MLB FAAB Factor: Entering the Fourth Quarter

This FAAB article is in addition to the AL and NL FAAB articles that run Sunday. Bids are based on a $100 FAAB budget. Throughout the season, this column will have two goals:

1. Identify FAAB targets for fantasy managers in leagues with Thursday FAAB.

2. Offer a preview of FAAB targets ahead of Sunday's columns.

For most of the fantasy season, maximizing the total talent (and playing time) on your roster is your primary concern. But as we head into the final quarter of the regular season, other concerns can come to the fore, depending on the specifics of your team and league. In a roto league, it's time to start thinking about which categories you can gain the most ground in and start prioritizing those. In a league with playoffs, provided you're in position where you're pretty sure you're going to make them, it's worth thinking about setting your roster up for September rather than worrying about the next two weeks.

This week's article will contain a handful of the usual sort of names, but I've mixed in a few whose value specifically comes in one or two categories as well as at least one player who I'd be targeting primarily to use in the fantasy playoffs.

Starting Pitcher

Zebby Matthews, Twins (13%)

Matthews, the 234th overall pick in the 2022 draft, made 13 starts at the High-A level last season, posting a 4.59 ERA and 21.5 percent strikeout rate. He was not a top-400 prospect. He's now the 54th prospect here at RotoWire and has a clear path to holding down a rotation spot for the contending Twins down the stretch. Matthews tore through three levels of the minors before debuting Tuesday against the Royals, posting a 2.60 ERA and 0.87 WHIP in 18 appearances (17 starts). His 30.5 percent strikeout rate was excellent, but his 1.9 percent walk rate was truly outstanding. With Joe Ryan (shoulder) potentially out the rest of the year, Matthews could be here to stay, provided he continues to miss enough bats to allow his command-first profile to work at the highest level. FAAB: $4 

Matthew Boyd, Tigers (15%)

Boyd "broke out" five years ago, provided you looked at his underlying numbers (30.2 percent strikeout rate, 6.3 percent walk rate, 3.61 SIERA) and not his ERA, which remained poor (4.56). Since then, he's done nothing special, with injuries preventing him from making more than 15 starts in a season while his numbers took a step back (4.92 ERA, 22.3 percent strikeout rate, 4.41 SIERA). It's probably best to think of the 33-year-old lefty more as the guy he's been the last several years than the pitcher he was at his peak, but he looked good in his first start back from Tommy John surgery (one run one three hits in 5.1 IP against the Cubs) and has a job for a good Guardians team down the stretch. FAAB: $3 

Nick Martinez, Reds (32%)

Martinez is a 34-year-old swingman who pitches in one of the league's most hitter-friendly parks, so we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves. But he also has a seemingly safe grip on a rotation spot down the stretch and owns a 3.16 ERA and 1.03 WHIP on the year, so we definitely shouldn't forget about him. In two starts since returning to the rotation, he owns a 12:0 K:BB in 12 scoreless innings, allowing just five hits. Don't expect too many strikeouts, as he owns a 20.4 percent strikeout rate even while spending much of the year in relief, but he's a steady option as long as you avoid him against difficult opponents at home. FAAB: $2 

Cody Bradford, Rangers (19%)

Injuries forced Bradford into the Rangers' Opening Day rotation, and he went on to have immediate success, going 3-0 with a 1.40 ERA and 17:2 K:BB in his first three starts. He picked up a stress fracture in his ribs in mid-April, however, an injury that wound up keeping him out for more than half the season. He returned as a long reliever, though injuries have again forced him back into the rotation. After struggling in his first two outings since the injury, he tossed a gem against the Yankees his last time out, striking out seven while walking none and allowing just one run in five innings. With the likes of Jose Urena and Dane Dunning currently occupying rotation spots, Bradford's job should be safe even as the Rangers' injured stars start to return. FAAB: $2 

Relief Pitcher

Ryan Walker, Giants (61%)

Walker has shot past the 50 percent threshold in the last couple days after stepping into the closer role in San Francisco. With former closer Camilo Doval banished not just to low-leverage but all the way to the minors, and with Walker officially named his replacement by manager Bob Melvin, there's little reason for Walker's rostership percentage to stop short of 100 percent. Doval had been one of the league's more reliable relievers over the past couple seasons, but his control deserted him (14.3 percent walk rate) this year, and the Giants don't seem to think this will be a quick fix. Walker's entire statline very much looks the part of a closer — 2.17 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, 30.6 percent strikeout rate, 5.8 percent walk rate — so San Francisco may be happy to keep him in the ninth inning even if Doval sorts things out sooner than expected. FAAB: $8

Lucas Erceg, Royals (29%)

I mentioned Erceg last week, but merely as a potential future closer alongside teammate Hunter Harvey, whom I'd listed as the preferred option. Just two days after that article was published, Harvey hit the injured list with back tightness, leaving Erceg with seemingly a clear hold on the closer job in Kansas City. James McArthur, the Royals' save leader, hasn't recorded a save since before the trade deadline, and Erceg now has both the teams' saves since Harvey went down. Drafted as a position player before converting to relief in the minors and finally making his big-league debut at age-28 last year, Erceg's 3.05 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and 26.9 percent strikeout rate don't look out of place in the ninth inning at all. FAAB: $6 

Catcher

Joey Bart, Pirates (20%)

Bart was designated for assignment by the Giants — the team that drafted him second-overall as Buster Posey's heir apparent back in 2018 — just four days into the season, before he'd appeared in a single game. What could have been the beginning of several years in the wilderness became a very fortunate turn of events for Bart, as he landed with the Pirates and quickly established himself as a deserving starting catcher, slashing .267/.362/.517 in 22 games before hitting the injured list with a thumb injury in late May. His .642 OPS over his first 19 games after his late-June return means he fell off the radar again in many leagues, but he's caught fire again recently, homering five times in his last 13 contests while posting a 1.067 OPS. He should be serviceable at worst while healthy and could be a lot more than that if this turns out to be the start of his long-awaited breakout. FAAB: $2 

Adrian Del Castillo, Diamondbacks (4%)

Del Castillo got the call for his big-league debut after Gabriel Moreno hit the injured list with a strained groin in early August. Del Castillo hit the ground running, with three-hit performances in his second and third major-league games, and he currently owns a 1.128 OPS through six contests. He seems to be the temporary No. 1 catcher in Arizona, starting five of eight games in Moreno's absence. Del Castillo swung a hot bat in the minors as well, slashing .319/.403/.608 with 24 homers in 100 games for Triple-A Reno, though as an offense-first backstop, he'll need to keep hitting if the Diamondbacks are to keep him in the lineup. FAAB: $1 

First Base

Jhonkensy Noel, Guardians (11%)

Noel's prospect profile is not an uncommon one: power over hit, to such an extent that the whole package might fall apart, especially when paired with minimal added value from his glove or legs. Through his first 33 big-league games, Noel has played to the script, and, so far, his power has overcome the questions about his hit tool. A 30.9 percent strikeout rate and 4.3 percent walk rate make for an awful combination, but he's managed a 16.9 percent barrel rate and has cleared the fence nine times. His lopsided .253/.298/.598 slash line is hard to fully trust, but he can certainly help out in power while he's hot and while he's earning regular playing time. He had slipped into the short side of a platoon, but his recent hot streak is earning him at-bats against both sides of the plate. FAAB: $3 

Second Baseman

Brendan Rodgers (14%)

Rodgers really isn't a very interesting player in isolation. He's never had a wRC+ better than 98, has never hit more than 15 homers, and has just one total stolen base for his career. His fantasy value comes from the fact that he plays nearly every day and calls Coors Field home, but you already knew that. He earns a mention this week for two reasons: first, he's on a heater at the moment, slashing .404/.442/.660 since the start of August and .337/.386/.522 dating back to the All-Star break. Second, the Rockies end the year with four of their last five series at home, so readers in leagues with playoffs might want to consider adding a few fringe Rockies now to help out in the semifinals and finals. FAAB: $1 

Will Wagner, Blue Jays (5%)

Billy Wagner's son was sent from Houston to Toronto in the Yusei Kikuchi trade, giving the Blue Jays yet another son of a famous big leaguer to add to their collection. Wagner is hardly an elite prospect and didn't make his big-league debut until after his 26th birthday, but he's projected as roughly a league-average bat (96 wRC+ per THE BAT, 109 wRC+ per Steamer) following some strong showings in the upper minors. Between the two organizations, he slashed .315/.432/.444 in 77 Triple-A games this season, though his six homers and three steals limit his fantasy appeal. Wagner's main appeal is his outstanding plate discipline, as he paired a 16.6 percent walk rate with a 10.4 percent strikeout rate. It looks like he'll fill the large side of a platoon at second base for now. FAAB: $1 

Third Baseman

Junior Caminero, Rays (53%)

Another who no longer fits under the 50 percent threshold, Caminero nonetheless needs a mention. The 21-year-old is the No. 2 prospect here at RotoWire and was recalled Tuesday even though the Rays could have kept him down for two more weeks to preserve his rookie eligibility for next year. That theoretically means the famously thrifty Rays could be about to send him back down any day now, but it's more likely that they're looking to their top prospect to help inspire a long-shot run to sneak into the final Wild Card spot. Caminero's big-league debut actually came late last season, and it had looked as though he could spend the majority of this year in the majors, but a pair of quad strains disrupted his campaign, limiting him to 53 Triple-A games thus far, in which he hit .276/.331/.98 with 13 homers. His youth brings plenty of risk, but he has the talent to hit the ground running and contribute everywhere but steals the rest of the way. FAAB: $7 

Shortstop

Geraldo Perdomo, Diamondbacks (28%)

The Diamondbacks have been on fire recently, winning 18 of their last 21 games and going from likely postseason outsiders to near locks to win a Wild Card, if not more. Perdomo has played his part in that, slashing .319/.375/.458 over that 21-game stretch, a big improvement on the .258/.321/.323 line he'd managed up to that point. He's also started running a bit, with three of his four steals on the season coming in the last 14 games. Perdomo doesn't have the speed nor the power (one homer in 58 games on the season) to make him stand out for fantasy purposes, but he's a reliable compiler who's playing every day for a good team and has even moved up to leadoff in two of the last four games. FAAB: $1 

Outfielder

Alex Call, Nationals (20%)

Call had occasionally been a name to know for deep leagues over the last few years, but he spent most of this year in the minors until the Nationals dealt outfielders Jesse Winker and Lane Thomas at the deadline. Call has made the most of his opportunity, slashing .426/.483/.611 with a homer and three steals in 15 games since getting called up in late July. He's started 11 straight games in right field and doesn't appear set to lose his spot anytime soon. Call's numbers will likely slide toward his .233/.335/.360 career slash line sometime soon, as he's riding a .500 BABIP this season, but if the playing time remains, so should the steals, as the Nationals have attempted more stolen bases than any other team this season. FAAB: $4 

Jordan Walker, Cardinals (26%)

Walker was one of the top prospects in baseball before he made his debut at the start of last season, and he's still just 22 years old. His return to the majors Monday should have been met with much more fanfare. The fact that it hasn't is an accurate reflection of how his last 18 months have gone. He didn't even last until the end of April as a rookie before being sent down, and while he looked to have sorted things out late in the year after this return, his sophomore season also saw him demoted within a month. He hardly crushed it in the minors, posting a 91 wRC+ in 78 games for Triple-A Memphis, though he did slash .343/.400/.687 over his final 18 contests before his promotion. He's a lottery ticket worth investing in down the stretch for teams that need something to break right in the next six weeks, but it doesn't look like he has anything more than a short-side platoon role for now, which should keep interest low. FAAB: $2