The trade deadline has come and gone but there wasn’t much in the way of fantasy implications. With that said, there are still plenty of players flying under the radar that can contribute to your fantasy baseball title run. Today I’ll tell you about five of them that caught my eye including my favorite two-start pitcher of the week. Apologies for missing last week; I was down in Arizona for my Dad’s retirement ceremony from 33 years in the Air Force. I’ll be back every week for the remainder of the season. Here we go!
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#1 Want a rookie starting pitcher who throws 100?
This one is for you deep leaguers as he is ZERO percent owned despite killer stuff, an offense that should get him wins and a 2.92 ERA thus far in the majors. I’m talking about Ryan Helsley of the St. Louis Cardinals. He isn’t owned anywhere because he’s been coming out of the pen this year, but he is a former starting pitcher and St. Louis sent him back down to Memphis in Triple-A to prepare him to return to the rotation. St. Louis needed a fifth starter but didn’t make a move at the deadline because they believe in Helsely and for good reason. We could have lightning in a bottle by late-August when he returns to St. Louis.
#2 Carson Kelly is better than your fantasy catcher
This is, of course, a stretch if you are rostering J.T. Realmuto, Willson Contreras or Gary Sanchez (whenever he returns), but otherwise, Kelly is right in the mix with the second-tier of fantasy catchers. He already has 14 homers in just 210 at-bats and carries a quality batting average for a catcher as well. At just 10% ownership, you can almost definitely replace your shares of Yadier Molina, Buster Posey and Danny Jansen if you haven’t already.
#3 Want a two-start ace next week?
Don’t we all! It just so happens that there is one who is available in 68% of leagues and he might be pulling a second-half Lance Lynn on us. Jeff Samardzija has quietly been killing it for the Giants of late with five quality starts in his last six games. In that time, he has a 2.09 ERA and a 0.85 WHIP. With two home starts this week in San Francisco’s pitcher-haven, he is a strong bet to keep that run up and help your team tally head to head ratio wins.
#4 He’s heatin’ up!
With Franmil Reyes shipped off to Cleveland for a struggling prospect (!?), Wil Myers is back to playing every day and it’s going quite well. Granted, it’s a small sample size, but this is a historically streaky hitter who possesses both power and speed. Fantasy owners have been fed up with Myers as demonstrated by his ownership rate of 52%. Assuming you aren’t in a shallower league, you may still be able to acquire him for pennies via trade.
#5 Ready for the next Juan Soto?
Or at least the closest thing to it. His name is Jo Adell and two years ago everyone thought the Angels reached on him with the 10th pick of the MLB draft. He had major holes in his swing and was as risky a prep player as you’ll ever seen in the top half of the first, but with that, of course, came skills galore and he has matured into them. Now the consensus top prospect in baseball, Adell has been called up to Triple-A as a 20-year-old and should get the call to L.A. in September where he will be a terror from the start in all five categories. If you can afford to use a bench spot and be patient, he, or Gavin Lux, is the top MLB-ready stash.
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