Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Week 12 Drop List.
Week 12 we have fan favorites Kyle Seager and Eric Hosmer. These two have each played over 10 seasons in the majors, have been mostly productive, and earned accolades along the way. However, their stats have not been up to par in 2021 leaving Fantasy Managers unsure of what to do.
Go check out the Week 12 Waiver Wire and week 12 xwOBA targets to help you win the week.
Fantasy Baseball Week 12 Drop List
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Kyle Seager, 3B, Seattle Mariners
Seager is slashing a career-low batting average paired with a career-high strikeout rate. Looking at his plate discipline chart on FanGraphs, we see some issues with his approach. Firstly, his swing rate is at a career-high and his contact rate is at a career low. These two combine to make his swinging strike rate 14.6% which ranks 20th in MLB, not good.
Next, his first-pitch strike percentage is an outrageous 64%, leaving Seager behind in the count almost two-thirds of the time.
This approach is leading to his walks, runs, and RBI’s being down from 2020 even though he has more games played in 2021. Seager is not doing much to help Fantasy Baseball teams and should be dropped in 12-team and lower leagues.
Eric Hosmer, 1B, San Diego Padres
Hosmer also has a career-low batting average, but unlike Seager his strikeouts are not a problem. Instead it’s his power that has been bringing his production down. He has 100 more plate appearance this season than in 2020, but has three fewer homers despite having more chances. Hosmer still has fewer runs and RBI than last year as well.
Baseball Savant records his average launch angle at 2.7 this season compared to 8.7 from last season. This could be the reason behind Hosmer’s lack of run production, as his hard-hit rate is at a career-high thus far in 2021.
Whatever the reason for his lack of power, I am ready to move on from Hosmer. Six homers and 35 RBI is far too little for a player batting a .248/.305/.357 slash line through late June.
PERFORMANCE REVIEW
EDUARDO RODRIGUEZ, SP, BOSTON RED SOX
Rodriguez pitched on Tuesday in Atlanta, recording four innings pitched, six hits, four earned runs, one walk and eight strikeouts. This was the most strikeouts he’s recorded since May 12th but unfortunately couldn’t make it past the fourth inning.
My stance this week on Rodriguez is the same as last week, he is still worth a drop.
NICK SOLAK, 2B, TEXAS RANGERS
Solak owns a four game hit streak with three RBI since appearing on last weeks drop list. His batting average rose to .237, still below the MLB average .239.
He’s only hit one extra-base hit in all of June and still strikes out 26.1% of the time. Leave him on the waiver wire.
JESÚS LUZARDO, SP/RP, OAKLAND ATHLETICS
Luzardo made two relief appearances this week recording one hold and one loss.
He extended his streak of allowing a home run to five straight appearances bringing his HR/9 to 2.61.
It seems the Athletics are going to keep Luzardo in the bullpen where he has continued to struggle, causing his Fantasy Baseball value to crash. Drop Him.
Check out all the 2021 Fantasy Baseball content from this great group of writers.
2 comments
Luzardo was optioned to AAA. I can stash him on my farm team in my league (though he will not retain rookie status)and I am taking the chance that he will be up again around August with his issues ironed out. He is just too talented to drop if one has the opportunity to stash him.
Hey that’s a great comment and point. He will definitely be back up at some point this season and hopefully better too.
I’m all for stashing a player unless he’s taking up a spot on the main roster. What does rookie status in your league entail?