Daily Dr. Roto — June 4, 2018
Five NL Guys Who Will Bounce Back and Are Worth Trading For
If you are in the middle or bottom of the pack in your league, you might need to make a trade to get your team back into contention. Here are a few players who have terrific pedigree but for one reason or another have yet to produce this season:
Marcell Ozuna — SiriusXM Fantasy Baseball’s Craig Mish wrote on Twitter (@craigmish) on May 31 that Ozuna had been watching video and found a change in his stance from last season to this season. Mish then predicted that Ozuna would get hot. Well, it’s only been two days since that tweet came out but Ozuna is 5-for-10 over the past three days with two HRs and five RBIs. It just goes to show three things: 1) that Ozuna is a good enough hitter to fix his problems, 2) Craig Mish is a darn good reporter, and 3) Twitter can actually help your Fantasy Baseball team win!
Justin Turner — Coming into this year, Fantasy owners looked to Dodgers 3B Justin Turner as a bedrock for their rosters. However, before the season Turner broke his wrist and missed time. He is 63 at-bats into his return, and we have yet to see the power we have been expecting from him. Wrists are a tricky thing. Former Cubs 1B Derrek Lee was never the same after he injured his wrist, which seemed to sap his power. Turner, however, is not only not hitting for power, but he’s also not hitting on the whole. Look for him to start hitting for average soon. After that happens, watch to see if Turner’s power begins to resurface after getting some confidence at the plate.
Yuli Gurriel — Gurriel also suffered a pre-season wrist injury that required him to miss several games at the start of the season. Like Turner, Gurriel struggled at first with his timing, but as of late he has been hitting very well (he’s hitting .339 over the last 30 days). What we haven’t seen yet from Gurriel is power. And while he’s never been known to be a power hitter (only 18 HRs last season), he only has one home run this season. I think now that Gurriel is more confident at the plate, we will see him begin to drive the ball a little better. In fact, I think he will have 10 HRs the rest of the way. He’s never going to be the power hitting 1B to lead you to a league championship, but he certainly can be an important cog at the corner infield spot the rest of the way.
Ian Happ — What I like about Ian Happ is that I think he’s going to have major positional flexibility by season’s end. Cubs Manager Joe Maddon loves to tinker with his lineups and give players a breather now and then. Happ looks to be taking over the Ben Zobrist utility role that Maddon used so effectively when Zobrist was with Tampa. As of now, Happ qualifies at 2B, OF, and he is working on getting more playing time at 1B and 3B. Even better, is that if anyone gets injured on the Cubs, Happ is the likely beneficiary as he can play so many positions. Once in the lineup, Happ can find his power stroke which seems to have evaded him this season. After hitting 24 bombs in 2017, Happ only has eight this season. I can easily see Happ hitting another 10-12 HRs with playing time.
Scott Kingery — I remember before the season started how much I wanted to have Scott Kingery on all my teams. He has a great combination of power and speed, and I was positive that Phillies Manager Gabe Kapler was going to find a permanent place for him in the Phillies lineup. Well, that hasn’t happened, and the lack of consistent playing time has hurt Kingery’s progression. However, what I have learned in my year’s of playing Fantasy sports is that talent trumps all and players who are talented eventually play to their abilities even if it takes them a year or two to get there. Kingery will hit—it’s just a matter of time.
