Late-season Breakouts Bats – Power Binge for Adell

Here’s an important lesson for fantasy baseball managers: the last three weeks are just as important as the first three weeks – or any three-week stretch during the season. In other words, it’s important to play right through until the end, catching any edge you can over your opponents.

Who’s swinging a hot stick as the season winds down? That’s what we’re here to answer. And these players could even help put you over the edge – to a higher rung in the standings or, hopefully, to a league championship. Let’s look at some recent hot hitters…

Picking it up: Recent Breakout Bats

Tier I

Ian Happ, OF, Chicago Cubs

Happ has the lowest OPS of his career. Overall, it’s been a down season for the 31-year-old, who has never really seemed to take that step to becoming an elite fantasy player. But there’s still a lot to like, and he’s righted the ship lately. That .750 OPS was actually .709 less than two weeks ago.

Since then, the outfielder has gone 13-for-34 (.382) with four homers and nine RBIs. Seven walks during that stretch have also led to an impressive .488 on-base percentage. He’s even stolen a base in those nine games. The home run total is up to 20 (for the fourth time in the last five seasons), and he should pop a few more before the Cubs embark on their playoff journey.

Matt Chapman, 3B, San Francisco Giants

Missing time to injury seems like the only thing that’ll prevent Chapman from reaching 30 homers for a second time in his career (2019 with the Athletics). A steady, if not flashy, bat with pop, the third baseman hit exactly 27 homers in three of his previous four seasons, only missing the mark in a down year in Toronto two seasons ago.

And he’s been good recently, batting .342/.458/.711 over his last 12 games. He’s swatted four home runs and driven in 11 during that time, walking twice as many times (8) as he’s struck out (4). The Giants are playing good baseball, and Chapman should continue to hit down the stretch – particularly producing some valuable long balls for your fantasy team.

Tier II

Jo Adell, OF, Los Angeles Angels

It’s wild that Adell’s ownership levels in some leagues remain much lower than they should be. He just hit his 35th homer! Alas, he still has some warts (see: strikeouts), and he’s not yet a truly dependable bat. But for all intents and purposes, he has been one this year, posting career highs in virtually every offensive category. He’s even got his batting average up to .243 (he hit .207 last year).

Since mid-August, Adell has raised his OPS 54 points to .811. In 20 games during that span, the former first-round pick has hit .347 with a whopping 10 homers and 22 RBIs. In September alone, the 26-year-old has five long balls in seven games with a 1.448 OPS. There’s a lot of pop in Adell’s bat, and it’s worth riding the rest of the way.

Ivan Herrera, C, St. Louis Cardinals

Ivan Herrera is a good hitter, plain and simple. It’s rare for a catcher to possess a bat capable of hitting .300 and having home run pop, too, but that’s what we have in the St. Louis Cardinals’ backstop. He’s proving last year’s .301 mark in 72 games was no fluke, and his .813 OPS is even better than last year’s .800 showing.

The average has dropped a tad (no one’s complaining about a catcher hitting .283), but he’s been better in the power department, producing 14 homers in 89 games this year. There’s no reason why he shouldn’t finish strong, and in his last 12 games, the 25-year-old is batting .308/.417/.667 with four home runs and eight RBIs.

Tier III

Andrew Benintendi, OF, Chicago White Sox

Benintendi has come to life in the late summer. He’s going to reach the 20-home run mark for the second straight year with the White Sox, and that’s largely thanks to a recent hot stretch that has seen his OPS rise 56 points in his last 10 games (.691 to .747).

During that time, he’s hit a scalding .421 with four homers and 11 RBIs, highlighted by a two-homer game against Minnesota last week. He has five multi-hit games in those 10 contests, and you should strike while the bat is still hot.

Brandon Marsh, OF, Philadelphia Phillies

Marsh, as usual, has had a ‘meh’ season. Just nine homers. But good rate stats (a .282 batting average and .778 OPS). It’s a season where the numbers are just okay, but you feel like he’s capable of a lot more. He’s producing a lot more lately as he shares an outfield spot with (a perhaps equally hot) Harrison Bader.

That batting average was just .259 less than two weeks ago, but Marsh has caught fire, batting an eye-popping .485/.541/.758 over his last nine games. He has a pair of home runs and six RBIs during that time. Over the weekend, against the Marlins, he compiled six hits in three games. As long as he’s getting his share of at-bats and being pushed by healthy competition, Marsh should be a net positive going forward.

Drew Gilbert, OF, San Francisco Giants

Batting at the bottom of the order, Gilbert has quietly found his first success at the big-league level. A former first-round pick, who was shipped from the Astros to the Mets before landing with the Giants, the 24-year-old’s prospect shine wore off in large part over the past few years. But don’t tell him that.

In his last nine games, Gilbert is batting .414 (12-for-29) with a pair of home runs and 10 RBIs. He’s not playing every day yet, and his production has come mostly in three big games so far, but he’s definitely worth monitoring. A prospect pedigree bat succeeding at the highest level? Sign us up to see if it’s for real.