Week 4 Fantasy Baseball: Trade & Stock Watch
With a few weeks of fantasy baseball in the books, we can see some real trends starting to take shape as players gain and lose value. There were still be some very big jumps and drops in trade values based on our Trade Value Chart. We’ll take a look at who has been exceeding expectations as well as those underperforming.
Week 4 Fantasy Baseball Stock Up
OF/3B Taylor Ward, Los Angeles Angels
In just 18 games, Taylor Ward has been outshining his fellow outfielder Mike Trout. Although he’s missed a few games, Ward now has 24 hits in 18 games and has posted a .481 OBP. He’s been an all-around contributor with six home runs and 15 RBIs. While 18 games isn’t a huge sample size, it is over 10% of a regular season. The Trade Value Chart has Ward making a major jump this week to one of the top-ranked players to trade for right now. Ward has been the third-best right fielder in fantasy despite being projected to be 37th preseason.
3B Yandy Diaz, Tampa Bay Rays
Yandy Diaz’s stock went way up after recording four multi-hit games in a five-game period last week. That stretch included a home run, a double, four walks, four runs scored, and three RBIs. Diaz isn’t highly owned (30%) so he may be available in many leagues, but it wouldn’t be a terrible idea to try to buy low on him if you need an answer at third base or the corner infield position. He’s currently hitting .300 with a .437 OBP for the season, so he’s getting it done in all facets aside from base-stealing.
2B/SS Jazz Chisolm Jr., Miami Marlins
Chisolm had a viral moment where he homered after having a brief altercation with home-plate umpire Phil Cuzzi. He’s gotten hotter and hotter ever since that moment putting up a four-hit game two days later, and currently on a seven-game hitting streak where he’s gone 10 of 26 with a home run, four RBIs, and four runs scored. Chisholm is also one of the best base-stealing players in fantasy with five this season. The only player with four or more home runs and five or more stolen bases besides Chisolm Jr. is Manny Machado. Jazz went up a whopping 6.8 points on the Trade Value Chart and is now considered one of the top second basemen in fantasy. I wouldn’t come with or take any weak offers for him in a deal as of now.
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Week 4 Fantasy Baseball Stock Down
SP Sean Manaea, San Diego Padres
After pumping Manaea up after his first two starts in this article, it’s time to pump the brakes a little bit as Manaea has now allowed nine earned runs over his last 11 innings pitched over two starts. If you were able to sell high when Manaea had allowed four earned runs over his first three starts you may have gotten him off at the best possible time. Now that he’s swinging in the other direction fantasy managers may want to consider offering a lower offer for him as he could certainly pitch better than his last two starts. His control has been an issue over the last two starts with six walks in the two outings. I’d look at the two starts as a rough patch and figure Manaea will bounce back as he’s one of the streakier pitchers in the Majors.
3B Ty France, Seattle Mariners
France actually hit safely in five out of seven games over the last week, however, he failed to hit a single extra-base hit, knock in any runs, and crossed the plate himself just once. His slash line took a small hit from the scorching hot pace he was on but still is .333/.402/.515. You’d like to see him continue to bring out the power that he did over the first three weeks of the season. With the Trade Value Chart dropping him a whopping 7.3 points, I’d use this as a good buy-low opportunity as his stats are starting to settle into a more normal pace. At the very least France still has a Top 15 batting average across the majors while playing as many games as anyone in that discussion.
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1B Anthony Rizzo, New York Yankees
You knew he had to slow down at some point, so hopefully, managers who traded Rizzo early in the season got a nice haul for him. Rizzo began the year with nine home runs over his first 69 at-bats. At 7.66 at-bats per home run, for reference, Barry Bonds in his 73 home runs season had one every 6.5 at-bats (while being walked 177 times). Rizzo has just one hit over his last 17 at-bats as his entire stat line will continue to regress to the mean. With how hot he was to start the season, I’d probably wait and see before making any moves involving Rizzo. He’s certainly capable of heating up again and making the all-star team.
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