Week 2: Sleeper hitters | Two-start pitcher rankings
The two most important factors for Fantasy relevance are opportunity and talent. Two of Opening Day's brightest stars may be underowned because of concerns about one of those two factors.
Jose Martinez can hit baseballs. We felt pretty sure about that. Martinez had a .309/.379/.518 slash line in 307 major league plate appearances last year. What we weren't sure about was whether he had a position. The Cardinals have Jedd Gyorko at third, Paul DeJong at short and Kolten Wong at second. Besides, Matt Carpenter only wanted to play first right? I guess not.
On opening day, Carpenter slid over to third base, making room for Martinez, who led the offense with three hits including a solo home run off of Noah Syndergaard. The right handed hitter is just 59 percent owned, which seems really low with this much uncertainty. If Martinez plays even five days a week he may be started in that many leagues, much less owned.
The White Sox were singing "Joy To The World" after Matt Davidson's Three Dong Night in Kansas City. Concerns about Davidson were the opposite of Martinez. We fully expected Davidson to start every day at third base, but a career .722 OPS in 532 plate appearances was enough to make us wonder if he'd hit. He sure did on Thursday.
It's worth noting that Davidson is not without pedigree. He was a consensus top-100 prospect in 2013 and 2014. He hit 23 home runs in Double-A as a 21 year-old. He hit 26 in the majors last year, but that was mostly overshadowed by the fact that he struck out 165 times with just 19 walks. Well, not only did Davidson rake on Thursday, he also walked once and didn't strike out.
One day isn't enough to change my mind about a 27 year-old with plate discipline issues, but it's plenty to speculate. This is all about your league type and bench depth. I would add Davidson in any standard categories league and any points league that is deeper than 12 teams.
Here are four other options for the waiver wire:
| 1 | 
Hunter Strickland
San Francisco Giants RP
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| The Giants surprised everyone by naming Hunter Strickland their closer on Thursday. He then he went out and picked up his first save. Strickland was phenomenal in the spring, not allowing a run in eight appearances. The important caveat would seem to be Mark Melancon's health but to this point we have no reason to expect Melancon back any time soon. It's pretty awesome to find a good closer on the waiver wire at the start of the season, and Strickland is available in 85 percent of leagues. He's a must-own in all formats. | |
| 2 | 
Tim Anderson
Chicago White Sox SS
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| Matt Davidson wasn't the only White Sox hitter to have a big day on Thursday. Tim Anderson popped two home runs himself. Like Davidson, Anderson has prospect pedigree but he was supposed to be known more for his speed than his pop. In 2017 he hit 17 home runs and stole 15 bases, but plate discipline was a major issue. He has walked just 26 times in 1,037 career plate appearances and has 279 whiffs over the same time frame. He's still just 24 years old, he plays a weak position and he's owned in 41 percent of leagues. That number should creep up a little bit, but I wouldn't go crazy in a standard points league. | |
| 3 | 
Ty Blach
San Francisco Giants SP
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| I made a lot of jokes about Ty Blach starting Opening Day, but he was no joke Thursday night. Blach threw five shutout innings and picked up a win over Clayton Kershaw . For Fantasy purposes that was awesome ... but I don't buy it. In those five innings he walked three hitters and struck out three. He did a good job keeping the ball on the ground, but you just can't succeed walking as many batters as you strike out, or striking out so few. Blach remains a streaming option only in mixed leagues. | |
| 4 | 
Jarrod Dyson
Arizona Diamondbacks CF
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| Jarrod Dyson took advantage of Steven Souza's injury and picked up two hits (including a triple) and a stolen base in his Opening Day start. Dyson isn't someone who needs to be universally owned, and he'll eventually shift back to a bench role, but until Souza returns Dyson should be owned in most categories leagues as a good source of steals. He's currently just 13 percent owned, which is simply too low. | |
