Well, it looks like many teams caught on to my Smoak love as he’s now owned in nearly half of ESPN leagues. This week we’re digging a little bit deeper still to find the values in deeper mixed and AL Only and NL only, where there are still lots of young talent and intriguing hot performances worth considering. And then there’s Mike Zunino. Which is my way of saying, use this as a guide, not as a gospel. Gospel makes me overly conscious of my tendency to clap on the downbeats instead of the upbeats like I’m supposed to.
BUY
Josh Bell (1B, Pittsburgh Pirates) - Ciao Bell-a! It’s not very common to see a guy who’s calling card is just having great discipline suddenly start hitting for big power. It’s certainly looking like not a total fluke, as his 9 Homers to date are backed by a 11.1% Barrel/BBE. On the other hand, his 53% GB% rate, a career high, means his HR/FB is at a very unsustainable 26.5%, and his Hard Contact rate is actually down to a pedestrian 27.8%. Still, he’s young and can hit the ball to all fields, draws walks and his AVG, should improve, making him a must-own in deep leagues and a solid flier in 12-teamers, especially in OBP leagues. Let the Bell toll for you!
Smoak, Bour, or Alonso? I have room for two 1B-only players, but not three. (H2H 12-team OBP w/ TB instead of HR.)
One more: can you guys add barrels/BBE to your glossary? I got the gist from this article (http://m.mlb.com/news/article/201699298/new-statcast-metric-barrels-has-best-hit-balls/), but what’s not clear is the rough division between MLB average and good.