Greetings and greetings, friends, as we continue another week of baseball. I hope your teams stay healthy, although it seems unlikely that will happen, as injuries seem to come faster and more furious than ever, especially with those dark pitchers. But whether your team is dodging bullets or swimming in a sea of red crosses, why not stay on top of an ever-changing player pool? Whether you need to connect more holes in a folded list or just want to fold the depth of the bench while you can, you might as well buy when you have the chance. Of course, the options remain limited for those of us on the deep teams, so as always, we’ll try to cast a wide net to see if we can find a few live fish among the piles of junk that often clog our league free agent pools.
This week, we’ll touch on a few more average players in each league than usual (those owned 30% or less in Fantrax) and work our way down to include some deep league guys. Here’s what’s happening!:
AL
Isaac Collins (27 percent). Collins was of great interest to me this offseason after being traded to Kansas City, I got a top hitter with good plate skills to get a fresh start with a new team that could make for some deep league sleepers. He hasn’t broken it and he doesn’t even play every day, but after a big game on Tuesday, his line for the year doesn’t look bad. He’s now hitting .250 with a lovable .367 OBP, and while the stats don’t add up, he’s one of those guys who can help in every category if he can put together a nice stretch. I’ve caught him in a few 15-man mixed teams in hopes of getting a few more fireworks while he’s hot, and if he does mix things up he’s even in the discussion in the shallow leagues.
Zack Gelof (22% owners). Gelof is another guy I was excited about this year back when 2025 was coming to a close, but a combination of shoulder surgery and the A’s signing Jeff McNeil killed the enthusiasm pretty quickly. Things just looked up, though, as Gelof is finally healthy and back with the big team. Over the past two weeks, he is hitting .290 with a few homers and a few steals. He hasn’t shown any ability to consistently hit for average, but let’s not forget that he went deep 17 times and had 25 stolen bases over the past two years. Plus, he’s suited up at both second base and the outfield in most leagues, and that flexibility never hurts.
Matt Vierling (9% owner). Vierling has been a disaster this season, so much so that it wouldn’t surprise me if he was demoted by the time you read this article. I’ll still mock him though since he feels like the definition of a player with nowhere to go. I mean, unless he’s taken down and we never hear from him again. If he can get his stuff together, he could be the league’s cheapest power source ever. He’s 3 in his last 7 (and a walk!), including a homer as I write this, and has been hitting at or near the top of the Tigers’ order, so who knows, maybe the turnaround has begun.
Andrew Monasterio (5% owner). A decent percentage of Monasteryo’s 2026 production came in one monster game about a week ago, so there’s probably not much to see here. If you’re looking for a deep mid-league player, as I just did, however, you may have noticed that the selection is pretty slim. I’m holding Monasteryo in that league hoping to be better than Zero who isn’t in that spot on the list; time will tell if i made the right choice. He’s getting used to the bats as a utility man in Boston if nothing else, as he’s appeared in a handful of games at all four infield spots, as well as four at DH.
NL
Miguel Andujar (24 percent). Andujar is “only” 31 years old, or it seems like he’s in his early twenties, and he’s once again proven himself to be a very important baseball player in real life, this time with the San Diego Padres. His skill set doesn’t always translate to fantasy value as MLB value, but he’s become an important cog in the Padres’ hitting machine and has provided at least limited fantasy value. In the past two weeks, he’s hit .294 with two homers, which, as we all know, are two more homers than any teammate has this season.
Curtis Mead (17 percent). Anyone else keep forgetting that Mead is now a member of the Washington Nationals? One of the reasons why I don’t remember that fact is that I own him in fictional teams, which I regret for just being patient. It’s not because he was very good, it’s more because some of the guys I drafted on a lot of deep-league teams were very bad, but that’s completely different. Even though Mead is hitting an unimpressive .220 on the year, he has four homers with 15 RBI and 14 runs scored, not to mention three steals. That amount of production plays well in your deep leagues, and the chances should continue, and he’s even hit third in the lineup.
Esteury Ruiz (12 percent). Ruiz is a player who seems to disappear for years at a time, only to occasionally pop up with a major league team and tease us about how fun he was while leading the planet in stolen bases. He’s with the Marlins now, by the way, and he’s been playing a good spot for them lately. Not only does he have three steals in the past couple of weeks, he’s also hit two homers and is hitting a ridiculous .267. I probably should have been more busy adding him to the team a week or two ago, but if you’re in a league where he’s available, you might want to take a look at him as we see if the 27-year-old can keep things going.
Eli White (4 percent). With Ronald Acuña sidelined for a while and Michael Harris in and out of the Braves’ lineup, White has once again made himself the backup the team feels comfortable turning to when their outfield depth is tested. White has played in six of seven games recently, and has two homers and nine RBI on the season, which is, you know, better than nothing. (And better than one of the Padres’ outfielders!) There’s never going to be anything other than deep league eligibility, of course, but potential relevance in deep leagues is what we’re doing here, when we’re pushed to the point of looking at any number of possible counters at the bottom of our lists.
