Aledmys Diaz

Diaz has enjoyed the perfect fit for his offensive abilities the past few seasons even though he has functioned in a reserve role nearly his entire stint with Houston. The versatile utility player may be getting a surprise late-career playing time bump after getting a two-year deal with Oakland, which has perhaps the least-talented 40-man roster in the league. While he may be getting a boosted role, it comes with a massive downgrade in home park factors for a right-handed hitter. He can still hit the ball hard and has the athleticism to pretty much do anything but catch in a pinch throughout a game. There's nothing glamorous about Diaz, but his role and lineup placement should lead to him being viable in AL-only leagues and as a deep-league streamer for those chasing plate appearances.

Outside of injuries, Aledmys Díaz hardly garnered a full-time role with the Astros. In 2021, Díaz finished with eight home runs, 28 runs, and 45 RBI with a .259 batting average. As a right-handed hitter, Díaz interestingly performed better throughout this career with a .282 batting average and 47 of his career 62 home runs versus righties. Díaz's line drive rate improved to a career-high 23.7% in 2021 versus a career rate of 18.1%. He doesn't stand out from the batted ball metrics, evidenced by a 6.5% barrel rate and 110 mph maximum exit velocity. Although Carlos Correa sits as a free agent, Díaz likely battles for playing time in a platoon-type role with the only open spot at shortstop. Díaz probably isn't worth drafting in 15-team mixed leagues, but more of an AL-only league target.

Diaz's mixed-league viability took a hit when he was dealt from Toronto to Houston. In 2018, he was a nice cheap source of power coming off his sophomore slump, but since joining a deep Houston roster, he has mostly been limited to covering injuries to Alex Bregman, Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve around the infield. Diaz was one of the many hitters who suffered through 2020, and the numbers should be thrown away. The problem for him and his immediate fantasy future is that the road blocks are all still in his way, so there is no immediate path to playing time. The other issue is he has lost his multi-positional eligibility on draft day and is limited to 2B only. Even so, Diaz makes for a decent add in the endgame or reserves for insurance purposes as he has some offensive upside for a reserve player.

In his first season with the Astros, Diaz provided value through his defensive versatility. Injuries to several of Houston's infielders opened up playing time for Diaz and he was effective, though he dealt with injuries of his own and was limited to 247 plate appearances. The 29-year-old carried a .357 wOBA and only struck out 11.3% of the time, walking nearly as often. Diaz carried a below-average hard-hit rate last season, but he cut down significantly on his chase rate while posting an elite zone-contact rate. While Diaz has made the most of his opportunities, he appears to be firmly entrenched as a backup in Houston. Despite his success in limited at-bats, Diaz won't hold much value outside of deeper leagues until one of Houston's regulars goes down -- an inevitability, but it's impossible to predict when that playing time will open back up.

Following an offseason trade to the Blue Jays, Diaz set a career high in homers in 2018. He missed some time with an ankle injury early on but still went on to clear 450 plate appearances as Toronto dealt with a slew of injuries around the infield. After walking in 8.9% of his plate appearances and batting .300 as a rookie in 2016, he hasn't cleared 5.1 or .263, respectively, in the years since. Diaz has decent power but the lack of speed on the basepaths makes him rather unexciting in most fantasy setups. In November, Toronto traded the 28-year-old to the Astros, who dealt with injuries to Jose Altuve (knee) and Carlos Correa (back) last season. Both are expected to be healthy for spring training. Unless one of their timetables looks bleak come March, Diaz should only garner interest in deep leagues where one can justifiably draft a team's backups. If you're expecting him to be the new Marwin Gonzalez, you're expecting a bit too much.

Diaz enjoyed a breakout 2016 campaign with the Cardinals (133 wRC+ in 460 plate appearances) and was seemingly entrenched as the club's everyday shortstop heading in the 2017 season. Unfortunately, Diaz struggled to find his footing in the early going and was ultimately demoted to Triple-A Memphis in late June after slashing just .260/.293/.396 over the season's first three months. The shortstop's walk rate was cut in half -- from 8.9 percent in 2016 to 4.3 percent -- and he watched his power numbers plummet as well. Diaz's hard-hit rate fell eight percentage points in his second big-league season and his ISO dropped from .210 to .133. He continued to struggle at Triple-A (77 wRC+ in 187 plate appearances) while Paul DeJong took full advantage of his opportunity as the team's starting shortstop. The Cards shipped Diaz out to Toronto in the offseason, which is a big positive for Diaz given the injury histories of the two middle-infielders in front of him (Troy Tulowitzki and Devon Travis).

It's a shame that Diaz missed over a month courtesy of a fractured thumb, as St. Louis' under-the-radar rookie was in the midst of a phenomenal debut season. Despite dealing with the thumb injury, he still finished the year with an outstanding .300/.369/.510 line to go with 17 home runs and 65 RBI. Unfortunately, his defensive display was subpar and led to a .961 fielding percentage and 2.7 WAR. Diaz is fully expected to keep the title of starting shortstop, and with better health, should blow past his total of 111 games from a year ago. Prospective owners will want to be aware of the inherent risk that follows Diaz; due to him entering the league with little pedigree, the danger that he regresses during his sophomore season is more prevalent than with more proven prospects. However, if he continues to produce at a rate close to that from 2016, Diaz should finish inside the top 15 at the position.

The 25-year-old middle infielder had a breakout campaign in 2015, slashing .264/.324/.421 with 10 homers and six steals in 102 games at Double-A, following that up with some ridiculous numbers in a brief stop at Triple-A and in the Arizona Fall League. Realistically he is more batting average than anything else, and the power and speed totals would likely both be in the single digits over a full season in the big leagues. He will start the year at Triple-A, but if Ruben Tejada struggles while Jhonny Peralta is sidelined in the first half, Diaz could be the next man up.

Diaz was signed last year after defecting from Cuba where he hit .308/.401/.444 across five seasons in Cuba's Serie Nacional. He battled injuries for much of the season, which was no surprise since he had not played any organized baseball for over a year after defecting. Diaz still managed to put up some fairly impressive numbers for Double-A Springfield posting a .291/.311/.453 line. He will probably spend the majority of 2015 in Triple-A and at age 24 is still young enough that he holds some promise. Right now he doesn't project to be much more than a marginal MLB player if he can make it that far, and with Jhonny Peralta coming off a very good season in 2014 it's unlikely the Cardinals will need Diaz to contribute in St. Louis any time soon.

Diaz was a shortstop with a well-rounded skill set in Cuba's professional league, and could quickly be in the majors after signing. That event will be delayed; he was barred from signing with an MLB team until Feb. 19, 2014 for presenting a false date of birth when he applied to become a free agent after defecting. Diaz hit .315/.404/.500 with 12 home runs in 270 at-bats during the 2011-12 season before he defected, according to CBS Sports. It's not clear if his glove is strong enough to stick at shortstop, so he may need to move to second base.

Diaz is a Cuban defector who played for Cuba in the 2010 Pan-American games. He's seen as nearly ready for the majors, but it's not clear how his bat will translate to MLB play.