) Waiver Wire Targets
Whit Merrifield (KC, 2B/OF): 37% owned
Merrifield has been one of the hottest adds in the past few weeks, as he is getting on base nearly half the time and showing enough pop (six homers) to compliment the on-base skills. Before an 0-for-5 night on Monday, Merrifield had a 19-game hit streak going, which resulted in a move up the lineup to the leadoff spot. Of course he responded with a hitless night, so it remains to be seen if he stays atop the lineup, but if he does it will only boost his slightly-lacking RuBIn (runs+RBI) production, as he has only 18 runs and 15 RBI despite 42 hits on the season.
Merrifield’s peripherals check out, as he isn’t riding a high BABIP or a particularly lofty HR/FB rate for his current production, and he is posting his second straight season with a hard hit ball rate of at least 35 percent. He avoids infield pop ups like the plague and is one of the more pure strikers of the baseball in the entire sport right now. Add in the multi-position eligibility and there’s a ton to like here.
Chase Utley (LAD, 1B/2B): 4% owned
While Utley wasn’t in the starting lineup Monday for L.A., he has proven to be a valuable even in his 15th season in the majors. The 38-year-old is slashing just .236/.336/.390 for the season as a whole, but those numbers improve to .333/.424/.583 if looking just at his past 24 games. There are some nice underlying numbers that support the recent hot streak as well. Utley is walking at his best rate since 2012 (11.1 percent) and striking out at a lower rate (13.9 percent) than any season since 2014.
That 0.80 walk to strikeout ratio is among the best in the league, and it is supported by real improvements in his swing rate on pitches outside the zone and his swinging strike rate. His contact rate is actually at a career high, and that’s for a player with a career 84.5 percent contact rate. He’s given up a bit of pop with all this contact, but he’s still left the yard three times this season, and for the price he’ll cost you, if he’s reaching base at a lofty clip and stealing a few bases here and there (3-for-4 on stolen base attempts this season), he’s going to be worth that deep-mixed or NL-only roster spot.
Graduated
Neil Walker (NYM, 2B): 42% owned
Walker rode another homer and some nice name recognition to a graduation ownership percentage this week. He’s not going to produce quite like 2017 unless he starts hitting the ball a bit harder, but he still has definite value at the middle infield spot.
Keep Adding
Didi Gregorius (NYY, SS): 38% owned
This writeup is going to look a whole heck of a lot like last week’s, as Gregorius’ profile continues to look exactly like it did in 2016. This is great news for owners and potential owners, as he was one of the most pleasant surprises of 2016.
Jed Lowrie (Oak, 2B): 21% owned
Lowrie had six hits, one of which left the stadium in the past week, and he improved his ownership rank for yet another week. The bandwagon is starting to fill up a bit more, so hop on while there’s still room. Your friendly conductor is here saving you a spot.
Tim Beckham (TB, 1B/2B/SS): 28% owned
Beckham is our returning player in the spotlight this week, as he continues to rise in the ranks thanks to a continued breakout campaign for the Rays. Beckham has already tied career highs in both homers and steals this season, and with Matt Duffy continuing to suffer setbacks in his rehab, Beckham is looking more and more like the man at shortstop for the Rays for 2017. There are some slight concerns about Beckham’s plate discipline profile (28.8 percent strikeout minus walk rate; 16.4 percent swinging strike rate), but when you’re hitting the ball as hard as Beckham is, you’re going to do enough good to cancel out some worries.
This is a stat that has been cited before, but it bears repeating: Beckham’s 46.7 percent hard hit ball rate ranks first among all shortstops in 2017, higher than Carlos Correa, Francisco Lindor, Corey Seager, Trevor Story, every last one of them. That number explains his career-high HR/FB rate, and with his 24.2 percent line drive rate helps to explain his .368 BABIP. Expect slight regression in terms of both homers and average, but not astronomical fallbacks.
Andrelton Simmons (LAA, SS): 17% owned
Simmons crammed two homers and two steals into a four-hit week, providing plenty of value despite the low hits total. He is one of just four shortstops with at least six HR and SB this season, joining the ranks of Elvis Andrus, Chris Owings, and Taylor Motter. If his run and RBI cut offs are added in, only Andrus can match him. He’s worth a roster spot in all but the shallowest of leagues at this point.
Joe Panik (SF, 2B): 10% owned
Panik is at risk of being taken of this list for Ryan Schimpf reasons. With Panik, he’s so consistent that you know what you’re going to get pretty much every week. You don’t need to read an update on his .280 average and .750 OPS every week - you’re either going to add him or not.
Asdrubal Cabrera (NYM, SS): 18% owned
Cabrera hasn’t been the same since his return from the DL, slashing .205/.262/.282 in ten games (nine starts) since returning from his thumb injury. This could be lingering effects of an injury that can sap power from hitters, or it could just be Cabrera going through a typical cold streak. Keep monitoring this situation, though.
Adam Frazier (Pit, 2B/OF): 19% owned
Frazier fell off a bit in the past week, with his Yahoo ownership nearly getting cut in half. Frazier wasn’t terrible, he had five hits and five RuBIns (runs+RBI), but he had an OPS of just .501 for the week, and he simply doesn’t have the fly ball rate to maintain any sort of power numbers. His average and steals should continue to be decent, though.
Jordy Mercer (Pit, SS): 5% owned
Frazier is only a hair below his fellow Pirate teammate Frazier in these ranks despite a large gap in ownership. Mercer has a plus line drive rate (21.9 percent), and his walk rate has improved each of the last three seasons, leaving him with a very palatable .352 OBP this season. His lack of pop is the only thing dragging his potential value down.
Last Chance
Kolten Wong (StL, 2B): 4% owned
Wong is headed out on rehab assignment this week, so he remains in this Last Chance section for one more week in hopes that he will be back on the field and producing sooner than later. The latest update says he could be back Friday.
Cut Bait
Jose Reyes (NYM, 3B/SS): 15% owned
Reyes is currently mired in a 0-for-18 slump, and he is once again losing starts for the Mets. His hot and cold streaks have been absurd this year, and you don’t want him taking up space on your roster when he’s as cold as he is right now.
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