Happy Fourth of July! The streets of America are flooded with parade-craving citizens, the seductive scent of grilled food is tickling noses everywhere, and the journey to winning a fantasy championship in 2022 is reaching its halfway point with the All-Star Break just a couple of weeks away. If you’ve endured a rough first half of the season, now’s your chance to reboot, catch your breath, and get ready to try and turn things around over these final few months.
If this is your first year playing fantasy baseball, you’re probably starting to realize just how lengthy the fantasy baseball season is. It’s easy to give up early and at the same time, thinking that you have your opponents beat by mid-summer isn’t wise – regardless of how dominant your team looks. No matter what situation your fantasy team is currently in, there’s a good amount of baseball left to be played. In this week’s points league waiver wire article, I dove into six players who could give your points league rosters a boost.
Points League Options
(Players rostered in under 50 percent of ESPN leagues)
Vinnie Pasquantino 1B, Royals (10 percent rostered)
Vinnie Pasquantino is a special hitter. The Royals used an early 11th-round pick to draft him in the 2019 MLB Draft. He made his professional debut the same year and immediately impressed. Across 248 plate appearances, he slashed .294/.371/.592 with 14 home runs, a 10.9 percent walk rate, and a 16.1 percent strikeout rate. Right away, his advanced hit tool, patient plate approach, and above-average raw power were on full display. He didn’t exceed 296 plate appearances in any of his four minor-league campaigns, but he did finish with a promising slash line, encouraging plate discipline metrics, and double-digit home runs in each one.
The 24-year-old made his MLB debut on June 28th. Through his first 17 career at-bats, he has a home run and a couple of singles. What’s more, he has a 2/6 K/BB (24 plate appearances) – highlighting his strong plate discipline skills – and he already has a 112.7-mph hit (12 batted ball events). Now, this is a microscopic sample size, but it’s always reassuring to see a highly-touted prospect showcase their tools in the early stages of their major-league career. With Carlos Santana in Seattle, there’s room for Pasquantino to play regularly for the remainder of the season. He’s an easy player to bet on and acquire in points leagues.
Tanner Scott RP, Marlins (13 percent rostered)
The Marlins’ bullpen is dealing with some key injuries at the moment, and as a result, Tanner Scott has picked up seven saves in nine opportunities dating back to June 9th. The 27-year-old has been a reliever for the entirety of his major-league career (188 innings pitched). He has a career 30.3 percent strikeout rate thanks to his high-spin, upper-90s four-seam fastball and solid slider command. However, sketchy command of his fastball has held him back his entire career. Still, Scott’s converted a career-high nine save opportunities this season, and he could very well finish with around 15 saves.
In points leagues, a closer who’s capable of racking up strikeouts at an above-average rate should be rostered in most formats. Things start to get a bit tricky when that closer has been picking up saves in place of an injured player, but temporary production is still production. If you have the space to add a relief pitcher to your fantasy squads, don’t overlook Scott. At his current rostership percentage, he makes for a low risk, moderate reward pickup.
Josh Naylor 1B, Guardians (43 percent rostered)
The 25-year-old slugger’s been a much-improved hitter through his first 217 plate appearances of 2022. Before this season, Naylor’s tendency to hit a lot of ground balls while distributing the ball to all fields has capped his home run upside. It’s possible to hit around 20 home runs with a high ground ball rate, but not everybody can do it. In Naylor’s case, he’s seemingly decided to hit more fly balls and less ground balls this season, helping him tap into more of his raw pull-side power.
Over those 217 plate appearances, he’s slashing .276/.332/.510 with 24 runs scored, a career-high 11 home runs, and 43 RBI. On top of this, his ability to make contact at a high rate matched with his low swinging strike rate should keep his batting average in the .260-.280 range moving forward. Naylor’s been well worth a roster spot in points leagues for several weeks now, so go grab him if you have the room to roster the first baseman.
Alek Thomas OF, Diamondbacks (12 percent rostered)
Okay, why is Alek Thomas’ rostership percentage sitting at 12 percent? It’s not like he already has seven home runs and four stolen bases through his first 50 career big-league games (187 plate appearances). It’s true that surface stats don’t tell the whole story, so let’s dive into what’s fueling this early-career production. To start, Thomas is armed with a plus hit tool and a plate approach that’ll help him have an acceptable on-base percentage on an annual basis. And as we all know, getting on base is the first step in the stolen base process. When on base, the 22-year-old can use his 95th percentile sprint speed to swipe bags.
Now, because he hits the ball on the ground at a high rate and has a very low average launch angle on his batted ball events, it’s hard to envision him reaching 20-30+ home runs anytime soon. His quality of contact metrics aren’t problematic at this stage in his career, but he could very well fail to reach 15 home runs in 2022. All in all, his points league value stems from his speed, developing game power, plate approach, and hit tool. There’s a good chance that he has more upside than a lot of players who are currently being rostered in your points leagues. Thomas should be a rock-solid fantasy asset for the rest of the season and beyond.
Deep Points League Options
(Players rostered in under 10 percent of ESPN leagues)
Evan Longoria 3B, Giants (6 percent rostered)
Years ago, the 36-year-old third baseman was one of the most reliable third basemen in fantasy land. From 2008-2016, he hit 27+ home runs five times and had a batting average greater than .270 six times. Additionally, he hit double-digit home runs in each of his first 12 seasons. The 2020 shortened season and injuries have limited him to 647 plate appearances since 2020, but when healthy, Longoria is more than capable of helping your fantasy rosters.
Through his first 147 plate appearances of the season, he’s slashing .248/.333/.473 with eight home runs. He already has 13 barrels over 89 batted ball events (14.6 percent barrel rate), a solid 41.6 percent hard-hit rate, and a plate approach that’s geared towards hitting home runs. Assuming that he remains healthy going forward, Longoria should challenge 20 home runs in 2022. He could finish with a batting average in the .240-.260 range, but he’s a free, and proven, source of power who’s readily available in the majority of points leagues. If your third base situation is muddy, Longoria could be a useful short-term and long-term solution.
Darick Hall 1B, Phillies (4 percent rostered)
Drafted 407th overall by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2016 MLB Draft, Darick Hall’s journey to the majors was never going to be an easy one – he was going to have to prove his worth. Luckily for him, he did just that early on. In 2017, he hit 29 home runs over 452 at-bats playing mainly in Single-A. In his minor league career, he went deep 109 times over 2,055 at-bats. It’s always been clear that there’s fun home run potential in his bat, but his poor approach against left-handed pitchers, lackluster defensive abilities, and lack of speed means that his bat will have to carry his value as a major leaguer.
Through his first 18 MLB at-bats, it’s done just that. He’s already hit three home runs, and in his second career game, he went yard twice. The 26-year-old could be limited to designated hitter duties for the rest of the season, but because his bat is his best tool, that’s not a bad thing at all. The Phillies need someone to step up with Bryce Harper out and if Hall continues to hit home runs, they’re going to continue to give him opportunities to hit home runs. He could be a liability against left-handed pitchers, but rostering players who play semi-regularly in deep leagues isn’t uncommon. If you want to roster a player who could be a very cheap source of home runs, add Hall.
