Ballparks have a major say in our valuations in fantasy baseball. We tend to lean most heavily upon batters who call more hitter-friendly environments their homes: Coors Field, Great American Ball Park or Yankee Stadium, just to name three. At the same time, we seek as many pitchers as we can get from the most pitcher-conducive ballparks — Oracle Park, T-Mobile Park and Petco Park are three notables on that side of the coin.
That’s the theme to this week’s most-recommended pickups for standard ESPN leagues, with all of the suggested adds living in the right type of environment for success.
Week 2’s top ESPN standard league pickups
Kris Bubic, RP, Kansas City Royals (available in 70.6% of leagues): He has been a strikeout sensation since making a tweak to his repertoire in 2023, having then added a sweeper. However, no one really noticed that far back, because he was lost for the year due to Tommy John surgery only three starts into that 2023 campaign. After returning to action last May, Bubic pitched effectively between the minors and out of the bullpen for the Royals in 2024, reflecting more than a full-mph gain in average fastball velocity along with the same hard contact-minimizing sweeper.
Back in a rotational role this year, Bubic has maintained most of his extra fastball velocity — his 92.2 mph average through two starts is a good half-tick higher than he posted pre-surgery — and he has both 33% whiff (misses per swing) and strikeout rates through his first two starts. To the ballpark factor, Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium is one of the game’s toughest environments in which to hit home runs, so Bubic should enjoy a good share of fantasy-friendly matchups.
Hunter Goodman, OF/C, Colorado Rockies (available in 86.1%): A player who seemingly fit more of a utilityman role at the dawn of 2025, presumably set to see more of his time in the outfield or at DH, Goodman appears to have since settled in as a William Contreras/Adley Rutschman-like catcher/DH dynamo for the Rockies. He has started (and completed) six of the team’s nine games behind the plate and been the DH in the other three. This added role greatly enhances his fantasy value because of the volume-driven advantage it provides catcher-eligible players relative to their brethren.
Goodman is an “all or nothing” style hitter, homering in 4.7% of his career trips to the plate but striking out in 28.9%. Still, thanks to his team playing half of their games in baseball’s best hitting environment, it’s an approach that works. If you’re able to start him in all his home games while benching him on the road — his career wOBA is 66 points higher at Coors than on the road — it’s the ideal way to maximize his value.
Tyler Soderstrom, 1B, Athletics (available in 61.1%): Another player whose home environment boosts his fantasy profile — Sutter Health Park saw a total of 44 runs and 12 home runs hit in its season-opening, three-game series — Soderstrom is a sneaky-good power source from the first base position, but he brings additional appeal as a possible in-season catcher qualifier as the team’s emergency backstop.
Since the beginning of last season, Soderstrom has 14.5% Statcast Barrel and 50.0% hard-hit rates, both of which place in the 94th percentile among players with at least 250 plate appearances during that time. He’s serving as the team’s everyday first baseman and No. 5 hitter against right-handers, plus he hit a not-bad sixth in the Athletics’ only game against a lefty starter thus far.
Two-start pitcher pickup
Hayden Wesneski, RP/SP, Houston Astros (available in 95.7%): Sure, he might only be a placeholder for the Astros until Lance McCullers Jr. is ready to return, Wesneski’s two-start week falls at an advantageous time on the schedule. He’s scheduled to start Monday at pitcher-friendly T-Mobile Park against a Seattle Mariners offense that has totaled 32 runs in 10 games, before returning home to face a Los Angeles Angels lineup that the Forecaster grades one of the majors’ 10 worst.
Rotisserie-style player to add
Jose Alvarado, RP, Philadelphia Phillies (available in 87.0%): The Phillies have presented their bullpen a ninth-inning save chance in each of their last three wins. Alvarado has been granted, and converted, two of those opportunities. Jordan Romano, who was expected to serve as the team’s full-time closer, got the third on Alvarado’s April 4 night off (Alvarado had thrown 35 pitches the day before) and pitched in a setup role in the other two victories.
A combination of injuries and wildness have held Alvarado back from greater things in the past, but his stuff has been as filthy as ever thus far — his 99.7 mph average fastball velocity would be a career best, and his cutter has generated a whiff half the time. He currently has the look of a dynamo finisher. Yes, there may be some sharing of the closer role in Philadelphia all year long, but the left-hander is in fact a must-add in all formats based upon early trends.
Deeper-league pickups
Kyren Paris, 2B, Los Angeles Angels (available in 93.3% of leagues): Always a top-shelf speedster — he stole 47 bases in 128 games combined between the majors and minors in 2023 and has 93rd percentile Statcast sprint speed thus far — Paris added oomph to his hitting game after working with hitting guru Richard Schenck (of whom Aaron Judge is a notable client) during the offseason. Paris already has a pair of Barrels and a 54% hard-hit rate on his 13 batted balls.
Dennis Santana, RP, Pittsburgh Pirates (available in 97.1%): David Bednar’s unexpected demotion to Triple-A on April 1 created a wide-open closer picture for the Pirates, and Santana has been shaping up as the favorite to claim it. He closed out the team’s April 2 win and tossed a scoreless eighth inning on Sunday ahead of Ryan Borucki blowing the save in the ninth. Santana’s slider generated a 40%-plus whiff rate in 2024 and has again through his first six appearances.
Zac Veen, OF, Colorado Rockies (available in 97.0%): He nearly captured a starting job during spring training, batting .270/.352/.460 with two homers and nine steals in 28 Cactus League games. After hitting .387/.472/.677 across his first eight games for Triple-A Albuquerque, he’s reportedly set to be recalled by the Rockies in advance of Tuesday’s series opener against the Milwaukee Brewers. Veen’s combination of potentially elite speed, patience at the plate and pop — not to mention the Coors factor — makes him an ideal pickup for rotisserie play.
Source link
