Perhaps Texas Rangers SS Isiah Kiner-Falefa remains a fantasy baseball curiosity because he used to be a catcher. After all, he played 73 games behind the plate over his first two big-league seasons. Many probably ignored him because he entered this season with all of eight home runs and a .260 batting average over 846 career plate appearances, looking every bit forgettable. Still, he told the Rangers he was the organization's top option at shortstop, so the team shipped out ordinary starter Elvis Andrus to make room. It looks like this was indeed a good move.
Seven major-league players enter the first Monday of May with five-plus home runs and five-plus stolen bases -- and all but one of them is rostered in most fantasy leagues. Guess who's the odd man out? Kiner-Falefa homered on both Saturday and Sunday against the Boston Red Sox and he added a steal on Sunday, giving him five of each stat. He's now on an intriguing pace for 25 in both categories. He is the No. 16 hitter on the ESPN Player Rater for roto purposes and among the top-30 hitters in points formats, yet is still available in 38% of ESPN standard leagues.
Kiner-Falefa is definitely someone to watch in fantasy baseball, as he's on pace for numbers few thought possible. I still do not think he's truly a 20-homer option, but Kiner-Falefa has surely evolved into an intriguing player and is to be taken seriously. At least I am taking him seriously. How about a .275 batting average with 12 home runs, 22 stolen bases and 75 runs scored? Oh, and perhaps a Gold Glove, too? That would work!
Here, then, are 10 other players who at one point seemed so easy to overlook in fantasy baseball. My, how times have changed!
1. Jesse Winker, OF, Cincinnati Reds: Injuries and struggles versus left-handed pitchers seemed to doom Winker in his first few seasons, but he is doing so much damage versus right-handers as a leadoff option that we must roster him now. Winker cannot hit .429/.478/.825 with a .488 BABIP against right-handers for long, but we know he has both power and plate discipline. Watch him hit baseballs really far and hard to the opposite field and you can see him developing into a star.
2. Mark Canha, OF, Oakland Athletics: Another leadoff hitter with strong plate discipline, so perhaps I have a "type" indeed. Canha, 32, entered the 2021 season with no more than four stolen bases in any of his previous five big-league seasons. He already has five steals, along with a league-leading 26 runs scored, and we like players -- especially in roto -- that do these things.
3. Chris Taylor, 2B/SS/OF, Los Angeles Dodgers: Taylor scored five runs in Sunday's blowout victory. We never really know at which position he will start from game to game, or where he will hit in the lineup, but Taylor has really developed into a strong, versatile player. Another run at a 20-homer, 20-steal season seems reasonable, even with a stacked Dodgers lineup.
4. Jesus Aguilar, 1B, Miami Marlins: The most-added player in ESPN leagues has now hit six home runs over his past eight games, but my favorite statistic with the burly slugger is that he still has more walks than strikeouts. Yep, that one will get me every time, especially if the player has power. Aguilar hit 35 home runs for the 2018 Milwaukee Brewers, but he also struck out 25% of the time. He is currently striking out just 12% of the time. His .298 batting average is not BABIP-fueled. Aguilar might fall short of 35 homers again and perhaps his batting average dips a bit. But, what if he is able to keep this up?
5. Carlos Santana, 1B, Kansas City Royals: One of the preeminent walkers in the sport has six home runs already, which may seem like a fluke until we remember that he blasted 34 of them in 2019. Santana hit .199 in last year's abbreviated season and nobody in roto wants to deal with that (although in points leagues he was fine, with all the walks). Santana is back to hitting baseballs hard and barreling them up. Perhaps a .270 season is reasonable, complete with 30 home runs?
6. Bryan Reynolds, OF, Pittsburgh Pirates: Again, nobody wants a player hitting .189 and that is what Reynolds did in 2020. He also hit .314 as a rookie the prior season, albeit with modest power numbers. Reynolds looks a lot like the 2019 version again, hitting more line drives than ever -- and with a higher launch angle. No, a 20-homer season seems unlikely, but a .300 batting average with 15 home runs and 80 runs scored would offer nice value.
7. Yusei Kikuchi, SP, Seattle Mariners: The first two seasons for this Japanese import went poorly in ERA, but the left-hander actually made nice underlying strides in 2020. Perhaps his most recent outing, in which he permitted only one base hit at Houston while fanning seven over seven innings, is a turning point. Kikuchi can miss enough bats, but he can also allow some large home runs. Stream him for matchups for now, but know there is a pathway to a sub-4.00 ERA.
8. Robbie Ray, SP, Toronto Blue Jays: The pathway to Ray returning to fantasy relevance is in the strikeouts, for he amassed 235 of them during the 2019 season. Ray issued nary a walk in his last two starts, which is obviously a great sign since he is one of the notorious issuers of free passes in the sport. This one can change quickly, but Ray offers major upside if he can throw strikes on a consistent basis.
9. Carlos Martinez, SP, St. Louis Cardinals: Yeah, I had pretty much given up on this right-hander, who had last won a game as a starter in 2018. Then he won twice last week (although he did not exactly pile on the strikeouts, managing only seven) as he threw 15 1/3 excellent innings against the Pennsylvania clubs. Martinez has been a bit fortunate with BABIP so far and his velocity is not what it was when he was a top-20 starter in fantasy, but perhaps he deserves a spot in 10-team formats.
10. Alex Wood, SP/RP, San Francisco Giants: Well, so far the numbers look so great that we cannot ignore them, but pitching at Coors Field this week seems like a major roadblock. Wood used to be a valuable pitcher who struggled to stay healthy but, in 2019, he was just bad and easily forgotten. I will not add him yet, and his next injury always lurks, but perhaps he can at least pitch well when he actually pitches.