MLB Points Leagues: Spotlighting Productive Players

Each season, regardless of format, certain players are regularly in the spotlight while others fly under the radar despite being plenty productive. This week, we'll aim to shine the spotlight on some of the top-performing players in points leagues who aren't rostered or started at a high enough rate and may be available in your leagues.

Hitters

Carlos Santana - 19% rostered CBS, 13% Yahoo, 8% ESPN

Santana has a long history as an excellent player for points formats. Originally, that was because he was catcher eligible while also getting reps at first base and designated hitter, thus gaining far more volume than other backstops. While his catcher eligibility is long gone, Santana has maintained plenty of value in points leagues thanks to his patience at the plate, having posted a walk rate above 10 percent in every year of his career. His walk rate is just 7.3 percent currently but is still expected by every publicly available projection system to jump back above 10 percent before the end of the year. As things stand, he's still averaging 2.4 points on CBS and is inside the top 24 first baseman on ESPN as measured by points per game. With some improvement projected, he's a nice option to pick up now while he remains widely available.

Tommy Pham - 22% rostered CBS, 6% ESPN  

It would be pretty easy to overlook Pham. When the regular season began, he didn't have a team. Then he joined the White Sox, who own the worst wOBA and wRC+ in the league. He's hit no lower than second in the lineup however, and given the state of the team, there's little reason for that to change. Pham also has a skillset well tailored to points formats. He has a good approach at the plate and will have a lot of run-scoring potential even on a poor offense. The concern is that Pham gets dealt to a contender at some point in the summer where his role will be considerably worse, but that's not a reason to leave his current production on the waiver wire.  

Ryan O'Hearn - 43% rostered CBS, 18% ESPN

O'Hearn is tricky from a volume perspective because he has never appeared in a game against a lefty this season. That makes him a better fit for daily lineup leagues, where he can be platooned with another option. The flip side of that negative is that he's particularly well situated against righties, as he has batted third in that scenario in every contest for the last month. In 17 games while hitting directly behind Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman, O'Hearn has 10 RBI and six runs scored while walking eight times and striking out on only six occasions. If your league is deep enough to work around lefty-heavy weeks, O'Hearn is a must-add player.

Starting Pitchers

Taijuan Walker - 45% rostered CBS, 21% Yahoo, 8% ESPN

Walker hasn't been a favorite of the fantasy community because he bumped Spencer Turnbull from the Phillies' rotation despite Turnbull's excellent start to the season. Walker hasn't been overly impressive in his three starts, but he has worked at least six innings in each outing and has compiled a decent 15:4 K:BB in 18.2 innings. That length is particularly important for win potential. His ability to work deep into games and the quality of the Phillies' roster as a whole should set Walker up well for plenty of points based on quality starts and wins, even if his underlying skills are somewhat underwhelming.  

Cooper Criswell - 16% rostered CBS, 15% Yahoo, 5% ESPN

Criswell entered 2024 having thrown 37.2 innings in the majors and is now in his age-27 season, so there's plenty of reason for fantasy managers to be skeptical of his early success. However, he's averaging 10.9 fantasy points per start and has backed his results up with an impressive 19.8 K-BB% and a 3.27 SIERA. There are some alarming things in his profile as well, particularly that he's benefitted from a .258 BABIP and 84 LOB% – both of which are likely to regress. The other primary issue with his skills profile is his inability to work deep into games. He's never thrown more than five innings in a start, so when things go badly he won't have length to provide a decent floor. Overall, I have faith in a Boston coaching staff that has helped several of the team's starters break out and maintain a 2.57 ERA as a group. Ride this profile while it lasts. 

Clarke Schmidt

Schmidt is very likely to be rostered in many leagues, but he's started in only 46 percent of CBS leagues this week despite averaging 13.3 points per start. He's taken a significant step forward in his overall strikeout rate (27 percent), which is also backed up by gains in his swinging strike rate and increased velocity on both his cutter and sinker. Even his bad starts have been far from catastrophic, as in standard scoring CBS leagues he's never tallied fewer than four points. Schmidt can be started confidently. 

Relief Pitchers

Griffin Jax - 29% rostered CBS, 42% Yahoo, 9% ESPN

With the obvious exception of Jhoan Duran, Jax is the arm to roster in the Minnesota bullpen. He's made 19 appearances this season and has picked up a save or a hold in 11 of them. In his 17.2 innings pitched, he's managed 23 strikeouts (31.5 K%). All of that has amounted to 84.5 fantasy points (on CBS), in line with full-time closers such as Kenley Jansen and Camilo Doval. With Duran back in the mix, Jax is more likely to get holds, so his appeal is primarily limited to formats where pitchers are rewarded for setup outings. He should also be in line for a handful of saves with Rocco Baldeilli preferring to use Duran in highest-leverage spots, rather than exclusively in the ninth inning. 

Jalen Beeks - 8% rostered CBS, 9% Yahoo, 1% ESPN

There's always a danger to rostering any Rockies pitcher, but Beeks has claimed four of the team's last five saves. He came away from his last outing narrowly unscathed after walking the bases loaded and also doesn't have much strikeout stuff – he has only 14 strikeouts in 20.1 innings -- so his grip on the closer role isn't exactly secure He's not a player I'd hold through any signs of struggle, but both he and the Rockies are rolling now so he has short-term value.