Geraldo Perdomo was one of last year's breakouts, but he started the season as a draft-day afterthought. He was able to turn his career around and become a top-10 fantasy producer with a couple of adjustments.
Today, I'm going to dig through some boring accumulators looking for some possible breakouts. In most cases, these guys weren't being rostered for a reason. To find the players, I'm limiting the search to hitters with at least 50 plate appearances who have an NFBC RotoWire Online Championship rostership rate under 50 percent. In all, 29 hitters made the cut.
| Name | Roster% | PA | OPS | SB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chase Meidroth | 31 | 69 | .604 | 1 |
| Brayan Rocchio | 0 | 66 | .672 | 0 |
| Mike Yastrzemski | 15 | 64 | .565 | 1 |
| Connor Norby | 6 | 62 | .822 | 0 |
| Jake Cronenworth | 2 | 62 | .460 | 0 |
| Yoan Moncada | 1 | 62 | .702 | 0 |
| Nolan Arenado | 5 | 60 | .510 | 0 |
| Luke Raley | 49 | 59 | .911 | 0 |
| Nolan Gorman | 39 | 58 | .620 | 0 |
| Josh Smith | 35 | 55 | .435 | 1 |
| Harrison Bader | 22 | 55 | .338 | 0 |
| Joey Loperfido | 12 | 55 | .759 | 1 |
| Kyle Karros | 0 | 55 | .561 | 2 |
| Ben Williamson | 1 | 54 | .694 | 2 |
| Brooks Lee | 23 | 53 | .723 | 0 |
| Josh Jung | 18 | 53 | .608 | 0 |
| Nick Gonzales | 2 | 53 | .608 | 1 |
| Alek Thomas | 1 | 53 | .377 | 3 |
| Gavin Sheets | 25 | 52 | .690 | 1 |
| Marcell Ozuna | 21 | 52 | .320 | 0 |
| Jacob Young | 2 | 52 | .764 | 1 |
| Spencer Horwitz | 1 | 52 | .672 | 0 |
| Marcelo Mayer | 37 | 50 | .591 | 1 |
| Jonathan India | 16 | 50 | .665 | 0 |
| Rhys Hoskins | 7 | 50 | .715 |
Geraldo Perdomo was one of last year's breakouts, but he started the season as a draft-day afterthought. He was able to turn his career around and become a top-10 fantasy producer with a couple of adjustments.
Today, I'm going to dig through some boring accumulators looking for some possible breakouts. In most cases, these guys weren't being rostered for a reason. To find the players, I'm limiting the search to hitters with at least 50 plate appearances who have an NFBC RotoWire Online Championship rostership rate under 50 percent. In all, 29 hitters made the cut.
| Name | Roster% | PA | OPS | SB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chase Meidroth | 31 | 69 | .604 | 1 |
| Brayan Rocchio | 0 | 66 | .672 | 0 |
| Mike Yastrzemski | 15 | 64 | .565 | 1 |
| Connor Norby | 6 | 62 | .822 | 0 |
| Jake Cronenworth | 2 | 62 | .460 | 0 |
| Yoan Moncada | 1 | 62 | .702 | 0 |
| Nolan Arenado | 5 | 60 | .510 | 0 |
| Luke Raley | 49 | 59 | .911 | 0 |
| Nolan Gorman | 39 | 58 | .620 | 0 |
| Josh Smith | 35 | 55 | .435 | 1 |
| Harrison Bader | 22 | 55 | .338 | 0 |
| Joey Loperfido | 12 | 55 | .759 | 1 |
| Kyle Karros | 0 | 55 | .561 | 2 |
| Ben Williamson | 1 | 54 | .694 | 2 |
| Brooks Lee | 23 | 53 | .723 | 0 |
| Josh Jung | 18 | 53 | .608 | 0 |
| Nick Gonzales | 2 | 53 | .608 | 1 |
| Alek Thomas | 1 | 53 | .377 | 3 |
| Gavin Sheets | 25 | 52 | .690 | 1 |
| Marcell Ozuna | 21 | 52 | .320 | 0 |
| Jacob Young | 2 | 52 | .764 | 1 |
| Spencer Horwitz | 1 | 52 | .672 | 0 |
| Marcelo Mayer | 37 | 50 | .591 | 1 |
| Jonathan India | 16 | 50 | .665 | 0 |
| Rhys Hoskins | 7 | 50 | .715 | 0 |
| Jeremiah Jackson | 2 | 50 | .903 | 0 |
| Oswald Peraza | 1 | 50 | .838 | 1 |
| Luis Rengifo | 1 | 50 | .393 | 0 |
| Heriberto Hernandez | 0 | 50 | .489 | 3 |
Here are my thoughts on a few of these players.
Chase Meidroth: Meidroth, with his dual position eligibility (2B/SS), seemed like an acceptable bench streamer or injury replacement after hitting five homers with 20 steals as a rookie. This year, he's struggling to make contact, with his contact rate down more than five percentage points, thereby boosting his strikeout rate up from 14 percent to 22 percent. He's doesn't add enough in other areas to be worth the damage he's doing to your batting average (.203). Ignore until the contact rate improves.
Brayan Rocchio: He's a solid add with some improved contact numbers. His strikeout rate is down from 20 percent to 12 percent. His gains are being hidden by a .204 average and a .205 BABIP. He showed some nice power gains last season (increasing his hard-rate from 22 percent to 36 percent) and might have 20-homer upside.
Mike Yastrzemski: While normally a strong-side platoon bat, Yastrzemski has started against the last two lefties Atlanta has faced. It seems age may have caught up with the 35-year-old, with his contact rate and hard-hit metrics down. His OPS has declined for the third straight season (from .775 to .739 to .735 to .565). Fantasy managers are staying away for a reason.
Connor Norby: My view on Norby is that no one likes the idea of rostering him, but as injuries and underperformance mount up, his rostership rate will increase. In the small sample, he's dropped his strikeout rate by four points. If he continues to play everyday, he could be a 20-homer, 10-steal guy with a .250 AVG — a similar projection to Kevin McGonigle.
Jake Cronenworth: So far, Cronenworth seems lost, with a .460 OPS and just one home run. However, there are no signs of him degrading besides his groundball rate jumping from 42 percent to 51 percent. The problem is that even when he's at his best, he's barely a streaming option.
Yoan Moncada: First off, his 62 plate appearances have already surpassed his total from 2024. Second, several signs point to an improvement, but his strikeout rate has ballooned to 37 percent. He's not swinging and missing, with a three-point drop in his swinging strike rate, but he's being too passive at the plate. His called strike rate has jumped from 15 percent to 23 percent. If he can improve his .184 average and stay healthy (hey, keep the laughter to a minimum), he could hit 25 homers.
Nolan Arenado: He's done. Here is how his OPS has declined over the past five seasons: .891 to .774 to .719 to .666 to .510. Ignore.
Luke Raley: Strong-side platoon bat who has his 37 percent strikeout rate (and 50 percent contact rate) and .448 BABIP battling to affect his .296 average. I'd expect him to be near his career .235 average going forward.
Kyle Karros: The Rockies' third baseman is struggling to be a relevant hitter with a .561 OPS, one extra-base hit and one RBI. Last season, he posted a .585 OPS. While he's stolen a couple of bases, he's not hitting enough to be fantasy-relevant.
Brooks Lee: He has three homers in 53 plate appearances, so 25 homers is possible for a guy who's qualified at second, third and short. He should be rostered in most leagues, at least as a bench replacement.
Nick Gonzales: A lot is going right for Gonzalez, who has improved his walk rate, contact rate and hard-hit rate), but he's putting everything on the ground (51 percent groundball rate) with a five degree average launch angle. Of the 186 batters with at least 50 PA, that's the 16th lowest value. He has just one barrel so far. He's going to need to hit some home runs to be fantasy relevant.
Jacob Young: If there is a true sleeper for the group, it's Young. He's regularly playing while moving up in the lineup (hitting fifth and sixth the last two games). He's a plus defender in center field. He's dropped his strikeout rate from 18 percent to 15 percent while increasing his bat speed from 68.3 to 70.5 mph and subsequently, his power metrics, with his barrel rate going from two percent to seven percent. With the added playing time, he can hopefully get back to stealing bases, as he swiped 33 bags in 2024.
Jeremiah Jackson: While Jackson hasn't walked yet this season, he's batting .333/.340/.563 with three home runs. He's been able to hit thse home runs even though he has a 58 percent groundball rate and an average launch angle of -0.6 degrees. Ride the hot hand while Jackson Holliday remains on the IL.
