This week’s deep-league hitter recommendations examine a pair of American League teammates with little in common beyond their uniforms.

One hulking slugger joins the majors after clobbering minor-league pitching. Another rejoins the majors after a horrendous start. One middle infielder, formerly a mixed-league mainstay, has finally shown a pulse with a red-hot week. The other, a light-hitting afterthought throughout his career, seemed to have already watched his 15 minutes of fantasy fame expire before heating up again. All of them remain available in under 10% of Yahoo and ESPN leagues, as of Sunday.

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Eric Sogard (2B/SS – TOR): 7% Owned
Be honest: you thought Sogard would have played himself back to a utility role by now. I did when highlighting him here nearly two months ago. He certainly appeared to do just that when hitting .189 in May, prompting those riding the hot hand to rightfully dump him in just about every mixed league.

He has unexpectedly caught fire again, batting .370 with four doubles and four home runs in June. That gives him a first half resembling a sandwich with expired meat wedged into gourmet bread. After going yard Sunday, his OPS by month (combining March and April contests) has swung wildly from 1.156 to .574 to 1.021. Put it all together, and he’s batting .305/.371/.505 with eight homers, five steals, and a 133 wRC+ in 50 games.

The Blue Jays had finally seemed to grow tired of Sogard’s struggles. After sitting him sporadically in May, they downgraded him from first to ninth in their May 31 lineup and benched him in two of four ensuring games. The 33-year-old journeyman has since started all but two games, spending nearly every contest in the leadoff role. Now that he has pressed reset on his unforeseen breakout, managers in deep leagues can see if this hot streak has more staying power. He’ll need to keep performing to keep his job with Cavan Biggio and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. also clamoring for playing time in Toronto.

Bobby Bradley (1B – CLE): 7% Owned
Craving a power boost, Cleveland promoted Bradley to its parent club Sunday. His profile lends itself to a wide range of outcomes, but there’s enough power potential to bet on despite the low floor.

Bradley bopped his way to the majors with a .292/.359/.638 slash line and 24 home runs in 67 Triple-A games. While that marks his fifth straight season with at least 23 long balls in the farm, everything else hasn’t looked as pretty. He’s a career .256/.344/.508 minor-league hitter who batted .224 last year. It’s unlikely he’s made sustainable strides this season, as a 32.0% strikeout rate still hinders any possibility of making steady contact in the majors.

Don’t expect Bradley to be another Austin Riley. If anything, hope for Renato Nunez with more walks and strikeouts. MLB’s power-inviting atmosphere has fostered plenty of notable debuts, so the 23-year-old slugger could promptly authorize a few souvenirs in Cleveland. He’d also be lucky to hit any better than .240 — Steamer projects a .233 batting average — and will at most steal a base or two when nobody is looking. Such empty power isn’t in high demand this season, so he’ll need to prove himself worthy of shallow mixed-league rosters. Those in bigger group of 14 teams or larger should take the plunge now.

Jason Kipnis (2B – CLE): 5% Owned
Vintage Kipnis is never coming back. Once a tremendous power-speed combo punch, the second baseman has tallied just 35 home runs and 17 steals since the start of 2017. A 74 wRC+ gives him a steep upward climb to hitting the league-average 100 barometer for the first season since 2016. This is not a call for a 20/20 threat emerging, but simply a streaker who can make a short-term mark.

Over his last nine games, Kipnis has gone 15-for-29 with three home runs and 13 RBIs. In a little over a week, he has bolstered his OPS from a horrid .556 to a still meager .667. But hey, it’s still progress, even if it merely means he can inch closer to last year’s 89 wRC+ with a sprinkle of power and speed.

There’s at least hope he can keep the good times rolling. Despite lackluster batted-ball trends, Statcast assigns the 32-year-old a .282 xBA and .340 xwOBA over his actual marks of .240 and .287, respectively. THE BAT is also bullish on his rest-of-season outlook, projecting him to hit .258/.329/.442 with a 101 wCR+, 11 home runs, 43 runs, 41 RBIs, and four steals. That would even play as a middle infielder in 12-team mixed leagues, so don’t hesitate to grab him in deeper formats.

Teoscar Hernandez (OF – TOR): 2% Owned
Slugging .602 in a limited 2017 sample size made Hernandez a popular sleeper the following year. Although his .468 slugging percentage came with a .239 average and 31.2% strikeout rate, some stragglers continued to support him this preseason. Even his biggest fans, however, lost hope when he batted .189/.262/.299 prior to a mid-May demotion.

Like Gurriel, Hernandez has responded to the wake-up call. After socking five balls in 19 Triple-A games, he’s hitting .259/.333/.556 since the recall. The owner of a 66.0% career contact rate has fared much better (74.4%) during his ongoing hot streak. He has also limited his strikeouts to a passable 16 in 60 plate appearances.

Most of Toronto’s looming logjam is materializing in the infield, so the 26-year-old outfielder should get another prolonged chance to make his mark for the rebuilding club. A modern hitter who doesn’t get cheated at the plate, Hernandez has corralled a career 12.4% barrel rate. While that clip has dropped (7.3%) along with his exit velocity and launch angle in 2019, he is turning the corner enough to again trust as a deep-league power source. Much like Bradley, it’ll likely be empty power from a career .234/.299/.457 hitter. He’ll need to polish his approach to ever truly break out, but he should at least offer some dingers with the occasional hot streak.

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