Each week, we’ll look at a handful of different players that fantasy managers should consider in deeper fantasy baseball leagues. Many of these players will have the most value in bigger leagues where there aren’t as many waiver options. Still, they could occasionally be a useful addition in other, more normal leagues, depending on what options you have at their position.

All squad percentages mentioned in this column are from FantasyPros As of Friday afternoon.

All statistics for 2024 refer to the start of play on Friday.

Jonah Bride – 4%

One of the biggest beneficiaries of the Marlins’ trading activities at the deadline – You may have heard they traded a pile of players – Jonah Bride has taken on a key role in Miami’s lineup.

Of course, he played with some regularity in July before the deadline, but Bride has finished either third or fourth in every game he has played in since July 31.

In most cases, someone like Bride will bat further up in a lineup that is now not Using Jazz Chisholm Jr., Josh Bell, and Bryan De La Cruz would probably be beneficial from a fantasy perspective simply because of the increased batting frequency and the sheer fact that he would get more opportunities to bat.

But in this case, Bride gets all those batting appearances, all those extra chances And He can regularly hit near players like Jake Burger, Xavier Edwards and Jesus Sanchez on the roster.

We’ll get to Bride’s production in a moment, but getting close to this trio will do wonders for his fantasy production.

Burger has been one of the league’s very best hitters over the last six weeks, posting a .287 batting average with a .354 on-base percentage, a .322 ISO, and a 163 wRC+ in 96 at-bats in July before posting a .365 batting average with a .354 on-base percentage, a .481 (!) ISO, and a 241 wRC+ in his first 60 at-bats in August.

Then there’s Edwards, who has been excellent both at making contact (with a strikeout rate of just 16.6%) and at reaching base (with a walk rate of 13.1%) and an on-base percentage of .437). His .430 BABIP is probably (I’m going out on a limb here) unsustainable. However, Edwards’ ability to draw walks, make contact and steal bases (he has 19 of them so far, including six in his last four games) makes him an extremely effective leadoff hitter.

Edwards and Burger have been batting first and second recently, while Bride and the final member of the trio (Jesus Sanchez) alternate between batting third and fourth. Sanchez’s .242 average and .295 on-base percentage in 394 batting appearances may not be stellar on paper, but he has hit 15 home runs and nine stolen bases and is in the 79th percentile or better in xwOBA, xSLG, barre rate, hard hit rate and bat velocity.

But back to Bride. He has a .276 batting average in 105 at-bats, with a .381 on-base percentage, a .195 ISO and a .317 BABIP. The 28-year-old has also hit five home runs, 10 runs scored and 20 RBIs so far.

With a wOBA of .367 and an xwOBA of .316, there is concern here about potential positive regression, but even if the infielder performs passably at a surface level in the top half of the Marlins’ lineup with Burger, Edwards and Sanchez, he’s certainly worth a look for fantasy managers in leagues with 14 or more teams. Even in leagues with 12 teams, he’s worth a look as a streaming option.

Jesus Sanchez – 4%

Speaking of Sanchez: He is in the squad in far too few leagues.

Maybe it’s the average. Maybe it’s the on-base percentage below .300. Who can say?

In fact, he should be on a lot more fantasy lists.

After the section on Jonah Bride, you get the point: Sanchez has made a lot of good contact at the plate this season. Sure, he’s striking out 25.9% of the time, with a whiff rate of 30.2% and a chase rate of 35.9%, but by and large, the contact he’s making is of the loud variety.

He is a potential batsman with great potential.

And while his BABIP of .294 doesn’t necessarily indicate a positive decline like the gap between his wOBA (.308) and his xwOBA (.345) does, Sanchez’s surface-level numbers are now starting to take shape as we approach the home stretch of the season.

Since the beginning of July, Jesus Sanchez has a batting average of .262 with a .314 on-base percentage, eight home runs, a wRC+ of 125 and three stolen bases. He has scored exactly 19 runs and struck out 19 himself.

It has been an extremely encouraging period for the outfielder, not too different from that of some of the other influential hitters in the league.

Zack Littell – 16%

Littell has been a solid rotation option for both the Tampa Bay Rays and fantasy managers this year, making 24 starters and posting a 3.89 ERA and 4.11 FIP in 129.2 innings for the American League East club.

He has five pitching victories, striking out 116 batters, allowing 26 walks and 20 home runs. If you do the math at home, the result is:

The home runs are admittedly a bit high, and although Littell has struggled with them lately, he has mostly limited them to solo home runs.

In fact, in his last outing against the Houston Astros, the veteran allowed just one hit (a home run) in five innings, while allowing three strikeouts and two walks.

It was the fifth time in six starts that Littell allowed one run or less in five or more innings, and all of those games were against pretty tough competition, too.

And while the FIP numbers for each start certainly leave something to be desired (as does the strikeout total), Littell represents an ideal short-term rotation option for fantasy managers looking to replace an injured pitcher or simply add more pitching production to their team.

Going forward, the veteran’s fantasy roster overall won’t get much easier. Assuming the Rays’ rotation continues without interruptions, he’ll face the Padres and Twins at home and the Phillies and Guardians on the road. Before that, though, his next start is scheduled for next week at Oakland, a matchup where you’ll want him in your fantasy lineups.

David Festa – 8%

Festa is one of the Minnesota Twins’ and overall most promising pitching prospects. He has posted a 5.20 ERA and a 5.16 FIP in six appearances (five starts) over 27.2 innings.

However, his ERA is largely due to the fact that he allowed 16 hits, 12 earned runs, four home runs and one walk in his first two starts (10 innings).

Since then, Festa has allowed just three earned runs in 17.2 innings, striking out 25 batters while allowing just 12 hits, eight walks and four earned runs. That’s good, at least from a strikeout and walk rate perspective, for a 34.2% strikeout rate and 11.0% walk rate over that span.

And while Festa has only reached the five-inning mark twice in those two starts, his strikeout potential is too remarkable to ignore in fantasy terms, especially with the Twins’ rotation struggling with injuries and Festa (speculatively speaking) all but assured of a spot in the rotation.

This season, he has a strikeout rate of 27.5% and a walk rate of 7.5% in the major leagues.

Assuming the Twins’ rotation continues as it has without interruptions, two of Festa’s next three starts will be against teams with the fifth-highest (Atlanta) and 14th-highest (St. Louis) strikeout rates this season.

Photo by Adobe Stock | Adapted by Carlos Leano.