Fantasy Baseball Category Impact: July 6

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…. BATTING AVERAGE!

Avisail García , CWS OF – Before you finish reading the rest of this, go pick up Garcia immediately. He’s owned in about one-third of fantasy leagues and his ownership is due to skyrocket at any time. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Garcia is absolutely raking over the past two weeks. He’s hitting .365, slugging .827 with six home runs, nine RBI and 13 runs scored. Since his return, he’s been an absolute monster and the majority of fantasy owners are missing out on the action. Sure, a .392 BABIP led to a massively inflated .330 batting average last season, but there’s no reason he cannot maintain a batting average in the .280-290 range.

Garcia is pulling the ball more than last season, but he’s making harder contact and even staying off the ground. Garcia is a guy that is available in roughly two-thirds of fantasy leagues and can be a valuable contributor in more than just batting average, which is always a bonus at this point of the fantasy season.

Jorge Polanco , MIN SS – Polanco isn’t exactly setting the world on fire, but he has notched at least one hit in consecutive games and we saw last season what he can be at the big league level. Despite seeing his batting average take a tumble from 2016, he did reach double-digit homers and steals with a .256/.313/.410 slash line with the Twins last season. He hit less line drives between those seasons, which could have contributed to the 50 point decrease to his BABIP.

In the second half of the season in 2017, he hit .293, so that .256 batting average is misleading. Polanco is a shortstop that can be a .280-.285 hitter with a power-speed combo in the low teens of categories. He’s virtually unowned in the majority of re-draft leagues, as the early season suspension scared many owners away.

Johan Camargo , ATL 3B – Camargo may only be hitting around .260 on the year, but over the last two weeks, he’s been on a hitting binge! He’s .326 over the past two weeks with two home runs, seven RBI and seven runs scored during that span. Camargo has gotten better each month since May. In that month, he hit just .205, but he increased that mark to a respectable .287 in June. Through the first few days in July, the 24-year-old infielder is hitting in the mid-.300s!

Camargo could hit .280 in the big leagues, because he walks a good bit, doesn’t strikeout terribly much by today’s standard and he’s shown improvement from his time with the team last season in terms of staying inside the strike zone. He’s swinging through pitches less, which is certainly good. His walk rate is comparable to Mookie Betts and Alex Bregman , while his K-rate is comparable to Andrew Benintendi and Lorenzo Cain . Furthermore, he swings and misses less than Paul Goldschmidt , Nolan Arenado and Ozzie Albies .

Even with Austin Riley in the minors, Camargo is worth every penny during this hot streak in all fantasy formats.

Elias Diaz , PIT C – Diaz has been a consistent producer behind the plate during his time as the primary backstop, even showcasing a bit of pop. Pittsburgh has their long term catcher here and if Francisco Cervelli remains on the shelf or even gets traded, the job is completely Diaz’s. He never showcased much pop during his minor league career, so his current .220 ISO is a strong outlier. However, he has shown the ability to hit for a decent average, especially as a catcher.

Can you rely on him as a consistent source of power and counting stats behind the plate like you would a Gary Sánchez , Willson Contreras or Buster Posey ? Probably not, but there could come a time where Diaz is competing for the best batting average among catchers across Major League Baseball. Of catchers with at least 140 plate appearances this season, only Miami’s J.T. Realmuto has a higher batting average than Diaz. The 27-year-old makes hard contact and he’s done a great job of keeping the strikeout rate below 20 percent at each level along the minor league gauntlet.

If memory serves me right, Diaz found his way into Category Impact last year, and after a brief run of success, he fizzled out and didn’t amount to much. However, with another year of experience and the combination of more hard contact and less soft contact, the rest of the 2018 campaign could be a big step in the right direction for Diaz’s career.

As always, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@colbyrconway) and stay tuned for the next Fantasy Alarm Fantasy Baseball Podcast, hosted by Nate Miller and yours truly!