Back in swing
Rodgers finally rockin’ for Rockies
IT’S EASY to panic when players struggle at the beginning of the season (hello, Marcus Semien, Trevor Story and countless others).
Roto Rage always preaches patience, even if things look really ugly. Just because a player doesn’t excel right off the bat (pun intended), doesn’t mean they won’t as the season progresses and the weather gets warmer.
The worst thing you can do is drop a player — especially one you drafted as a key piece of your team — because of a cold start (this is why there are bench spots). The last thing you want is a player you drafted helping your competition down the line because of your impatience early on.
It has been said a million times, but we’re going to say it again: It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.
Colorado’s Brendan Rodgers struggled mightily (and even that is putting it mildly) over his first 14 games, hitting .078 — yeah, that’s right, .078 — with no homers, three runs, one RBI and 16 strikeouts. He had a .172 on-base percentage and a .098 slugging percentage (.270 OPS).
Among players with a minimum of 50 plate appearances, Rodgers ranked dead last in average, slugging percentage and OPS, and had the third-worst OBP.
Those numbers made Roto Rage look foolish for calling him one of the best draft bargains and the most underrated second baseman heading into the season. It also made every fantasy owner who used a valuable mid-round pick to snag him nervous — and rightfully so.
Once May hit, however, Rodgers was like Lincoln Hawk turning his hat around before facing Bob “Bull” Hurley in “Over the Top.”
Over his first 14 games this month, Rodgers was 21-for-58 (.362) with two homers, 16 RBIs, 11 runs and just 10 strikeouts. He had a .569 slugging percentage and .373 on-base percentage (.942 OPS).
Though Rodgers entered the weekend with the fifth-worst walk rate (1.6 percent) in the majors this month, he ranked 11th in average, 30th in runs and ninth in RBIs. He also ranked 17th in slugging percentage and 27th in OPS, which is quite the turnaround from his horrific start.
Is he going to be this good for the remainder of the season? Not with the unsustainable .413 BaBIP he has had this month, but Rodgers will not be anywhere near as bad as he was in April. He is available in 60 percent of ESPN leagues, so now is a good time to make your team stronger by taking advantage of impatient owners who dropped him (or pick him back up if you were the one who dropped him).
Here’s a look at some other players who have started to turn things around after slow starts:
Over his first 17 games, the Reds’ Tommy Pham was hitting .186 with three homers, four RBIs, 17 strikeouts and a .667 OPS. In his past 18 games, the 34-year-old raised his average to .240 after going 19-for-66 (.288) with a homer, eight RBIs, 12 runs, two stolen bases and a .784 OPS. He is a solid veteran outfielder who remains available in 55 percent of ESPN leagues.
Gleyber Torres was an AllStar in his first two big-league seasons, but looked nothing like that player in 2020 or 2021. Despite being one of Roto Rage’s favorite bargain draft targets, it looked like nothing had changed over his first 11 games (.143, 1 HR, 2 RBIs, 1 R, 9 SO, .491 OPS). The 25-year-old flipped the script in his first 24 games since April 21, going 23-for-81 (.284) with four homers, 17 RBIs, nine runs and a .816 OPS.
Avisail Garcia of the Marlins is still hitting just .213 for the season, but the 30-year-old entered Friday with at least one hit in nine of his previous 11 games while going 13-for-45 (.289) with two homers, five RBIs, a stolen base, five runs and a .727 OPS in that span. He ranks in the top 1 percent in the league in max exit velocity.