Five under 50: The best players likely available in your fantasy baseball league

It’s officially the fantasy baseball stretch run, as most non-roto leagues are likely in the final two to three regular season weeks, and with playoff weeks not too far off on the horizon. Fantasy owners need to make sure they are on high alert, and rostering the best possible players, not feeling too attached to a certain player because they have high name value, or because they’ve simply been on the roster all year.

Here are five names for prospective owners, guys who are available in over half of ESPN leagues, but who could certainly swing a few key categories in your final few weeks. Since no two fantasy teams are the same (they’re like snowflakes, really), I’ve highlighted five totally different types of players. So check out your roster and see what you need, then look and see if any of these five players are available in your league, because they shouldn’t be, and could provide the extra boost you need to sneak into the playoffs, or lock in your first-round bye.

If you need power: Chris Carter (48.1 percent owned in ESPN leagues)

There are actually several good power options available in more than half of ESPN leagues (Yasmani Grandal and Brandon Moss are also both solid options), but Carter offers the highest power ceiling of any of these guys. Carter is a pure power threat, with 30 home runs already this season. Carter has averaged exactly 30 home runs over his three previous seasons, so this isn’t too surprising, and the advanced metrics show that he well could go on to top his previous career high of 37 home runs, which came in 2014 with Houston. Carter is hitting the ball harder this season (41.2 percent hard hit ball rate, which is a stat that measures exactly what it sounds like) than he ever has before in his career. In fact, that 41.2 percent of hard hit balls is good for the 12th-best rate in all of baseball, one spot behind a guy you might have heard of: Mike Trout. When added to a solid fly ball rate (4th in all of baseball), and a good ballpark for home runs (Miller Park is 7th-best for home runs this season) the rate at which Carter is leaving the yard looks totally sustainable.

If you need steals: Travis Jankowski (21.2 percent)

The anti-Chris Carter, Jankowski currently ranks sixth in all of baseball in steals this season, with 28. Unlike the other lightly-owned elite steals player (Rajai Davis), Jankowski is still getting regular at bats, and only Billy Hamilton and Jonathan Villar have more steals than Jankowski (12) in the past 30 days. There was a brief stretch a couple weeks ago where it looked like the 25-year-old outfielder was hitting a bit of a wall, but with three steals in the past week, he once again looks the part of a valuable fantasy option. Jankowski has a borderline-elite line drive rate this season (27.9) which is helping to prop up a .364 BABIP, but what is really to like about Jankowski is his patience at the plate. Sporting a spiffy 13.3 walk rate, Jankowski clearly knows that a walk is most certainly as good as a hit for a slap hitter of his ilk, and is not afraid to let the pitcher put him on first base. When Jankowski gets to first base he knows what to do, as he has has 28 steals in 36 tries.

If you need general production: Alex Gordon (44.8 percent)

If you look solely at the season totals for Gordon (.225 BA 47 runs 13 home runs 26 RBI 6 SB), it’s not too surprising that he is available in so many leagues. However, if you look at the past three weeks (.318 BA 16 runs 6 home runs 10 RBI 0 SB), you see a player that should be owned in nearly every league. And the turnaround isn’t just a small sample size fluke, either. Gordon has been absolutely smashing the ball the month of August, with a 45.1 percent hard hit ball rate that would be top in the majors if it were his season total. In fact, August is the third straight month with a hard hit ball rate over 40 percent for Gordon, so it was just a matter of time before he turned things around. And that’s the final point with Gordon: This is a player with an OPS+ of 121 over the past five seasons, so we know what he’s capable of.

If you need a starting pitcher: Robbie Ray (49.3 percent)

Let’s start off by saying that for almost every single starting pitcher owned in under 50 percent of leagues, you should be streaming them to get more starts during your week, but Ray is the exception. It’s mind-blowing that, even on the day he is a probable pitcher, Ray is owned in under 50 percent of leagues. Ray has the third-best K/9 rate in ALL OF BASEBALL, trailing just Max Scherzer and Jose Fernandez. Sure, he has a slight run prevention problem (4.31 ERA), but that is more than likely to turn around, as his xFIP (3.29) is actually lower than Max Scherzer’s. It’s also better than Johnny Cueto, Madison Bumgarner and and Jake Arrieta. Ray’s xFIP is fourth-best in ALL OF BASEBALL! There’s no way this guy should be available in so many leagues. If you pick up one guy on this list, make it Ray.

If you need a closer: Brandon Kintzler (34.9 percent)

Kintzler isn’t a world beater, but people are onto to closers, as a whole, with very few good options available in over half of ESPN leagues. The best pitcher who is currently a closer, and available in over half of leagues, is Kelvin Herrera, but with Wade Davis working his way back sooner-than-later, Herrera won’t have the closing gig for much longer. Jim Johnson (40.5 percent owned) is a decent option and so is Tyler Thornburg (35.3 percent), but Kintzler is the best. The Twins are quietly above .500 since the end of June, but they also aren’t blowing teams out, right in the sweet spot for closers. Kintzler’s FIP (3.49) and xFIP (3.37) aren’t nearly to the level of his ERA (1.77), but those also aren’t totals that will kill you. Honestly, it’s hard finding solid closer options on the waiver wire, and Kintzler is proof of that. He’s far from great, but probably the best you can get. He’s the guy/girl you end up with at bar close. And it’s officially fantasy baseball bar close.