Fantasy Baseball Advice: Max Fried, Esteury Ruiz, Brice Turang, Tyler O’Neill

One burning question that won’t be answered in this article is ‘Is it football season yet?’ That was a popular question among fantasy enthusiasts this week as it was a brutal news cycle. It’s been a tough start to the season for fantasy teams. It’s hard to imagine any fantasy teams aren’t already dealing with multiple injuries. For those that are here for a full fantasy baseball season, let’s dive into a few fantasy baseball burning questions.

Fantasy Baseball Questions

Do we keep holding Esteury Ruiz?

Esteury Ruiz was sent to Triple-A last week. It wasn’t due to a lack of performance early in the season. He was 3-for-7 with a double, a triple and a stolen base. The Athletics sent him to the minors to work on his on-base skills.

Now fantasy owners are left trying to figure out how long they keep rostering Ruiz. The answer changes depending on what type of league you play in. He can be moved on from in points leagues. That isn’t the ideal format for his skillset. Plus, points leagues are often won on who has the most at-bats, and he will be accumulating none at the big league level for a while. Category leagues are a tougher decision. Even if he spends a month in the minor leagues, he could still steal over 50 bases. It’s enough to hold him in any five-outfielder leagues for the potential payoff.

Should we be worried about Max Fried?

Max Fried finished with a FantasyPros average draft position (ADP) of 49 overall. Through two starts, his season couldn’t have started much worse. In total, we’ve seen five innings pitched. He has struck out six batters but has allowed 11 earned runs already, which equates to a 19.8 ERA.

Anyone can have back-to-back bad starts, but there are some concerning signs early in the season. His velocity is down across all his pitches. It’s not a lot though so it could be explained as just getting stretched out early in the season. He has struggled with control, which is part of the reason why he has allowed 16 baserunners already. However, the .524 batting average on balls in play (BABIP) and 34% strand rate are the biggest factors. Don’t sell low on a likely top-20 starting pitcher option.

Is Brice Turang fantasy viable?

There was some excitement going into last season for Brice Turang as a middle infield option. He delivered with a .585 OPS, which had him completely off draft radars this offseason. His start to the season has fantasy managers checking again.

Turang’s AAA batting averages in the past two seasons have been .286 and .298. It makes his .218 season last year feel like some positive regression is in order. Even with that poor average last season, he stole 26 bases. He’s off to an even better start in that department with seven stolen bases this season. Blessed with 95th percentile sprint speed and a new manager who has been aggressively stealing bases, Turang is an add for categories leagues if you need stolen bases.

Were we all too low on Tyler O’Neill?

Your early season leader in slugging percentage and OPS is Tyler O’Neill of the Boston Red Sox. He already has five home runs and a stolen base to go along with his .357 average. That’s an excellent start for a player whose consensus ADP ended at 227. Early on it appears that value is a boon for fantasy owners.

One reason his ADP stayed so low was health concerns. He has played over 100 games just once in his first six seasons. While he is healthy now, that can always change. Another concern is that he has often struggled with maintaining a usable average for fantasy baseball as he has struggled with strikeouts. At this point, he has more walks than strikeouts this season as he has dramatically cut his chase rate, which has led to a career-best strikeout rate. If it sustains, O’Neill offers power and speed upside fantasy owners crave.