Fantasy Baseball Category Impact: June 8

Welcome back, FA Nation! Get ready for this week’s edition of Category Impact! If you’re new to the site or just forget how this article works since last week, let me offer a quick refresher.

Category Impact will offer up anywhere from four to six players that can help you out in a certain category, whether it is stolen bases, home runs, or strikeouts. Some weeks, there will be an added focus on a specific categories, while others will be just players that you will want to pick up, but there will be in-depth analysis detailing exactly what category, or categories, a certain player will be of added benefit.

This week’s featured category is…. HOME RUNS!

Max Muncy , 1B/3B LAD – Of players with at least 80 batted ball events, per Baseball Savant, Muncy ranks inside the top 40 hitters in terms of highest average exit velocity. Muncy is riding a four game hit streak, in which he’s left the yard twice, and both of which came at Coors Field. As he progressed through the minor league ranks, his power dissipated, hitting just 12 home runs in 109 games at the Triple-A level last season. However, he already has nine home runs through 118 at-bats with the Dodgers this season. In a season where Los Angeles’ offensive production has been less than expected, Muncy has provided nice pop for the Dodgers.

Additionally, if the Dodgers are committed to regular at-bats for him at second base, that will be another position where you can slot him in your lineup. His positional versatility will be a nice bonus for fantasy owners. He’s owned in under 15 percent of ESPN fantasy leagues, and he’s likely available in yours.

John Ryan Murphy, ARI C – What do Giancarlo Stanton , Aaron Judge and Mike Trout all have in common? Each of their barrel rates are lower than that of Arizona’s John Ryan Murphy! Don’t believe me, well, you can see for yourself, courtesy of Baseball Savant.

In fact, of players with at least 50 batted ball events, Murphy ranks third in baseball trailing only Mookie Betts and J.D. Martínez . At a position where not many fantasy owners are getting adequate production, Murphy offers some sunshine. He’s popped eight homers in just 95 plate appearances on the year. To put that in context, Gary Sánchez has 12 bombs in just under 220 plate appearances. Here’s how he compares to other players at his position in terms of AB/HR:

This power outburst is completely out of the blue for the journeyman backstop. His career ISO is .145, but his mark for this season sits at an absurd .319. He’s always done a good jump of limiting his soft contact, but he’s upped his hard contact to 45.5 percent, which is a very respectable mark. There is certain to be some power regression, but as long as Arizona commits to getting him in the lineup more than half of the week, he’s worthy of a roster spot across the board, especially at his position.

Franmil Reyes , SDP OF – As mentioned on the Fantasy Alarm Fantasy Baseball Podcast, this is a guy I’m trying to add everywhere to boost my team’s power numbers. Before being called up to the big league squad, Reyes popped 14 long balls in 130 at-bats (36 games) with the El Paso Chihuahuas (AAA). He’s homered in consecutive games now at the big league level and has six long balls over his last 59 at-bats. Yes, that is great for your team’s power numbers, which is what we are focusing on this week’s edition of Category Impact, so don’t even take a look at his strikeout numbers! Seriously, DO NOT! The 36.5 percent K rate is atrocious, but I am certainly a fan of that .305 ISO!

Reyes makes hard contact 41.7 percent of time, and soft contact only 16.7 percent of the time, which is quality. If we could nitpick, it would be nice to turn some of his ground balls (47.2 percent of his batted balls) into more line drives and fly balls. However, he is just 22 years old and is going to go through some growing pains in the early part of his career. Playing time could be spotty when Wil Myers returns, but he’s locked into a regular role for the time being.

Daniel Palka , CWS OF –Palka is hardly owned in many redraft leagues out there, but with his continued play, the White Sox may have no choice to keep up with the big club when Avisail García returns. Palka has a nice track record of power at the minor league level. In 2016, Palka swatted 34 long balls, 21 of which came at the Double-A level (79 games) and 13 long balls in 54 games at the Triple-A level. Since joining the big league club, he’s popped six home runs with 20 RBI across 33 games. While he is sporting a decent .272 batting average at this juncture, there might be some potential regression in that department, as his batting average dipped across each level in the minors. However, for the sake of this article, we don’t give a damn about batting average because all we want is POWER!

Palka certainly packs some power in that bat of his, and while Garcia has begun running the bases, it’s imperative that Palka remains a key part of the offense so that he gets a chance to stick with the club. He may not be needed in shallower mixed leagues, but deeper mixed formats or AL-only leagues are perfect settings to add Palka. As mentioned earlier, he’s hardly owned and is capable of putting the ball out of the yard in a hurry.