Each week we’ll look at a handful of different players whom fantasy managers should consider picking up in deeper fantasy baseball leagues. Many of these players will have the most value in larger leagues where waiver wire options aren’t as plentiful. Still, they could also occasionally be useful additions in other, more standard-sized leagues depending on your options at their position.
All roster percentages mentioned in this column are via FantasyPros as of Friday afternoon.
All 2024 stats are as of the beginning of play on Friday.
Kevin Pillar – 22%
Kevin Pillar was front and center in this column as a player sporting a far too high BABIP that was helping spur on some rather unsustainable production.
Through his first 10 games with the Halos, Pillar hit .455 with a .471 on-base percentage, three home runs, and a pair of stolen bases in 34 plate appearances, all the while logging a very much unsustainable .522 BABIP.
It was a tiny sample size, in fairness, and those huge BABIP outlays aren’t too uncommon when players go on a tear in the span of a week plus like that.
And, generally speaking, those type of players with that kind of unsustainable production are probably more trade candidates (to trade away) than anything else.
However, we’re nearly a month on from that aforementioned column, and Pillar is… still maintaining an incredibly high BABIP.
Sure, it’s gone down, but at .390 it’s still on the wildly unsustainable side of things.
Since May 18, when that column was published, Pillar has been batting .308 with a .357 on-base percentage, a 147 wRC+, two home runs, a 4.8% walk rate, and a 9.5% strikeout rate in 42 plate appearances.
That it’s gone down to .390 with the Halos suggests the statistical regression might be slowly starting to set in, but it’s been reasonably slow so far and not quite as stark of a drop-off as it could’ve been.
And while lower strikeout rates certainly help where higher BABIP numbers are concerned – and Pillar has generally posted strikeout rates below 20% in his career– the veteran still has yet to top a .325 xwOBA in a season and has yet to hit above .265 in a full season since 2016.
The bad news is that the production is probably unsustainable. Pillar’s xwOBA in an Angels uniform does sit at just .327 at the moment.
The good news is that the BABIP is taking far longer to taper off than was probably expected after such a strong start to his Halos tenure.
For now, he’s still worth adding and utilizing as an outfield streaming option. Just keep an eye on the BABIP and the production.
Heliot Ramos – 11%
Like Pillar, Heliot Ramos has been on a tear so far in the Majors in 2024.
The Giants outfielder is batting .304 with a .407 on-base percentage, five home runs, and a stolen base in his first 108 plate appearances for San Francisco this season.
Like Pillar, Ramos is doing so with an elevated BABIP. Entering play Friday it was at an eye-opening .434.
Unlike Pillar, plot twist, I know, there’s some real sustainability in key parts of Ramos’ production so far. Particularly the power production.
In addition to the five home runs, Ramos has added nine total barrels, a 15.5% barrel rate, a .369 xwOBA, a.504 xwOBAcon, a 56.9% hard-hit rate, and a .202 ISO.
That type of quality of contact, not to mention a 76.0 MPH average bat speed, points to the power production being more than just a flash in the pan and something that should maintain.
Having covered the quality of contact numbers, the only real question is how often Ramos makes contact. He’s striking out 31.5% of the time with a similarly unideal 32.6% whiff rate.
The good news is that he’s offsetting the whiffs with a 13.9% walk rate and a solid 25.7% chase rate. Still, if the strikeouts persist, it might impact his average and on-base percentage numbers.
This could very well be a situation like with Bryan De La Cruz and CJ Abrams earlier in the year where the power production remains even if there’s some regression elsewhere in his surface-level (and fantasy scoring) stats, though perhaps not as extreme of a drop off as the other two experienced in production.
Blake Treinen – 8%
Due to injury, Blake Treinen hasn’t pitched in the Majors for most of the last two seasons, but it’s easy to forget just how dominant the veteran was during his last full in leagues where saves and holds were both part of the scoring.
That year, Trienen led the league in holds and was tied for third among all relievers in high-leverage appearances.
And while he’s unlikely to replicate those numbers this year based purely on the fact that he didn’t pitch in the Majors until May 5, Treinen could play a similar role in the Dodgers bullpen from here on out.
Since debuting on May 5, Treinen ranks first among Dodgers relievers in holds with four. Michael Grove and Daniel Hudson are the only two players with more than one. Elsewhere, Grove is the only Los Angeles reliever with more high-leverage appearances.
And then there’s the little fact that Treinen has an even 0.00 ERA and a 0.42 FIP in his first 10.2 innings so far.
That he also has amassed a 41% strikeout rate and just a 2.6% walk rate probably should be the headliner here, but the veteran relief pitcher looks all the way back in terms of once again being an elite fantasy option in saves+holds leagues.
If he’s somehow still available via waivers in one of those leagues, go add him now.
It’s a run, don’t walk type of deal.
Garrett Cleavinger – 7%
Sticking with optimal additions for fantasy managers in saves+holds leagues, or any deeper league really, Garrett Cleavinger represents one of the better ancillary save options in the league.
Overall, the 30-year-old left-hander has pitched to a 1.40 ERA and a 2.67 FIP. He’s accumulated three saves and six holds, though two of those saves came with Pete Fairbanks on the injured list.
Fairbanks, who returned on May 11, has been excellent in his return from the injured list, but Cleavinger has been nearly as good as well, offering eerily similar production, albeit with a slighter (at least comparatively) elevated walk rate.
If anything, Cleavinger’s recent success in a high-leverage role puts the two in a similar ballpark in terms of rest-of-season fantasy ceiling and value in saves+holds leagues. As long as he’s pitching like this, he has the upside to finish in the top 20 among all relievers in saves+holds leagues.
Photo by Adobe Stock | Adapted by Carlos Leano.