George Valera (CLE - OF) - 24 year old rookie George Valera has hit 2 doubles and 2 homers (including the big 2-run HR in the 3rd to put them ahead for good on Wednesday) in the past 5 games as the Guardians continue to surge past the flailing Tigers. The contact ability is below average at best and there's no speed to speak of, but Valera has plenty of power and hits a lot of line drives, and he adds some very solid plate discipline to that. Walks and homers.....you could do a lot worse for a skill set. I have no idea what the Guardians OF will look like outside of Kwan heading into next year, but Valera has been in AAA for 3 years and has 39 HR in 233 G at that level. He may very well get a crack at the RF job in March and could be a great source of cheap power and OBP....definitely a solid late round target.
Daylen Lile (WAS - OF) - Lile had 3 more hits on Wednesday in the 4-3 win over the Braves, bringing his AVG for the month up to .390. He's shown average exit velocity and good speed to go along with average contact, but the real attraction here is the LD rate. He's posted well above average LD rates at just about every stop in his career, and they've jumped to around 30% at his last 5 spots. When combined with the average to above average contact ability, that's a prescription for a top-tier AVG (he's up to .296 through his first 88 games now). The 11 triples in just over half a season speak to the possibility of a bit more in the SB department moving forward as well. He may max out around 15 HR, but at age 22, the average exit velocity is also encouraging. There's a lot here for a relatively unheralded prospect coming into the season, but the fact that he's kept it going (and in fact improved) while moving from high-A to the majors over the last 18 months is a huge positive. I think he could be underrated next spring, and his performance/improvement seems legitimate to me.
Tyler Stephenson (CIN - C) - It's been a bit of a lost year for Stephenson with two separate injuries causing him to miss time, but after a 4-5 day on Wednesday including his 18th 2B and 13th HR, Stephenson has managed those 31 XBH in just 85 games. The 233/316/428 line is a bit of a disappointment, as is the increased swinging strike rate this season, but he's shown above average power and contact ability throughout his time with the Reds, and he's certainly a second-tier catcher that I'd be happy gambling on next spring is his age 29 season. I think he's a very underrated bat at the position.
Ryne Nelson (ARI - SP) - Nelson managed a QS against the Dodgers on Wednesday, giving him 7 straight starts of 3 ER or fewer to finish out a very solid year. He began the year in the bullpen, but he was rather solid once he got stretched out, and after the ASB he only had 2 poor starts out of 13. I am a bit surprised that the underlying stats look so poor, particularly the swinging strike rate. The control is quite good, but there's nothing else here that's very impressive, and the xERA, SIERA, and xFIP all point to a roughly league average pitcher. He had a run of 5 straight QS late last season as well, which when combined with his second half performance this year is probably what has me thinking more highly of him. I don't mind him as a reserve SP in standard formats as he has been rather consistent over the past few seasons, but don't get sucked in by the ERA.
Spencer Horwitz (PIT - 1B) - Horwitz came into Wednesday's contest with the Reds hitting 280/371/462 in the second half, and he added to that with a 3-5, 3 RBI, 2 2B performance in the 4-3 win. You're not getting more than average power (at best) and there's no speed here, but Horwitz has excellent contact and on-base skills. The Pirates also love the fact that he's under team control until 2030, so he should remain a reasonable deep league CI choice. The launch angle has gotten pretty optimal this season finally, so I could see him getting up into the 15-20 HR range over a full season, which when combined with the well above average OBP makes him a fairly underrated player.
