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Fantasy Baseball Depth Chart Review: Week 14

Fantasy Baseball Depth Chart Review: Week 14

Welcome to the Depth Chart Review! Every week I’ll be going over transactions, lineup changes, and injuries around the big leagues and how they affect fantasy baseball. This week we have the return of two high profile players from injury, an opening behind the plate in Houston, and a surprising demotion in Colorado.

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A.J. Pollock Returns to Diamondbacks

The Diamondbacks got a big piece back to their lineup on Monday, as A.J. Pollock was activated from the disabled list and hit cleanup for them against the Cardinals. First baseman Christian Walker was sent to Triple-A to clear roster space. Pollock missed nearly two months with a torn ligament in his thumb, but he was a player worth holding during that time period and is likely unavailable in any league. Pollock should be inserted back into fantasy lineups immediately. While Pollock’s return is a big boost to his owner, the fantasy fallout comes from the fringier players on the Diamondbacks since their playing time will be affected.

The biggest loser in this situation is probably Jarrod Dyson. Dyson had been getting a decent amount of playing time in Pollock’s absence but hit just .191 with a 49 wRC+. Dyson’s 16 steals made him a usable player in roto leagues, but now he’s going to be in a bench role and can be safely dropped in those formats. Chris Owings will also be negatively affected by this, as Owings had been getting some time in the outfield in Pollock’s absence but now will likely only get playing time as a backup infielder. Owings has been as bad as Dyson at the plate with a .196 AVG and 48 wRC+, but he doesn’t have the speed or defensive abilities to make up for it like Dyson. With Ketel Marte, Nick Ahmed, and Daniel Descalso all firmly in front of him in the infield, and the return of Pollock and acquisition of Jon Jay in the outfield, what little value Owings had has evaporated.

Brian McCann to Miss 4-6 Weeks, Max Stassi to Become Starting Catcher

The Astros placed Brian McCann on the 10-day disabled list Tuesday. McCann will require surgery on his right knee and is expected to miss about 4-6 weeks. The Astros recalled Tim Federowicz to take his roster spot as a backup catcher, but the job belongs to Max Stassi. As the Astros’ starting catcher Stassi presents a good waiver wire option at a shallow position. It’s rare for a widely available, fantasy-relevant catcher to emerge at this point in the year, but Stassi is just 7% owned in Yahoo leagues as of writing this. Stassi’s best skill in the majors and the minors has been power. He has a .227 ISO and seven home runs in 158 PA this season, and a .200 ISO in 247 career PA. At Triple-A Stassi hit 12 home runs in 287 PA with a .207 ISO, however, those numbers should be taken with a grain of salt. They came in the notoriously hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League and Stassi did it as a 26-year-old in Triple-A.

Strikeouts have been a big problem for Stassi at the major league level. This season he’s struck out 31% of his trips to the plate. He also has a poor contact rate at 67%, meaning Stassi may be a batting average liability going forward. His current .255 AVG seems unsustainable given that it’s taken a .341 BABIP from a catcher to maintain it. He has a .215 xBA, and that seems realistic since Stassi both strikes out a lot and hits a lot of balls on the ground with a 48% groundball rate. The power is here for Stassi, but the batting average is not. In deeper leagues, Stassi is definitely worth a look in McCann’s absence. He profiles sort of as a Robinson Chirinos-type. Lots of power, but poor contact and strikeout issues will keep his batting average low.

Angels Activate Shohei Ohtani to Serve As Batter

The Angels activated Shohei Ohtani from the disabled list, but Ohtani will only be used as a hitter. Since Ohtani isn’t cleared to throw he’ll serve as the designated hitter only for the Angels. His return shakes up the Angels’ entire lineup, because now Ohtani may be able to hit every day instead of three or four times a week. It’s unclear whether he will play every day, but he started on Tuesday against a left-handed pitcher, which is a good sign that Ohtani won’t be platooned. Before going on the disabled list Ohtani was hitting .289 with a .246 ISO and six home runs in 129 PA. His batting average was aided by a .360 BABIP, and while Ohtani certainly is speedy that high of a BABIP isn’t sustainable over a long period of time. He has a .216 xBA and 87.4 MPH average exit velocity, neither of which inspire confidence in Ohtani as a hitter. His 27.3% HR/FB ratio is also unsustainable and it’s unlikely he hits home runs at this pace when playing every day. There is reason to be intrigued in the 23-year-old phenom, but his plate skills are a work in progress compared to his pitching ability. In a standard mixed league there are likely better hitters available, but in deeper leagues, he’s worth a speculative add.

The biggest impact this move has on the Angels’ lineup is at third base. Because Albert Pujols must play first base Luis Valbuena will be pushed to third base, creating a competition between Valbuena and David Fletcher. Fletcher has been playing third regularly in the absence of Zack Cozart, and with Cozart on the 60-day disabled list, third base will be the path to playing time for Fletcher or Valbuena. Fletcher has had an offensive breakout this season. Prior to getting promoted he was hitting .350 with a .954 OPS at Triple-A. That comes with the caveat that he was playing in the PCL, but Fletcher also struck out just 21 times in 275 PA at Triple-A, an unheard of rate in this era of baseball. Since being promoted Fletcher has a 98% contact rate. Granted, it’s only been 40 PA for him, but that is impressive nonetheless. Fletcher isn’t on mixed-league radars but should be a good source of batting average in deeper leagues or AL-only leagues.

Luis Valbuena has been the antithesis of David Fletcher. He is hitting just .211 with a 33.2% strikeout rate and 70% contact rate. His power has dropped significantly as well, as Valbuena’s .145 ISO is 88 points lower than his ISO last season. Valbuena’s plate discipline has cratered as well. He’s walking just 5% of the time and has a .254 OBP compared to a 12% walk rate and .294 OBP last season. Valbuena doesn’t offer much at the plate other than the occasional home run and doesn’t have much fantasy value. Neither of these players has mixed league value, but whoever emerges as the starting third baseman will be useful in AL-only leagues.

Rockies Demote Jon Gray to Triple-A, Promote Raimel Tapia

The Rockies made a curious move over the weekend, sending right-handed pitcher Jon Gray to Triple-A and replacing him in the rotation with Antonio Senzatela. They also promoted outfielder Ramiel Tapia to take Gray’s roster spot. On the surface, it may be easy to see why the Rockies demoted Gray. He has a 5.77 ERA on the season and is coming off a five-run shelling at San Francisco on Thursday. But even a cursory glance at his peripheral numbers suggest that Gray has pitched better than his ERA suggests. Gray currently has the 13th best FIP (3.09) among qualified pitchers, fifth best xFIP (2.80), and 12th best strikeout rate (29%). While it may be tough to ignore results, and they shouldn’t be totally ignored in Gray’s case, he was pitching well by many of the standards commonly used to evaluate pitchers. In fact, his 5.77 ERA and 1.49 WHIP were really Gray’s only bad stats, and ERA is not a predictive measure. A .386 BABIP and 63% strand rate ultimately did him in, and while we should expect a higher than average BABIP for Rockies’ pitchers, a .386 BABIP is abnormally high even for Gray. Gray is worth stashing while in the minors. The strikeouts he can provide give him value by themselves, and Gray could realistically shave two runs off his ERA. He’ll probably always under-perform based on peripherals, at least while in a Rockies’ uniform, but he’s still a good pitcher.

Raimel Tapia was promoted to take Gray’s roster spot, and while Tapia’s time in the majors may be short-lived, he’s certainly got potential to make a fantasy impact. Before his promotion, Tapia was hitting .308 with an .880 OPS along with ten home runs and 18 steals in 340 PA. Again, those numbers came in the PCL, but in this case, it doesn’t matter as much since Tapia will play half of his games in Coors Field. Tapia could potentially overtake Carlos Gonzalez or Gerardo Parra in the Rockies’ outfield. Both have been below average at the plate this season; Gonzalez with an 82 wRC+ and Parra with a 92 wRC+. The Rockies have proven reluctant to bench their pricey veterans regardless of how they perform, but if Tapia can hit he will force their hand. Before going on the disabled list David Dahl had pushed some of the veterans out, so if a player is good enough it will force their hand. Tapia is more of a player to watch than a player to add, but if he performs well Tapia has the unique combination of power and speed that is always valuable in 5×5 leagues.

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Elliott Baas is a correspondent at FantasyPros. For more from Elliott, check out his archive and follow him @elliottbaasbb.

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