So I own Trey Mancini in a league, and when it was announced yesterday that he'd be benched in favor of Hyun Soo Kim, I figured it made sense and benched him. Imagine my frustration when he comes in to pinch hit, ties the game with a home run and then wins the game in extra innings with another home run, giving him a 2-2, 2 HR, 2 R, 5 RBI night. Then I took a look at Mancini and I realized that he is only owned in just over 12% of ESPN leagues, which to me is shocking considering how good he's been this year. As of now, he's slashing .296/.338/.542 with nine home runs, 15 runs, and 30 RBIs. Put that on a 162 game pace and you're looking at a guy with around 30 home runs, around 55 runs, and over 100 RBIs. Now, playing time in the Orioles outfield can be an issue, it's crowded and they like to play matchups, but consider this: he's played in 49 games so far, which is roughly 89% of the games the Orioles have played. Let's say he keeps that pace, that puts him at roughly 139 games on the year, and if he keeps the offensive pace up, that's over 25 home runs, around 86 RBIs, and around 40-45 runs. Honestly, I think the Orioles are trusting Mancini more, and I think he'll get the playing time. The average will come down as his .351 BABIP comes down, and the power will slow a little bit as the 25% HR/FB rate comes down (though Mancini is a power-first hitter, so I expect an above-average HR/FB rate), but I think he's legit. I believe, if given a full season, Mancini is a legit 30 home runs hitter right now, and he's only 25. When he was DH-only (in some leagues) he was a little harder to own, but he's got outfield eligibility now, and if you need outfield help, Mancini is worth a look. I honestly think he'll bat around the .270s the rest of the way with at least another 15 home runs or so. I think he could finish the year with a stat line that looks a lot like Maikel Franco's did last year, but with a better average. And he's available in over 80% of ESPN leagues.
Let's take a look at some of the other hitting performances from Wednesday:
Villar or Rosario when he gets the call?
I’d stick with Villar