.111, 1 HR, 0 SB<\/p>\n
I worried about this one a mile away and faded him for the most part\u2026.and then rostered him \u201ccheap\u201d in my biggest auction. He looked like a breakout star in the first half of 2025, then imploded with a 39% K% after the All Star break. And then kept whiffing in Spring Training. And I guess unsurprisingly, it still has not stopped, and he\u2019s struck out on 40% of his first 40 PA\u2019s in 2026 with a Whiff% of 39.7% (6th percentile)<\/p>\n
In the 20 times he has managed to make contact, 10 count as hard hits, but his EV is 90.3, down from 94.3 in 2025. But hey, 3 were barrels! It\u2019s obviously too early to pass judgment on the EV, but it\u2019s kind of discouraging given that in his Whifftastic 2nd half of 2025, he had a 95.4 EV on those rare times he got his bat on the ball.<\/p>\n
I would love to find something encouraging here, but I am not sure I can. His bat speed is still high, but it\u2019s down slightly from 76 to 75.5. You would like to think that\u2019s semi intentional as a way to improve his contact rate. So far, not so good.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wood is still just 23.5 years old with all the skills we love. There\u2019s no action to take short of maybe benching him in a daily league until you leave a big game on your bench. But at some point, you have to wonder if the Nats send him down for a brief AAA stay to get him right.<\/p>\n
(Make that 2 homers for Wood\u2026.DS)<\/p>\n
Brent Rooker<\/a><\/p>\n .133, 0 HR<\/p>\n Athletics not named Shea Langeliers have pretty much all started slowly. I could include Tyler Soderstrom here as well, since he also has yet to homer and rocks just a .207 average. But let\u2019s go with Rooker here since he had a significantly higher draft cost.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rooker hit 30 homers last season while sporting a career low 22.2% K% and projected as just about the best outfielder after the superstar tier that ended with Fernando Tatis Jr. in the top 20 overall picks. My model that I used for my OF ratings had him on par in value with Jackson Chourio. But whoa, he looks completely lost right now.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rooker has a 42.4% K% with an ungodly high 50.8% Whiff%. He only has 5 hard hits in 16 batted ball events, three of which were barrels. His EV is just 87.8, ve. 90.7 last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n I\u2019m more confident here than I am with Wood, though I will admit I do not have a regular season data point that backs that up. I guess it\u2019s more that with Wood it\u2019s just an extension of a bad trend that started last July, while with Rooker, there\u2019s nothing worrisome beyond a tiny 33 PA sample size. He hit .340 in Spring Training with 5 homers and a 25% K%.<\/p>\n (And Rooker homers twice Sunday, including a walk-off\u2026.the Reverse Jinx really works\u2026..DS)<\/p>\n Jakob Marsee<\/a><\/p>\n .129, 0 HR, 1 steal<\/p>\n I rostered Marsee a bunch, and not only because he led to great fantasy team names. \u201cMarsee Playground\u201d, \u201c30 Seconds to Marsee\u201d\u2026I could go into Brady Brunch Marsha offshoots, but I digress.\u00a0<\/p>\n Marsee hit .292 with 5 homers and 14 steals in 234 PA\u2019s in 2025 and would hit leadoff for the Marlins this season. No one expected the .292 again this year, but I did think his projections in the .220\u2019s and .230\u2019s looked light. He\u2019s a speed guy with a 20.3% K% last year, which was consistent with his level in the minors. 10-15 homers, steals in the 30\u2019s, and in runs with a passable batting average sure looked in the cards. And frankly, I think that\u2019s all still in play.<\/p>\n He has a 31.4% K% that\u2019s totally out of whack with his 15.5% Whiff% and 5.2% SwStr%, which are both near elite. Typically, K% is about double SwStr%. The discrepancy is, of course, that he\u2019s watching a lot of strikes go by (22.5% CStr%), but that\u2019s not something he did that much of in either MLB (18.8% last year) or in the minors (typically mid-teens). His Contact% is elite at 86%, and his LA Sweet Spot% of 38.1% is 70th percentile, so it\u2019s pretty good contact.\u00a0<\/p>\n No one drafted Marsee for power, and you are getting zero right now as he\u2019s yet to barrel a ball. But I do think the average will bounce back, and ergo his other counting stats.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Outfield Booms and What Did I Miss<\/p>\n Kyle Isbel<\/a><\/p>\n .478, 2 HR, 3 Steals<\/p>\n OK, I did not actually miss Isbel. I literally wrote to not roster him in any format when I looked at the Royals OF competition. Yes, he\u2019s a nice real life player as he has an excellent glove in Center. But no, he had no value for our game. He had 4 homers and 4 steals last year in 409 PA\u2019s. He has a .242 career avg and 81 wRC+ and has never had more than 42 RBI\u2019s or 62 runs in a season, both of which he did in 2024 when he also exploded for career highs with 8 homers and 11 steals.<\/p>\n But now? I suppose he\u2019s worth a flyer in deep leagues. He\u2019s clearly going for power early on and sacrificing contact. His Whiff% has jumped from 18.2% to 25.6%, but so far the tradeoff has worked as his EV has popped from 87.8 to 91.5. Can he somehow make this work and morph into maybe a 15-15 guy without tanking his Avg? Who knows, of course, pitchers will probably adapt their approach. We will see.<\/p>\n
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