Fantasy Baseball: 5 Buy-Low Options for Season-Long Leagues
Matt Carpenter, INF, St. Louis Cardinals
Unlike the previous four guys, Matt Carpenter has been producing fairly solid fantasy numbers this season. Also unlike the other four fellas, he's not human.
Carpenter is the owner of a .356 wOBA and 17.5% walk rate, but the BABIP gods have kept his numbers from being even better.
The St. Louis Cardinals' infielder has a .256 BABIP. Not only is that well below the league average of .299 despite Carpenter's crazy-good batted-ball profile -- which we'll get to in a second -- it's the 21st-lowest mark in baseball.
About Carpenter's batted-ball profile, it moves me to tears. He and Cody Bellinger are the only two players to rank in the top 10 in both hard-hit rate and fly-ball rate.
| Stat | Performance | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Hard-Hit Rate | 45.1% | 8th |
| Fly-Ball Rate | 50.7% | 5th |
| BABIP | .256 | 146th |
Somehow, despite contact numbers that could create life, Carpenter's BABIP ranks 146th. That has bogged down his batting average to .237, well below his career average of .279.
From a fantasy perspective, Carpentner is 13th among second baseman, per ESPN's Player Rater, so he's not going to be dirt cheap. But he's also not going to be valued like an elite bat, which is exactly what he'll be if his batted-ball luck takes a turn for the better.
