We’re nearing the All-Star break in the Major League Baseball season, so you’re likely either preparing for fantasy football or looking for that extra piece to solidify your fantasy baseball team for the stretch run.
If you’re still engaged in the fantasy baseball season, there’s power still available on the waiver wire to help fantasy owners garner better numbers in the RBI and home runs category.
Here’s two players currently available who can add productivity to your fantasy baseball lineup.
Logan Morrison, Tampa Bay Rays, 1B
His batting average is still bad, but we’re not worried about that in this column. He’s rebounded from an awful start to the season to be one of the most productive first basemen in home runs and RBIs.
In the last 30 days, he has six home runs, tied for sixth among first basemen, and 14 RBIs, tied for 11th among first basemen during that time. And while his batting average is still low, he’s still getting on base. He owns the 11th-most walks among first basemen during the last 30 days, helping him to a .336 on-base percentage.
His past production shows that his ability to hit home runs shouldn’t stop now and that his start to the season was an aberration. That start, though, landed him on the waiver wire, and he’s currently owned in less than 15 percent of leagues on ESPN.com.
The batting average won’t get much better, considering his career average is .244. But he can offer some power production for your team if you’re in need of an extra boost.
Mike Napoli, Cleveland Indians, 1B/DH
Fantasy baseball owners are a bit slow to jumping on the Napoli bandwagon. I don’t blame them since he has less than 60 RBIs in five of the last six seasons.
However, this season, he’s been the player we remember from 2013 and before. He owns the third-most RBIs at 23 among first basemen in the last 30 days. During that time, he also has 18 runs, good enough for the seventh-best total among first basemen, and seven homers, the third-best among first basemen.
Napoli is finally healthy and putting up numbers worthy of being a starting first baseman in fantasy baseball. He’s owned in about 50 percent of ESPN.com leagues, so he may be available in your league.
If he can stay healthy, he’s shown in the past to be able to keep up these kinds of numbers. He’s worth being owned in your league.