| | | | Tuesday, August 24, 2021 | | Happy Tuesday to everyone, but especially those Fantasy Baseball managers who took our recent advice and scooped up Ty France and Rafael Ortega off waivers. It's Dan Schneier here filling in for Frank Stampfl. As I'm sure you've noticed, there has been a slight change to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast schedule. There will no longer be a Monday evening into Tuesday AM show, but we're not going to let the latest news fall by the wayside. | | Back to Monday's action, both players (France and Ortega) delivered key hits for their teams but also filled up the stat sheet on Monday. We didn't have too many games on Monday, but below we'll break down all of the key actionable information to process as we move forward and prepare for the Fantasy playoffs. | | Of course, as always, you can follow to make sure you get the latest episodes of Fantasy Baseball Today right when they drop on Apple and Spotify. | | | | France is on fire | | | | Scott White favorite Ty France is on a heater and it continued on Monday night. The Mariners second baseman has earned several FBT shoutouts in recent weeks, specifically from Scott, but even we didn't see this current power surge coming. France slammed a game-tying solo homer in what would result in a 5-3 Mariners win over the rival A's. This was the second consecutive game France ripped a game-tying home run in the ninth inning and it was his 16th home run of the season. Don't look now, but the 27-year-old is getting hot from a power standpoint with five jacks in his last nine games (since Aug. 14). | | Perez continues to be a Fantasy cheat code | | Royals C Salvador Perez is essentially Fantasy Baseball's version of what Travis Kelce was to Fantasy Football in 2020. What do we mean by that? Well those managers who drafted Kelce in 2020 were awarded with one of the most valuable assets at any position given the weekly advantage he provided over the rest of the tight ends. The same is true, now on a daily basis, with Perez in Fantasy Baseball during the 2021 season. The 31-year-old is having a career year and it continued on Monday night. | | Perez hit his 33rd home run on Monday. He also reached base on four of his five at bats and that included a line-drive rip off Zach Greinke. Perez now has 12 homers in the 34 games since we returned from the break and he's on pace to top 40 homers for a reason -- from the catcher spot! Fun fact: If Perez continues this tear, he'll challenge Johnny Bench for the single-season catcher home run record (45, set back in 1970). | | | | Waiver wire targets | | Scott White recently broke down his top waiver targets and here's a look at the players who caught our attention and deserve another nod: | | Reds OF Tyler Naquin: He's having a huge month of August, clearly, and this weekend alone (Friday included) saw him hit three homers, three doubles and a triple. It's easy to write off Tyler Naquin since so much of this year's production has been confined to April and August, but overall, he's batting .268 with 18 homers and an .816 OPS, with Statcast data that mostly backs it up. He appears locked in as the Reds center fielder and is looking at an extremely favorable September/October schedule that includes the Pirates three times, the Tigers, Cubs and Nationals. Diamondbacks C Daulton Varsho: It may surprise you to see how well Daulton Varsho has performed since the start of July, though perhaps it shouldn't given that he's the fifth highest-scoring catcher in points leagues during that stretch. In some ways, it's an upset he's only fifth, but playing time has been an issue. He has started just eight of the past 16 games. There's an easy remedy, though, given that he's also capable of manning the outfield. He could be a real standout if his recent production earns him more at-bats down the stretch.Yankees RP Nestor Cortes : Having spent most of this season working in relief, buildup has been an issue for Nestor Cortes since his move to the starting rotation in early July. But after going six innings for the first time last time out, he went seven in his latest start over the weekend, which means the only remaining consideration is whether or not he's, you know, good. And while the swinging-strike rate is pathetic and the fly-ball rate serious cause for concern, there's a reason he has a 2.56 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 9.6 K/9. He's so darn crafty, keeping hitters guessing by mixing up his delivery, and his 2.70 xERA speaks to that. By now, he deserves some benefit of the doubt.Royals SS Nicky Lopez : The stolen bases are the critical number here. Nicky Lopez has eight in his past seven games, making him a perfect 18 for 18 on the season. The Royals are known for enabling base-stealers during an era when most teams don't, and Lopez appears to be the latest beneficiary. If it continues, he could be highly impactful in a category where a little goes a long way, but of course, he'll need to keep hitting for it to happen. He kind of profiles as a poor man's Nick Madrigal at the plate, so it's distinctly possible. His contact hitting stood out even more than his base-stealing ability in the minors, in fact. | | | | Scoop up Ortega now | | Cubs OF Rafael Ortega offers a little bit of everything in Roto leagues and he was filling the stat sheet again on Monday night. At this point, he should be rostered in more leagues and especially in five-OF leagues. Ortega racked a two-run shot in the ninth inning to lead the Cubs to a walk-off win over Colorado. He's red hot in the second half with a .345 average, five homers, 16 RBI and five steals (in 37 games). Scoop him now off the wire if he's still there. | | | | | | | | Soccer Lives on Paramount+ | | Start a Football Pool Today! | Stream 2,000+ soccer matches a year from UEFA Champions League, Europa League, Serie A, NWSL, USMNT & USWNT in Concacaf qualifiers and much more. Start your free trial today!
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