Price: $2,600
Max Kepler has seen his production held back by some bad luck in 2018.
His 36.9% hard-hit rate is a career-high and his 18.7% soft-hit rate is tied for a career-low, but only 9.5% of his fly balls have gone for home runs and he's sporting a .234 batting average on balls in play (BABIP). Last year he had a 12.1% home run to fly-ball rate, and over his career he's got an 11.7% average. He put up a .276 BABIP in 2017, and has a .257 career-average. So even though he's making his best contact, he's not producing as well as we'd expect. That has left him well underpriced relative to his upside all year.
Today, he brings those numbers into a terrific matchup with Chicago White Sox righty Lucas Giolito, who has been dominated to the tune of a .356 wOBA and an egregious 5.89 xFIP by left-handed bats. If ever there's a spot for Kepler to turn that contact into production, it's tonight.