Some fantasy owners are bailing on Major League Baseball players who haven’t performed as of late. Here are three players who are being dropped at alarming rates. Find out who you should weather the storm or run for your life with.
Trevor Bauer
Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Trevor Bauer produced a stellar April, putting him on the majority of rosters in fantasy leagues.
May hasn’t been so stellar, though.
Bauer is coming off a start where he surrendered five earned runs in five innings. He struck out five batters, while walking none, but also allowed nine hits. If that was just a snapshot, it wouldn’t be such a problem. However, Bauer was even worse in the previous start.
He allowed six earned runs over 4 1/3 innings, while tallying three walks and one strikeout, against the Blue Jays.
That’s the bad. How about the good? Bauer was 2-0 in April, allowing five earned runs in 25 innings. Two of those starts resulted in no earned runs allowed. He also netted 26 strikeouts in his season’s first three games.
Now, it appears fantasy owners are running away, and putting him firmly on the waiver wire. Especially in deep fantasy leagues, locating a pitcher who can produce strikeouts is a commodity. Bauer has proven that.
It’s easy to drop him now out of frustration, but he’s shown the ability to operate at a high level. Go ahead and keep him for the time-being and wait out the storm. – Weather the storm.
Carlos Martinez
Another starting pitcher who hasn’t had a great May.
St. Louis pitcher Carlos Martinez had a great April. Does this sound familiar?
Now, he can’t get anyone out.
Martinez has allowed 14 earned runs in his last two games, surrendering eight walks compared to 11 strikeouts. Teams also are playing batting practice against him, going for 16 hits in the last two games.
But, just as was said with Bauer, Martinez had a great April. He went 3-0, allowing five runs over 26 innings, with 24 strikeouts.
Who is the real Martinez? In his young MLB career since 2013, he hasn’t started many games. This year is his first as a full-time starter, meaning that the Martinez who fantasy owners are seeing now, may be the real one. Hitters have become accustomed to him, and Martinez doesn’t seem to be able to master his control for more than a few innings at a time.
Martinez isn’t worth the roster spot, even with the Cardinals thin at starting pitcher. – Run away
D.J. LeMahieu
Colorado Rockies second baseman D.J. LeMahieu still owns a quality batting average. However, his May numbers are slowly, but surely, reducing that average.
LeMahieu is batting .340 with 14 RBIs, one home run and six runs scored. Those numbers are that way because LeMahieu showcased a quality bat in April.
When he’s played in May (he’s sat out of three of 11 games), he hasn’t shown much at the plate. In two of the eight games he’s played, he was 3-for-7. In the other six, he’s 1-for-18 with one RBI and one scored. It’s not that his average has dipped. It’s that he’s only producing one run and one RBI in the entire month so far.
His career stats also point to an ability to steal bases, which also hasn’t been seen this year. Obviously it’s difficult to steal bases when not getting on base, but he only secured one stolen base in April.
There’s not many great options at second base, so this is difficult to run away from, especially since LeMahieu is an offensive player from Colorado. That usually equals success. However, LeMahieu isn’t showing much, so he’s safe to drop in favor of another second baseman who can get on base. – Run away
