Wednesday's recommended fantasy pickups are led by a well-known name. He's someone who was a building-block piece in most leagues in the preseason but here's a heads up for you -- he's somehow still available in 41.7% of ESPN leagues! If he's still on the waiver wire in your league, "Do not question. Just grab Keston!"
1) Keston Hiura, 2B/1B, Milwaukee Brewers: Fantasy managers are notoriously clingy to preseason projections and, as Huira was the No. 10 second baseman and No. 94 overall player selected in ESPN leagues entering 2021, it's understandable if he's already rostered -- and has been rostered all year -- in your league. After hitting .152/.247/.266, with just one home run and 32 strikeouts over 89 plate appearances to begin the season, he somehow did worse in a second big-league stint (.069/.129/.103, no homers, 16 K's) that lasted just 33 PAs. So it's not a shock to see that Hiura was let go in nearly two-thirds of ESPN leagues.
Triple-A competition proved to be anything but for him in his two stints there, as he batted .403/.506/.722 with eight doubles and five home runs in 20 games for Nashville, which is why he earned a callup for his third stint of 2021 with the Brewers on June 23. Well, in his 23 trips to the plate thus far this time around, Huira has hit .316/.391/.842 with three home runs. Much more importantly, he has struck out only six times (for a 26.1% strikeout rate) and chased a non-strike only 29.4% of the time, with those rates considerably better than his career 33.3% K and 31.0% chase rates before that call-up.
As noted by The Athletic's Will Sammon, Hiura's improvements were largely the product of his work with Nashville hitting coach Al LaBoeuf, working on the timing related to his leg kick when he swings, meaning that there might well be a mechanical change responsible for this new improvement. These are the kinds of actionable changes fantasy managers need to seek. Hiura still has a lot of swing-and-miss in his game, which leaves him susceptible to statistical peaks and valleys, but he also has the kind of power that might result in 35-HR seasons. He needs to be scooped up in any and all ESPN leagues in which he's still out there.
2) Joe Ross, RP/SP, Washington Nationals: He's a tough read, having had a 10-run nightmare (April 19) as well as an eight shutout innings masterpiece (June 13) on his 2021 résumé, but Ross has long had a skill set that portended greater things were ahead. He qualified for my "Kings of Command" lists coming off both his 2015-16 seasons, during which time he managed a combined 3.52 ERA, a 1.22 WHIP and a 21.3% strikeout rate in 32 starts (plus three relief appearances). However, he has struggled with injuries and inconsistency in the four years since then.
Ross appears to have turned things around in June, however, with 4-of-5 quality starts and a 1.95 ERA, an 0.93 WHIP and a 25.8% K rate. While some of that was due to the light schedule -- he faced the Miami Marlins, the New York Mets (while they were missing a few key hitters) and the Tampa Bay Rays in three of those outings -- some key changes to his approach hint that this recent uptick in performance might be sustainable.
For one, Ross has recaptured some of the velocity on his sinker, which averaged 95.1 mph in his most recent outing on Tuesday, after having averaged 93.2 mph for his career. In fact, the pitch has averaged better than 94 mph in three of his last four outings, which helps explain how he has allowed only a .212 batting average, three extra-base hits and an 84.5 mph average exit velocity in June. Ross' slider, meanwhile, has been responsible for 16-of-33 strikeouts, shaping up as a potential put-away pitch. It's not necessarily enough to vault him into the top 25 in fantasy at his position, but it does elevate him into clear mixed-league roster-worthy territory.
3) Steven Duggar, OF, San Francisco Giants: While he's no fantasy superstar -- he's more of a No. 26-50 mixed-league outfielder on the high end, rather than a top-25, leading-man type -- Duggar's potential role expansion makes him a worthy add. The Giants demoted Mauricio Dubon on Tuesday, a move that's relevant to Duggar's cause since Dubon was the player who started in Duggar's place in center field in his last two days off, both of which were against left-handed starters.
Sure, the Giants have a lot of other outfielders (Alex Dickerson, Darin Ruf, Austin Slater, Mike Tauchman, LaMonte Wade Jr. and Mike Yastrzemski, which is why you'll see Ruf and Wade often used at first base), but Duggar has nevertheless started 20-of-25 Giants games in center field during June, while appearing in all 25 contests. One of the reasons is his quality defense at the position, with Statcast grading him as being three outs above average and his having three Defensive Runs Saved, not to mention his defensive metrics in center field exceeding those of Tauchman.
Duggar's 36.0% Statcast hard-hit rate is modest and his 32.7% strikeout rate is disturbingly high, but he's also making the most of his opportunities, with 10 Barrels and an 88th percentile sprint speed that helps explain his six homers and six stolen bases. He's probably more of a .250 hitter than a .300-plus one, but Duggar brings enough power and speed to be worth the speculative pickup while he's playing regularly.