Let’s look at some more hitters to target in points leagues, which is where I think the majority of trade deadline focus should be. Since about half of starting pitchers end up on the injured list at some point in any given season, this strategy minimizes the risk of giving up major assets for a top-tier arm who then ends up on an IL slot during the fantasy playoffs. And while many leagues don’t set their trade deadlines until July, it’s best to begin your shopping a little early to start seriously scouting the players you’re interested in targeting and to then beat your competition to the punch. The following three hitters are worth targeting right now for their consistently elite production.
2025 Stats: .265/.315/.467 ; 15 home runs ; 41 RBI ; 45 runs ; 2 stolen bases
Hitting second in the order most nights for a rejuvenated Tampa Bay Rays‘ offense, Brandon Lowe is quietly putting together yet another plus season at the plate. Lowe is no stranger to success, making the AL All-Star team in 2019, and hitting 39 home runs and 99 RBI two years later in a huge 2021 season. Lowe has managed an OPS+ over 100 (league average = 100) in all of his previous seven seasons, and not only is he doing so again this year, but he seems to have regained his power stroke of old. His 15 home runs have him on pace for 31, which would be the most he’s had in any year other than that special 2021 season. Add in about 85 RBI and 90 runs scored, and you have yourself a very productive points league player who is probably still pretty underrated in most leagues.
Digging into Lowe’s underlying metrics, the first thing that stands out is the sheer amount of power that is currently doing most of the work in maintaining a Process+ rolling chart that is rock solid.
Lowe’s contact skills have waned a bit more than one would like through the first few months of the season, but it’s encouraging to see the size of those below-average orange columns getting smaller and smaller, meaning his contact metrics are getting closer to league average. With the amount of power that Lowe is displaying, league-average contact skills would serve just fine. There are plenty of supporting metrics to go along with Lowe’s rolling chart as well.
Making maximum use of the hitter-friendly dimensions of Tampa’s temporary home of George M. Steinbrenner Field, Lowe has honed in an approach that emphasizes power and launch angle. Along with elite xSLG, average exit velocity, and launch-angle sweet spot rate, Lowe also sports an Ideal Plate Appearance rate of 30.7%, which ranks 59th among all qualifying hitters.
Lowe should be treated as a top-75 hitter moving forward for the rest of the season, though he likely isn’t going to cost as much as some of the other names around him on that list, making him one of the more desirable trade targets at the moment.
2025 Stats: .293/.332/.509 ; 15 home runs ; 51 RBI ; 38 runs ; 6 stolen bases
In only his second year in the big leagues, Andy Pages has turned himself into a legitimate force in the middle of the potent offense of the Los Angeles Dodgers. With the complete profile one looks for in a potential league winner for points leagues, Pages is hitting for both average and power, while driving in and scoring runs, and none of that should be expected to change any time soon. Hitting somewhere between fifth and seventh in the order most nights, Pages is doing damage regardless of where manager Dave Roberts places him. Though he recently had a three-strikeout game, one of the biggest improvements in Pages’ game from his rookie season is a significant drop in strikeout percentage from 24.4% to 18.4%. This has not only led to Pages making more contact, but he’s been very efficient with that contact, leveraging a powerful but smooth swing to consistently drive the ball into the gaps and over the wall.
With 80th percentile sprint speed, Pages is not only a power hitter but an overall elite athlete. That speed should help him keep his average up when his power goes through lulls, and his stolen bases should be expected to creep up as the year goes on and he gains more experience and confidence on the basepaths. Pages’ Process+ rolling chart also bears out the fact that he is more of a balanced hitter than ‘just’ a power hitter.
Most impressive is the fact that his contact and power metrics have gone toe-to-toe in terms of the contributions they are making to his production, nearly mirroring each other. Pages’ Ideal Plate Appearance (IPA) rate of 32.3% ranks 25th among all qualifying hitters, a super impressive statistic for a player with only around 740 total plate appearances under his belt. At only 24 years old, Pages can be expected to continue to get both stronger and wiser at the dish as he matures and gains experience. It’s worth pursuing the young, dynamic Pages right now if you’re in need of an outfielder or a utility bat that could be a major points contributor down the stretch.
2025 Stats: .279/.322/.440 ; 11 home runs ; 48 RBI ; 37 runs ; 4 stolen bases
Many folks wrote off Bo Bichette after his dysmal season in 2024 in which he hit .225 with only four home runs. Those who did so missed the fact that he was plagued by multiple injuries throughout the year, including several calf strains that he tried to play through, and then a broken finger that ultimately ended his season several weeks prematurely. Rather than believing Bichette suddenly lost the skills he displayed so consistently in his career prior to last year, it would have been much wiser to buy into a return to form for a career .289 hitter. If you did so, you so far have been rewarded with a top-40 player in most points league formats.
If you didn’t draft Bichette, now is as good a time as any to go after him in a trade. He is on the heels of his best week of the season, hitting .385 in the last seven days with three of his 11 home runs coming during this hot stretch. There are plenty of reasons to believe Bichette will be able to sustain elite-level points production for the remainder of the season, beginning with his Process+ rolling chart.
Bichette has consistently shown above-average contact skills since Opening Day, but his decision-making was below average for most of the first six weeks of the year, and his power, though slightly above-average, was not anything to write home about. He recently rectified both of those issues, displaying solid decision-making at the dish and supplementing that with borderline-elite levels of power. Just as importantly, his expected metrics hold up as well as any hitter out there currently.
Hitting .279 is not anything to complain about, especially in this day and age when the league average hovers around .245. And yet there is plenty of room for improvement based on Bichette’s underlying metrics, as his xBA stands at a lofty .313, better than 98% of his peers. He is emitting a profile of a very complete hitter, with an expected slugging at .522, that is better than sluggers such as Elly De La Cruz and Byron Buxton, each of whom have 17 home runs themselves. With Bichette only recently having picked up his own pace in the home run department, it would not be a surprise if he could continue a strong power return with his current approach, leading to a 25-30 home run season. Further underlying this projection is the fact that his Ideal Plate Appearance (IPA) rate of 34.6% ranks seventh among all qualifying hitters, and his hard contact rate of 38.3% ranks eighth.
Add in super strong whiff and K rates, and you have yourself a shortstop that will likely end up being on many championship rosters this season, and quite possibly inside the top-20 players at the end of the year. Go get him now if he is anywhere close to available.
