Major League Baseball’s second week is in full swing, and your fantasy baseball rosters may need some retooling. Getting ahead of your league-mates is key, so we’re here to make sure you stay ahead of the curve. As always, we explore three fantasy baseball options for your league available in 50% or more of Yahoo! leagues. One of the three has availability in 90% or more. Today, we explore second base. Some familiar faces from week one make an appearance.
[Jeff]
Joe Panik, San Francisco (18% owned)
This early in the season players hitting .500, or with two homers, or with multiple stolen bases rocket up the fantasy baseball leaderboards. Panik has neither a home run nor a stolen base and a good-but-not-insane .348 average. His 6 R, 2 RBIs and quality average find him as the number 10 second baseman in Yahoo! leagues. Owners can snatch him up in over 80% of Yahoo! leagues, and should run to do so. He has a quality plate approach, so he should keep up a high average. Last week I likened him to 2016 DJ LeMahieu, and nothing has changed that opinion. He’s freely available and is an unsexy glue guy to help out your average.
Cesar Hernandez, Philadelphia (12% owned)
Hernandez, like Panik, makes his second appearance on the fantasy free agent list. Hernandez has a six-game hitting streak and has gotten a hit in seven-of-eight Phillies games this year. He leads all second basemen in runs scored, and he’s provided high-quality at-bats so far this season without stealing a single base yet this year. He deserves a much higher ownership.
Scooter Gennett, Cincinnati (1% owned)
The ultimate deep dive, Gennett’s value hinges on Zack Cozart’s wrist not recovering as needed. With Cozart out, Gennett’s taken over at second with Jose Peraza moving to shortstop. Gennett has only four hits on the year, but three are home runs. Gennett isn’t the greatest player, and his value stems entirely from opportunity. He’s better suited as a DFS player for now to ride his dinger-hitting hot hand. Still, diving this deep is about finding opportunity. If Cozart or Peraza go down, then Gennett has hit his way into a role later on this season. He had a .263 average and 14 dingers in 136 games last year, and that potential has plenty of deep league value.