Jose Ramirez (3B-CLE) - Remember when we were worried about Ramirez? I remember, but now we can laugh. All Ramirez did Tuesday in returning from a hand injury was to hit a grand slam in the first inning and a three-run homer in the third before ultimately getting the rest of the night off after making an out in at-bat #3 with the Indians up 11-0 over the White Sox. His overall .256/.327/.477 slash makes him a fantasy bust this year, but when you consider he was hitting .198 on June 12, this has been a nice bounceback for Ramirez. So where does he slot in for 2020? In 12-team mixed leagues, I can see him dropping to perhaps the middle of the third round while ultimately providing second-round value, as it will be his age-27 season, so the steals shouldn't fall of the cliff quite yet. Even with the down year, his 13.7% K% remains excellent and he has 22 homers and 24 steals in 127 games. Project that over 155 games and you get 27 homers and 29 steals, making a 30/30 season next year very reachable.
Yasiel Puig (OF-CLE) - Puig is going to be a very interesting case to watch as a free agent this winter. Perceived head case, extremely talented, may have his best years ahead of him, but a bit of an underachiever given his tools. Tuesday, Puig had a single and two doubles, going 3-for-3 with two runs and a walk to lift him to .271/.331/.465. With 24 homers and a career-high 18 steals, he's been solid for fantasy owners, and he's figured out how to hit lefties, posting a .771 OPS against them after marks of .628 and .592 the two years prior. At 21.8%, his K% is up a little, but still decent for these days, and he's certainly not a hacker with a career BB% of a decent 8.8%. Imagine this bat in Coors Field or someplace like Fenway.
LaMonte Wade (OF-MIN) - I guess I haven't seen too many Twins games recently, as I admittedly haven't heard of this guy. Wade though was 2-for-3 Tuesday to lift him to an interesting .244/.415/.488 with a pair of homers in 41 MLB at-bats. It's the first taste of the big leagues for the 25-year-old, who had been hitting a similar .246/.392/.356. He's always drawn a ton of walks, posting a 16.9% BB% at Triple-A while striking out just 14.4% of the time. He has below average power and perhaps average speed, but that sort of plate discipline is very intriguing. What if he changes his swing and starts hitting for more power? That suddenly makes his profile pretty interesting. I don't a regular role for him in Minnesota barring trades next year, but perhaps he can get some team's attention.
Dawel Lugo (2B-DET) - Lots of Tigers players scrambling to give them a leg up on a 2020 job, and Lugo is no exception. For a team whose Tuesday cleanup hitter (Jeimer Candelario) is hitting .199 and where the top OBP in the lineup was .328, at least Lugo has been a bright spot. He was 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles, a run, and an RBI, lifting him to a poor, but improved .252/.278/.391. It does give him eight hits in the last three games, so that's at least a start for a guy who has been a bit disappointment since being the center piece of the return for JD Martinez. Oops. Lugo entered the game with a 3% BB%, so that's probably 2.9% now, and that lack of discipline has never left him. It was just 3.1% in the minors. Lugo is going to need to hit .300+ with that sort of BB% to be a regular, and who knows, maybe with the Tigers tanking/rebuilding, he'll get that shot next year.
Dylan Bundy (SP-BAL) - With the benefit of an awful Blue Jays squad missing Bo Bichette and Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Bundy spun seven two-run innings on Tuesday to improve to 7-14 with a 4.79 ERA. He does have a decent 162:58 K:BB in 161.2 innings, so he's missing bats, though he's also allowed 29 home runs and slightly more hits than innings pitched. Bundy has been a massive disappointment as a big leaguer given the prospect hype he had several years ago, but he's allowed three or fewer runs in six of his last seven starts, so at least he's finishing strong. Seems like a guy who could benefit from a change of scenery - to the NL ideally.
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