Here’s a look at a dynasty trade value target for this week.
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Fantasy Baseball Advice
Here are waiver wire players to watch and dynasty fantasy baseball advice for this week.
Dynasty Addition/Trade Target Of The Week
Much of James Outman‘s breakout season so far looks legitimate in terms of potential future fantasy success. Or, in other words, it’s not a fluke.
The 26-year-old entered play Monday hitting .256 with a .343 on-base percentage, nine home runs and five stolen bases.
That he looks poised to continue contributing both home runs in stolen bases is only part of the picture here. Outman is sporting a strong 12.2% barrel rate that sits in the 77th percentile league-wide. He’s also currently in the 88th percentile in Statcast’s sprint speed metric.
What is arguably just as crucial is that the rookie looks locked into a regular role for the foreseeable future in the eternally dynamic Los Angeles Dodgers lineup.
Los Angeles led the league in runs scored during the 2022 season. After a number of significant offseason departures, some drop-off was expected.
Fast forward to Monday and the Dodgers aren’t leading the league in runs scored.
They are third though.
All that despite losing a host of position player talent in the offseason, from Trea Turner and Cody Bellinger to Justin Turner and Joey Gallo – to say nothing of Gavin Lux missing the current season due to injury – the Dodgers remain one of baseball’s most productive lineups.
Of course, that’s in part due to players like Outman and Miguel Vargas making a significant impact early in their respective Major League careers, but it’s hard to discount the fantasy value of being a regular in the Dodgers lineup.
Los Angeles is not only scoring runs at an elite rate this season but – perhaps unsurprisingly – they’re also accumulating a ton of plate appearances with runners in scoring position as a team.
The National League West club entered play Monday with the fourth-most plate appearances with runners in scoring position in baseball.
It’s a perfect situation, fantasy-wise, for members of the Dodgers lineup who get to share a lineup with the likes of Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Will Smith and Max Muncy on a daily basis.
That’s especially true for a player like Outman with some quality underlying metrics.
In addition to the strong barrel rate and sprint speed metrics, the rookie has added a .431 xwOBAcon this season while logging a 9.6% walk rate and a 24% chase rate.
Admittedly, strikeouts look like they might continue to be part of his game. The outfielder struck out 29% of the time in 307 plate appearances at Double-A in 2022, followed by a 25% strikeout rate in 252 plate appearances at Triple-A last season. He’s struck out 33.1% of the time so far in 2023.
Still, he brings more than enough to the table elsewhere – most notably making loud contact when he does connect on pitches – to be an impact fantasy player in arguably the league’s most fantasy-friendly environment in Los Angeles.
He’s already an impact fantasy player as a rookie. Moving forward, the sky is the limit fantasy-wise.
There’s the ceiling of a top-10 overall fantasy player here sometime in the next handful of years. Now’s the time to acquire him in dynasty formats and watch the counting stats pile up.
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