Justin Foscue, 2B, Texas Rangers
Foscue went 2-5 with R, 2B, RBI, K on three hard hit balls. Foscue is a bit of an incomplete player for fantasy purposes, but man is he a good hitter. Foscue bats near the top of a lineup that's mostly mediocre, and he has zero stolen bases in his big league career. Nonetheless, a .406 xwOBACON, 11% Barrel, 42% HH, and 24% Pull Air mean that this guy can not only get to 25 homers a year, but has a real shot at 30 and outside shot at 35. His strong finish to the season has earned him substantially more playing time in 2027. I have a feeling I'm going to leave a lot of drafts with him.
Jackson Merrill, OF, San Diego Padres
Merrill went 3-5 with R, 2 K on 3 hard hit balls. Merrill has quietly had a major bounceback year. An ultra strong rookie year in 2024 made a fantasy darling heading into 2025, but crushed managers with a regressed stat line and measly 1 SB on the year. Merrill has not only turned it around piece by piece, but he actually has me excited for 2027. Merrill's 25 HR and 26 SB are career bests, but what I love the most is a career best 18% Pull Air and career low 36.6% GB with basically no meaningful changes to his contact or swing decision-related statistics. Merrill was the same quality of hitter in 2026 as he was in 2024 - but with a higher propensity to hit homers. Draft him confidently in 2027.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand, 3B, Baltimore Orioles
CES went 3-4 with 3 R, 2 2B, HR, 2 RBI, K on two hard hit balls. CES is going to be a "My Guy" for 2027. He's slashing .314/.375/.588 this month. A .442 xwOBACON, 15% Barrel, 38% LASS, and 27% Pull Air absolutely has my attention. The contact problems are certainly there, he is whiffing at 29% and punching out at 27%. However, while not great, neither of those figures are horrible, and they are certainly absorbable when you consider how good the quality of contact has been. He flashed this kind of quality of contact at various stages in his career, and I'm not super intrigued if he can repeat in 2027 across a full season.
Alex Bregman, 3B, Chicago Cubs
Bregman went 3-4 with R, 2B, 3B, HR, 4 RBI on three hard hit balls. Bregman started off the year ice cold, but he salvaged the year by posting an OPS over .800 in all of July, August, and September, while going over 1.000 in August and September. Next year will be his age 33 season and I'm really worried about regression. Bregman's .319 xwOBACON and .246 xBA are both career lows, and his 36.8% HH and 5.7% Barrel aren't the worst of his career, but they rank in the bottom half. Bregman's swing decision and contact quality have held steady - and he's maintained his career 23.7% Pull Air, but the raw juice is slowly dwindling. Feels like a falling knife situation. Buyer beware for 2027.
Jackson Chourio, OF, Milwaukee Brewers
Chourio went 1-5 with a R, K on two hard hit balls. The 22 year old is wrapping up his third MLB season in a row by crossing the 40 HR+SB threshold, and I think a lot of managers are soured by his lack of step forward across those three years. This is the perfect opportunity to buy in on a player that still has more upside to tap into. Chourio's lack of development is not a skill issue, but an age issue. He was called up so young, and most good big leaguers are only getting to this bigs at the age Chourio is right now. If this was his rookie season, we would be clamoring over how much higher the upside is, but the perspective has been shifted by three strong, but not elite seasons. Players typically peak in the 26-28 age range, and Chourio won't even be there for a couple more years, meaning there is STILL room for him to grow. He is absolutely worth the dice roll in 2027, as it's not unrealistic to say another jump in ability could be on the horizon.
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