Hello fellow deep leaguers, I hope the fantasy baseball gods are treating you well as we enter another wild season. Most of my teams struggle out of the gate, and of course I wonder if I should make a future league with categories like “hitters who never had a major arm problem suddenly announced they were getting season-ending surgery” and “fielder punches thrown but not always catching the baseball.” If that league existed, I would have killed it with at least one of my teams. Instead, I sit patiently and wait while I accept the fact that Francisco Lindor is hitting .149 without an RBI, Josh Naylor’s .104 without a homer or steal, and Amed Rosario has the same number of home runs as Vlad, Acuna, Tatis, Witt, Jazz, Kurtz, Julio, and the Big Dumper.
It may be early, but it’s never too early to try to keep your team from falling deeper into the relegation hole, especially when it comes to the math. On that note, it’s also time to look at some players who may have fallen off the radar in anything but the deep leagues, but could be of interest to those of us who are already struggling to stay afloat in the shallow waters. This week, we’re going to focus more on production than volume, pointing out some players who have had a decent (or at least impressive) number of at-bats over the past seven days, but are still hitting low percentages in terms of owned players, according to our friends at Fantrax.
NL
Thomas Saggese. So far, at the start of 2026, the numbers haven’t been good for Saggese, but the playing time was worth noting. He is a right-handed hitter who has started six straight games against right-handed pitching in the past week or so, including starts at second base, shortstop, and left field. He has already excelled in both midfield positions in most leagues and already has six outings this season, so it looks like he could add some merit there as well. Again, the returns aren’t there yet as he has just one RBI on the year, but if you’re chasing bats this could be a situation to watch out for.
Alex Freeland. Mookie Betts’ first season IL stint had some in the deep leagues turning to Hyesong Kim or even Miguel Rojas as we see how the playing time shakes out. Freeland, meanwhile, has been piling up the at-bats while tending to the injured Tommy Edman for who knows how long. He’s only played second this year, but he’s also hitting third in most leagues. He’s not off to a great start, hitting .250 with a homer and 11 Ks to 3 walks, but it looks like at least some regular playing time will be his for a while. Even under a ridiculous roster like the Dodgers currently have, there should be some stat-breaking going on here.
Gerard Encarnacion. The Giants’ outfield has been lacking on the board thus far, but Encarnación seems to be getting more and more playing time. Sometimes one of the players considered to be normal in the field is filled in, others are at DH since Rafael Devers started earlier than expected. And again, we have a situation where the bats haven’t delivered the legendary rewards, Encarnación has so far scored one run and has produced zero RBI. At least that ties him to Lindor!
Jorge Barrosa. It was brutal to see Jordan Lawlar go down on HBP just when it looked like he was finally getting and taking advantage of regular playing time, even as someone who didn’t sign him anywhere. One man’s misfortune is always another’s opportunity in Major League Baseball, however, and Barrosa has moved up the Diamondbacks’ depth chart and become the receiver of left-handed bats. I don’t know if there’s much going wrong here, but when you get to this point in the players’ point, true escalation is a luxury we don’t have. What we have is a guy who should continue to play, at least against lefties, so we’ll see if Barrosa can do enough with the opportunity to at least be on the NL depth radar.
AL
Ben Williamson. I remembered about 15 seconds into this season how boring it can be to own any Rays hitter, as their patchwork quilt style lineup is a staple, whether the team is fully healthy or not. Williamson has played eight games at second, three at shortstop, and one at third. Like everyone else on this list, he wasn’t pouring stats your way when you drafted him, but he did have 3 RBIs (more times than Lindor!) and a steal. He also batted sixth last time I looked, so it’s unlikely that deep acceptable production value is in the cards, depending on how you define “deepest league.” And “acceptable.”
Joey Loperfido. Loperfido has always been very good against righties, enough so that he no doubt dominates most AL-only formats. He held his own and then some with a .273 average and .342 OBP, along with 5 RBI and a steal. The Astros’ outfield isn’t very stable these days, and Loperfido has the real-life key to being able to play all three positions. That alone should translate into continued playing time as we see if he can settle in and make a big impact at the plate and produce anything resembling fantasy value.
Joc Pederson. Man, it’s easy to forget that Joc is still around, even in the deep leagues. It looks like he’s been on the edge of the deep league for years, and it looks like he still is. His utility alone diminishes his already low legend value, but that’s why we call it a dig here in our corner of the Razzball world. He has appeared in ten games for the Rangers already, and while he is hitting an impressive .120, it may be worth noting that he opened the season 0 for 16. So, nowhere to go but up, maybe? Also, he has as many home runs as Aaron Judge, just saying.
Tristan Peters. I can’t say I know much about Peters, except that he’s a lot higher on the White Sox outfield chart than I realized. He has been credited with playing ten games in the outfield, and has appeared in all three outfield positions, so he is versatile at least. We’re going to close this list like we started it, with a guy who plays a fair amount, but hasn’t been used well yet. He has no homers, one RBI, and is hitting hard. That’s the bad news; the good thing, for Peters at least, is that he’ll probably get a long string to see what he can do with Austin Hays (not to mention Everson Pereira) for a while.
That wraps this week; thanks for reading and we hope your teams stay healthy and stable for the season!
