10 fantasy baseball thoughts for Week 10

At the end of each MLB season, a few players emerge with an amazing stat line. Sometimes they turn out to be excellent like Luke Voit or Ozzie Albies a few years back, other times they are Greg Bird and it was just a short stint of success. Here are a handful of guys excelling since September to consider adding and holding onto for the 2021 fantasy baseball season. All of them are below 70% Yahoo owned.

Chris Taylor, LAD (65% Yahoo; 74% FanTrax) — Taylor is batting .329 with six home runs and 22 RBI over the last few weeks. He is eligible as a 2B, SS, and OF. He played the Rockies at Coors which helped as did a series against the Diamondbacks who have allowed above average number of runs this year. He is slamming home runs with the best of them right now.

Ke’Bryan Hayes (11% Yahoo; 59% FanTrax) — Hayes has a robust .333 AVG with four home runs and 12 runs as well as a stolen base since he came up as a rookie this year. He’s made the most against the Cubs and Reds (where three of his four home runs came from). I am expecting a decent production from him next year given the small sample size I saw this year.

Jared Walsh (51% Yahoo; 61% FanTrax) — A September stat line of .342 with eight home runs and 23 RBI from Walsh whose 2020 full season stat line of .291 is markedly improved from the .203 AVG he had last year. I believe Walsh is good but he really benefitted from opponents having played at Coors and against Texas (six games), and against Arizona (three games) so 12 of his 19 games this month have been under favorable conditions.

Clint Frazier (47% Yahoo; 79% FanTrax) — Maybe it took a bit longer than we all hoped for to get Clint Frazier at the plate regularly. Maybe it also required a handful of injuries and maybe he will be relegated to a backup role again next year. That said, he has a .269 AVG, five home runs, 16 runs, 15 RBI and a stolen base. Of the 22 games he played in September, 16 of them were against Toronto and Baltimore.

Kole Calhoun (53% Yahoo; 77% FanTrax) — I am not going to bite on this but I would be remised if I didn’t at least bring up Calhoun’s great September which included a .258 AVG, seven home runs and 18 RBI. Calhoun has burned me enough over the years and his batting average is never a strong point. Still, his strikeout rate is down almost 20% since he joined Diamondbacks and his HR/FB rate is up – most likely because he’s pulling the ball much more than previous seasons.

Brian Anderson (44% Yahoo; 86% FanTrax ) — Anderson had some struggles early on but his September was strong: .318 AVG, five home runs and 18 RBI. All in all he’s going to end a fourth straight season with a batting average above .260 including above 10 home runs in three of those seasons and an annualized amount of over 50 runs and RBI’s. He’s never elite but a very reliable option whose eligible at the hot corner and outfield.

Jurickson Profar (29% Yahoo; 66% FanTrax) — Profar has an insane .361 AVG in September with three stolen bases and a VERY low 15.2 K%. His .400 BABIP jumps off the page as a likely regression city but in a deep league he could prove to be an ‘ok’ option.

Jean Segura (64% Yahoo; 84% FanTrax) — I’ve seen a number of candidates who are on the buy low option going into next season and I felt that way with Segura through most of this season. He was dropped in a number of leagues and I scooped him up because a short blip in July and early August where he was batting below .200 AVG didn’t seem likely to stay for a player who has batted above .270 each of the last four years. It looks like he will make it a fifth year thanks to a September where he batted .296 with five home runs, 21 RBI and a stolen base.

Avisail Garcia (26% Yahoo; 54% FanTrax) — A .310 AVG is a highlight in spite of a limited number of runs or RBI. Across three separate teams, Garcia has held a .250+ AVG in three of the last four years, a handful of stolen bases and home runs and some respectable RBI output. I’ve always enjoyed keeping him on the roster as a consistent production piece. Fairly low ceiling but also a high floor in terms of constancy.

Brandon Nimmo (26% Yahoo; 77% FanTrax ) — Nimmo had a September stat line of .339 with three home runs and 10 runs. He keeps a low K% of 14.1. The trend is he struggles mid-year and eclipses at year end, he did it last year as well. The trick for Nimmo is he increased his GB% by 20% while bringing down the LD and FB% and when he did hit a FB he kept it at the same HR/FB rate as last year.