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You see what you’ve been missing, St. Louis?
One of the league’s worst offenses thus far, the Cardinals continued to delay the inevitable call-up of elite prospect, Oscar Taveras. It was a rough start for Taveras during his major league debut, as he failed to get on base. By the way, that was total sarcasm, as the young stud absolutely crushed a ball over the right-center wall for his first career home run.
It was the second at-bat of his first ever big league game.
The free-swinging, yet effective hitter has massive fantasy upside. His swing is quite beautiful, he has legitimate 30-home run power (as he demonstrated yesterday). During his 95 games at Triple-A, he slashed .316/.358/.495 with 12 home runs, six steals, 23 walks and 47 strikeouts. He’s an elite talent and needs to be owned in every single fantasy league with a pulse. Taveras’ ownership percentage is currently sitting at about 66 percent in Yahoo! leagues, so close out of this article, open up your league page and grab him.
And now, we wait for Gregory Polanco…
Note: Ownership percentages are based off Yahoo! leagues.
Gregory Polanco, Pittsburgh Pirates (34%)- It’s now June, which means kids are getting out of school, allergies are driving me nuts and prospects are being called up to the majors. The final component of the big three is Polanco, who should be with the Pirates any day now, making for a scary outfield consisting of Andrew McCutchen, Starling Marte and Polanco. I’ve featured Polanco in my waiver wire adds a few times now, telling fantasy owners to be ready ahead of time. But apparently, people aren’t listening, as he’s only owned in 34 percent of leagues. In 38 games in Triple-A this year, Polanco is batting an insane .373 with five homers, 28 runs, eight steals and a 9.3 percent walk rate. He is an incredibly smart and patient hitter, taking a different approach at the plate than the aforementioned Taveras. But the Pirates offense hasn’t been all that great this year either, so it’s only a matter of time before they release their shiny new toy. Put him on layaway, folks.
Lonnie Chisenhall, Cleveland Indians (36%)- With Carlos Santana on the disabled list with a concussion, the Indians will continue to lean on Chisenhall, who has done nothing but impress this year. He’s batting .369 with three home runs and 15 RBI. There is reason to prepare for regression, as he is benefiting from an insanely high .424 BABIP and he is swinging at almost 38 percent of pitches landing outside of the strike zone, but he is making good contact and driving the ball well. If you need a corner infielder, Chisenhall should serve as one of the better options on the waiver wire, just as long as Santana remains sidelined.
Cody Allen, Cleveland Indians (27%)- If you are in need of saves, Allen could be a nice speculative look. He recorded his third save of the year on Friday, and clearly has better ninth inning stuff than the likes of John Axford and Bryan Shaw. If the Indians weren’t so hesitant to give him an extended opportunity, he’d be the guy by now, but if he continues to pitch well, that will change very soon, making him a sneaky look in deeper formats. As we all know by now, saves are at a minimum.
Adam Pfeifer is a lead fantasy sports writer for Rant Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @aPfeiferRS.
