Need to know who to add and who to drop in Category and Roto leagues? Below are five players owned in less than 50% of Yahoo and ESPN leagues, respectively, who you should strongly consider adding, and five players owned in more than 50% of leagues you should think about dropping or trading for what you can get.
Players to Add:
Kevin Kiermaier (34%, 34%): Kiermaier has consistently been a source of a bit of power and a bit of speed, including a 15-15 season in 2017 despite only playing in 98 games. This season, he is off to a fast start through 18 games, as he already has two homeruns, and three steals. Additionally, he is batting .305 and is currently on a seven game hitting streak. Kiermaier should continue to provide across five categories, as he has done in the past and early on this season.
Scott Kingery (26%, 7%): The only thing Kingery lacks at this point is playing time. However, when on the field, Kingery has been close to unstoppable. Through 25 at bats he has twelve hits and is slugging .880, and has added a stolen base. Again, he needs playing time, but Kapler is motivated to try getting him in more, “saying experience is the greatest teacher” in an interview regarding Kingery.
Sonny Gray (45%, 23%): Sonny Gray has been massively let down by his offense. He sits at 0-3, despite a 2.79 ERA, a .93 WHIP, a 2.59 FIP, and a 3.36 SIERA. Additionally he has a 10.24 K/9, and had a season-high nine in his last outing. He is currently contributing in three categories, and the Reds offense should start picking up the slack and get Gray some wins.
Caleb Smith (34%, 18%): One of the few bright spots for the rebuilding Marlins, Caleb Smith has shined so far. Through three starts, Smith holds a 1-0 record over 17.0 innings. Known as “Dr. K” around Miami, Smith has continued to strike out batters at an incredible rate. After having a blistering 10.24 K/9 ratio in 2018, Smith has improved that number to 11.12 so far in 2019. He has a dazzling 2.65 ERA and a 3.45 skill-interactive ERA. Smith will continue to shine for the Marlins and for fantasy teams.
Brandon Lowe (50%, 24%): One of the breakout candidates of the year is undoubtedly Brandon Lowe. Lowe is already contributing across the five main categories. His average sits at .300, while he already has ten runs, thirteen RBIs, five homeruns, and two stolen bases. Additionally, he has a 52.5% hard hit rate and a soft hit rate of only 17.5%. The sample size is small and those batted ball stats should go down slightly, but Lowe should continue to produce across all five categories for a good Rays team.
Players to Drop:
Miguel Cabrera (71%, 70%): People may be afraid to drop Miggy because of his name; and it is entirely possible that he returns to form. Coming off an injury ridden season, however, he has not looked the same. Miggy is off to an incredibly slow start. Even worse, his early season strikeout rate is the worse of his career. Miggy can still contribute across a category or two, but he isn’t his same self that can contribute across the board or dominate the game.
Jose Peraza (58%, 71%): The whole Reds offense is sputtering, and Peraza is part of the issue. He has started the season just 8-53 and with just one homer, run, RBI, and stolen base to show so far. Even more concerning for fantasy owners should be the fact that Peraza has started only four of the past eight games.
Ender Inciarte (62%, 77%): Inciarte is only hitting .203 early on. He has one homer and two stolen bases, and truthfully could be solid across the board. However, his strikeout rate and soft hit rate are at career highs. Even more concerning for fantasy owners, Inciarte has been delegated to the bottom of the lineup recently, making it harder to contribute in runs and RBIs.
Miles Mikolas (84%, 87%): Like Yu Darvish in the past couple of add/drops, Mikolas is more of a “try to trade high now” kind of guy. After 5 seasons in Japan, Mikolas had a resurgent 2018 season. This year, however, Mikolas hasn’t been as sharp. Part of the issue is that his walk rate is up while his ground ball rate is down. It’s a small sample size, which is why he is not truly drop-able yet. However, if his struggles continue, it is worth looking into dropping Mikolas.
Kyle Hendricks (80%, 78%): After two strong seasons for the Cubs, Hendricks had high expectations for the World Series caliber team. Hendricks, however, has sleepwalked through the beginning of 2019. He has gradually improved through each of his starts, but not by much. His WHIP has still been abysmal and each start. Even worse, his longest outing has only been 5.0 innings.
“Featured Photo: Kim Klement – USA Today sports”
