New Everyday Players — Aug 28, 2023

We got about a month left of the season to go and another 20% or so of it left. That’s significant enough for new acquisitions to still make an impact. So let’s discuss three more new everyday players that you might want to find a new home on your team.

Paul DeJong | SF SS

After spending his career with the Cardinals heading into this season, DeJong now finds himself on his third team. He was first acquired by the Blue Jays just before the trade deadline, where he filled in for an injured Bo Bichette. He was then DFA’d by the team over a week ago before the Giants signed him to fill in for an injured Brandon Crawford. So he’s now back to holding a starting job, having started all three games so far after joining the team.

DeJong has fallen off the map since 2020, as both his ISO and BABIP have collapsed, while his strikeout rate has reached 30%+. It’s resulted in a plummeting wOBA that hasn’t eclipsed .300 since 2019. There are many flaws in his offensive game, so it’s hard for me to envision a rebound back to his pre-2020 levels.

One positive is that he’s a fly ball hitter. The flies, plus the pop-ups, have killed his BABIP and batting average, but at least it gives him strong home run upside. The problem though is that his power appears to be waning. His maxEV sits at the second lowest of his career, with his lowest coming during the short 2020 season. Furthermore, his Barrel% is tied with that same season as his career low. His HR/FB rate sits at exactly his career average though, but he was better in both marks last year and failed to post a double digit HR/FB rate.

If waning power wasn’t enough, he also moves to a home park that sports the lowest right-handed HR park factor in baseball. It’s pretty good for BABIP though, which he could definitely use all the help he could get on. But whether he bats his current .211 or .230 isn’t going to really matter. Since he doesn’t steal many bases, all we care about is the home run potential, and that doesn’t look great. He’s only an NL-Only play in my mind.

Nick Martini | CIN OF

Speaking of players being around the block, the Reds are Martini’s fifth organization since 2019. The 33-year-old hasn’t received much of an opportunity at the big league level, having only amassed 333 PAs before this season during three different MLB stints dating back to 2018. But his minor league performance makes him seem deserving of a bigger opportunity.

With numerous injuries to Reds starters, Martini has served on the strong side of a platoon as the team’s DH. He has always shown strong plate discipline in the minors, walking at a double digit clip everywhere he has played since 2015. That’s a pretty incredible streak, especially since it also includes his three MLB stints. He also hasn’t posted a double digit SwStk% since his time at High-A back in 2014! His strikeout rates had typically sat in the mid-teens, but have increased into the low 20% range in recent years. Given his low SwStk%, combined with his high walk rate, it looks pretty clear that his strikeouts are due to passivity. His MLB Swing% confirms this.

The high walk rate alone makes him worth a look in deeper leagues that use OBP instead of batting average. But he also might have improved power. He has posted double digit HR/FB rates during his last three stints at Triple-A, after failing to get out of single digits before that. He even pushed his ISO above .200 for the first time in his pro career at Triple-A this year. He paired that with a respectable 109.4 MPH maxEV, so I’d speculate he’s now better than the 6.7% HR/FB rate and .119 ISO career marks he holds in the Majors.

Unfortunately, he isn’t a basestealer, though has stolen a handful here and there in the past. So the hope here is that he gives you a 15-homer pace, possibly boosted by a favorable home park, he takes advantage of a good lineup spot to knock in runs, and gets on base enough to also score some runs. He’s still probably just an NL-Only guy, but I’d say he could produce positive value in a 15-team mixed league that uses OBP as well.

Hunter Goodman | COL C/1B

A catcher eligible hitter who calls Coors Field home?! TELL ME MORE! The team’s eighth ranked prospect was just recalled yesterday, combined with the release of Jurickson Profar. He already started his first game a first base, and the team might as well see what they have with the 23-year-old. Of course, you can never rely on the Rockies to give their youngsters an extended look, as they oftentimes have a bizarre fascination with mediocre, or worse, veterans.

Goodman owns 70/70 Raw Power, which you would always salivate over, but would do so even more when that hitter plays for the Rockies. He posted at least a 20% HR/FB rate at each minor league stint of a reasonable sample size, with an ISO no lower than .274. He has also been an extreme fly ball hitter, posting FB% marks of at least 42%, so he knows exactly who he is as a hitter. He only accumulated 67 PAs at Triple-A before getting the call, but he posted an absurd 64.3% HR/FB rate there, resulting in nine homers in just 62 at-bats!

His plate discipline took a major step forward this year at Double-A, as his walk rate spiked to double digits for the first time, and while his strikeout rate was in line with his short history, he cut his SwStk% mark significantly to the low double digits from a worrisome 18.8% mark at High-A last year. His BABIP has been all over the map, hitting a low of .252 at Double-A this year, but also rising as high as .397 at High-A last year. He’s a fly ball hitter, so that’s going to hurt his BABIP, but he doesn’t pop-up too much and hasn’t had an issue with line drives. Coors should help here and he should at least be able to post a league average BABIP.

He doesn’t steal bases, so he’s all about the power. Given his eligibility at both catcher and first, he seems like an ideal speculation in the majority of formats if you need home runs. It’s too bad I don’t personally need a catcher, but I’ll likely to taking a stab myself and have him fill another roster slot with my fingers crossed.