Weekly Fantasy Baseball Sleepers: Don't Ignore C.J. Cron
Hopefully everyone fared alright last week while I took the week off from fantasy baseball! But rest assured, I’m back with a brand new list of severely under-owned guys who have everything in place to put up big numbers this week.
Note: All ownership statistics are an average of ESPN, Yahoo and CBS ownership numbers.
C.J. Cron - 1B, Los Angeles Angels
Cron burst onto the scene in a big way for the Angels, going 3 for 5 with a double and two RBI in his May 4th debut against the Texas Rangers, and he’s been hot ever since. Cron is batting .345 (10/29) with six runs scored, five home runs and seven RBI over the last two weeks. He also hit .318 (7/22) this past week and sports an impressive .567 slugging percentage, as well as the 71st-ranked nERD in the league (1.16). Cron does his best work against right-handed pitchers, hitting .329, which will come in handy when the Angels face five righties this week. Don’t let young studs Dallas Keuchel and Jarred Cosart scare you off, and Cron is still hitting .263 against lefties, so he’ll be just fine against John Danks. Somehow Cron is only owned in 25.5% of leagues, so you should go grab him now if you can.
Steve Pearce - 1B/OF, Baltimore Orioles
Pearce has been a force since entering the everyday lineup midway through the month, and has hit his stride to the tune of a .327 (16 for 49) average with seven runs, three homers and nine RBI in the last two weeks. All of Pearce’s splits between righty/lefty and home/away are fairly even and very solid, meaning you don’t have to worry about the specifics of a matchup too much. Pearce will have four easy outings between the Texas Rangers and Boston Red Sox, so you’re probably safe to play him against Yu Darvish, Jon LesterJon Lester and John Lackey as well. Pearce is still managing to fly under-the-radar at a fairly low ownership, so he should be another easy addition.
Brad Miller - SS, Seattle Mariners
After the terrific spring training campaign that Miller put together, it was easy to get excited about his regular season performance. Unfortunately, Miller got lost in a terrible slump, falling nearly completely off the fantasy baseball radar. But Miller's recently started a serious comeback, batting .333 (14 for32) with seven runs, three home runs and seven RBI in the last two weeks - raising his average to .207 on the year.
At first glance it’s easy to let the -1.26 nERD (357th ranked) make you not even consider Miller an option, but even last week he hit a respectable .263 (5 for 19) with three runs, a homer and three RBI. Between the Houston Astros and Chicago White Sox, Miller and the Mariners face four of a possible six right-handed starters that will cause no issues whatsoever. Miller will also face lefty Jose Quintana (5-7 record, 3.44 ERA), who shouldn’t be a concern, meaning that lefty Chris Sale is the one matchup you want to avoid starting Miller, if possible.
Brock Holt - 3B/1B/OF, Boston Red Sox
People have always questioned if Holt could carry his Minor League success into the Majors, and it seems he’s finally putting it all together this year. Holt will enter Week 14 with an impressive .321 average, .357 wOBA and 1.20 nERD (67th). For the month of June, Holt is hitting .325 (39/120) with 16 runs scored, two home runs, 10 RBI and three stolen bases. All of the Red Sox’s games are at home this week, where Holt is hitting .348, 50 points higher than on the road. To make this deal too good to resist, the Sox face all right-handed starters, whom Holt is hitting .286 with two doubles, a triple, a home run and five RBI against. At 57% ownership, Holt is the least-available guy on this list, but he’s still pretty widely available so grab him while you still have even the slightest chance.
