MLB Fantasy Brief: Top 3 Aaron Hill Replacements at 2B
This time, it's Aaron Hill biting the dust, out for 4-6 weeks with a broken hand. Hill has been in-and-out of the lineup for the past couple of days due to hand soreness, so fantasy owners have already had to look elsewhere for spot starts. But now, it's the real deal - you need a long-term replacement.
With Jered Weaver, that wasn't much of a problem. I could walk outside and trip and land face-first into who's starting for the Cubs or Astros tomorrow. There will always be advantageous matchups available. At second base, however, that's not the case.
We had Hill projected for 21 homers the rest of the way; not a single second baseman available in at least 40 percent of ESPN leagues is projected to hit more than 12. Hill's .289 average and .836 slugging (third-highest projected for a 2B behind Robinson Cano and Ben Zobrist) will also be hard to replace.
But it doesn't have to be all frowns and despair. Here are three players that we project can minimize the damage the rest of the way until you're back on track with Hill. These are all guys who are owned in less than 50 percent of ESPN leagues, along with their numberFire projected stats for the rest of the year.
Top 3 2B Replacements
1. Jeff Keppinger - Chicago White Sox
| PA | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS | ESPN % Owned |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 422 | 42 | 6 | 41 | 2 | .296 | .737 | 36.1 |
Maybe that power production is long gone, but Jeff Keppinger still a great way to keep up with (and even improve upon) Hill's batting average output.
With Gordon Beckham on the DL for the White Sox, Keppinger holds down the fort at second base for the immediate future. But he's a utility player with multiple positions otherwise, meaning that he may have use to your team even after Aaron Hill returns.
The main key for Keppinger is his line drive percentage. He has hit an incredible 30 percent of balls into play this season as liners. While that number is bound to fall down with regression to the mean, his 20 percent career average indicates that it won't fall too far. More line drives and less fly balls means less home run possibilities, but more average-boosting types of hits his way.
2. Chris Nelson - Colorado Rockies
| PA | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS | ESPN % Owned |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 377 | 43 | 10 | 46 | 2 | .286 | .776 | 4.0 |
Down on the average but up on the power, Chris Nelson may be the Rockies' everyday third baseman but still holds second base availability on both ESPN and Yahoo due to his utility role last season. For the fantasy owner, this could be a huge advantage.
The young Nelson (a former ninth overall Draft selection) holds ton of upside potential, evident in his growth since getting more appearances for Colorado. His walk rate jumped from 3.7 to 7.2 percent last season, while his home run rate (2.1 to 2.4 percent) and line drive percentage (21 to 26 percent) also increased in kind. If he continues that growth pattern, our projections may even be selling him short.
The one issue with Nelson is that the Rockies seem content to not play him every day. Reid Brignac will see occasional time at third base as well when the matchup is not advantageous for Nelson, so daily fantasy players may want to have another guy with multi-position capability (such as Jeff Keppinger or Danny Espinosa) ready just in case.
3. Chris Getz - Kansas City Royals
| PA | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS | ESPN % Owned |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 371 | 41 | 2 | 28 | 16 | .273 | .677 | 4.3 |
Aaron Hill never provided much of a stolen base threat, but that doesn't mean that you can't bolster that part of your lineup now that he's gone. Chris Getz has stolen bases at least 75 percent of his attempts in all four of his seasons in the majors, and with that up-and-coming Royals lineup, that could lead to plenty of runs.
Similar to Nelson, Getz is a guy who will be benched every once in a while or pulled for a situation matchup. In the past ten Royals games, Getz played eight - he sat once against the Blue Jays and Phillies (although he later pinch hit in the Phillies game). Still, though, playing 80 percent of the time isn't half bad.
In exchange for the increased stolen bases and runs, though, you'll have to watch out for that average. While .273 isn't bad, it's a significant decrease from Keppinger or Nelson's potential output. Getz's career 6.7 percent walk rate and complete lack of power limits potential for those aiming at high OBP and slugging marks as well.
