Prior to the season, Roto Rage warned about š„overdrafting Milwaukeeās Jesusļ·½ Aguilar. Not only did he finish 2018 on a low note, but he really didnāt have a track record proving he could be a dependable 30-plus hą“oš¼mer, 100-plus RBI kind of guy.
Aguilar entered Friday hitting .132 in his first 80 plate appearances without a home run, just five RBIs and a .393 OPS. He is making less contact, swinging and misš„sing more, and making less hard contact than he did last year. On the positive side, he is walking in 11.3 percent of his at-bats and striking out less than last year.
This is not an āI told you so moment,ā because, letās be honest, the season isnāt even a month old. In fact, despite the fact Aguilar was relegated to pinch-hitting duty in three of his past five games before Friday, Roto Rage is advising you to buy low on thš¦e first baseman.
Why? Two reasons: 1) In the brief sample size we have, Aguilar has hit .228 with a .604 OPS and only one ā yes, one ā homer in 171 career March/April plate appearances; and 2) His ownešrship is dwindling.
He was the most dropped first baseman ź¦in ESPN leagues this week and is now just 70 percent owned, making it a great time to trade for him ā he has been traded for players like Drew Smyly, Yu Darvish and Carter Kieboom in Yahoo leagues, to give you an example of how desperate fantasy owners are. Or you could pick him up and stash him on your bench.
Why? Well, here are two more reasons: 1) He is a career .283 hitter with 12 homers in May and a .302 hšitter with 13 round-trippers in June, and 2) Why not? Even if 2018 was an aberration, it isnāt going to cost a lot to find out if he can turn 2019 around.
Even if Aguilar reverted to numbers like his 2017 season (.265, 16 HRs, 52 RBIs, .837 šOPS), he is worth keeping around. He is not a bad player, Roto Rage just believed he was being overdrafted because we still donāt know much about him at the big league level. Bad starts happen, but it is the finish that matters.
Here is a look at some other slow starters and how conā¤cerned you should be:
Joey Vottoš entered Friday hitting .219 while striking out 26.4 percent of the time (alšømost 10 percent more than his career average) and walking about 2 percent less often than his career 16.3 average. Though, the first month of the season is generally his worst month (the only one when his average is below .300), the fact he is 35 doesnāt bring much confidence this isnāt him on the decline.
If youāre worried about Anthony Rizzo and his .207 average or .777 OPS, donāt be. He is a historically slow starter. Keep hą¶£im locked and loš¦©aded in your lineup. The same goes for the Cardinalsā Matt Carpenter (.209, three HRs, five RBIs, .702 OPS).
Aguilarās teammate Travis Shaw is off to a disappointing start, hitting just .200 in his first 24 games. He is striking out at a career-high rate (33.7 percent), walking almost 2 percent less often than his career 10 percent mark and swingišng at strikes at a career-high rate (14.9 percent) with a career-low contact percentage (66.5). He belongs on the bench for now.
Yonder Alonso, owned in just 8.4 percent of ESPN š leagues after hitting .179 over his first 23 games, is a great buy-low candidate. He is a career .263 hitter who also happens to be a career .236 hitter in April. He has hit between .260-.280 every other month. He also hit 51 homers ovšøer the past two seasons. He has walked as many times as he struck out this season, and he is adjusting to life on a new team, which happens to play half its games in a hitter-friendly ballpark.
Big Hits
Eduardo Escobar SS/3B, Dābacks
After hitting just .121 over his first eight games,š· he raised his average to .284 over 18 games before Friday by going 23-for-62 (.371) with tļ·ŗhree homers, 12 RBIs, 13 runs and a 1.096 OPS.
Luke Weaver SP, Diamondbacks
Over his past three starts, he is 2-1 with a 1šø.53 ERA, 24-2 strikeout-to-walk rate and .224 opponent average. Has won hą·“is past two starts, allowing just one earned run over 11Ā¹/ā innings (0.79 ERA).
Eddie Rosario OF, Twins
Heading into Friday, he had at least one hit in nine of his past 12 games ā hitting .327 with eight homers, 16 RBIs, 12 ruź¦æns scored and a 1.230 OPS. He has struck out just eight times in his past 51 appearances.
Domingo German SP, Yankees
Not onlį©į©į©į©į©į©ā¤ā¤ā¤ā¤į©ā¤ā¤ā¤ā¤į©ā¤ā¤ā¤ā¤į©š±į©į©į©y does he have the second-lowest WHIP (0.818) and third-lowest opponent average (.143) in tšhe majors, he is 4-1 with a 1.75 ERA and 28-8 strikeout-to-walk rate over five appearances (four starts) this year.
Big Whiffs
Zach Eflin SP, Phillies
Won his first two starts of the season, but went 0-3 with a 7.07 ERA and a .333 opponent average over his past three starts. He has also allowed five homers over his past 14 inningsš.
Ivan Nova SP, White Sox
Allowed nine earned runs over four innings to the Orioles on Tuesday. The Orioles! He is 0-4 with an 11.09 ERA and .388 opponent average over his past four starts.
Hunter Renfroe OF, Padres
Had just two hits over his past 30 plate appearances before Friday. He walked twice in that span while striking out nine times with a .240 OPS. He scored one run, so thereās ź¦”that.
Mike Fiers SP, Athletics
He followed two straight six scoreless inning performances (and two wins) with three straight outings where hą²e allowed six runs. He went 0-1 with a 16.20 ERA and .442 opponent average in thaź§t span.
Check swings
Two things never associated with Tampa Bay backstop Mike Zunino: high batting average and hit streaks. He did, however, have an eight-game hit streak (April 10-23) when he went 12-for-28 (.4ā29) with two homers, 10 RBIs and a 1.341 OPS. That helped in raising his season avš¦erage to .237.
ChrāØistian Yelich hit 13 home runs in his first 26 games. For reference, he didnāt hit 13 big flies until July 24 last year (his 87th game). He didnāt even reach double-digit homers in any of his first three seasons, two of which he played in more than 125 games.
Joey Gallo hit the first sacrifice fly of his career in his 1,3š°37th plate appearance. Even Mario Mendoza, whose name defines šØthe threshold for incompetent hitting, had 12 sac flies in 1,456 plate appearances.
Team Name Of The Week
Vogelbach to School