If there’s anything we love more than baseball around here on the fantasy staff, it’s collaborating with each other. So, at the behest of myself, we’re going to be doing one final group series of the year to close out the last seven weeks of the season. For this series, we will each select one player who is below 25 percent owned in either ESPN or Yahoo! leagues who could be someone to consider grabbing before the end of the season with an eye towards a keeper spot. Now, given the depth we’re dealing with here, these recommendations are not for owners who can keep five or seven players from season-to-season—it’s more for those of you who play in leagues where keepers take up more than half of your roster (and possibly more, in the case of some recommendations contained within). —Bret
Oswaldo Arcia, Minnesota Twins
“Arcia’s slash line doesn’t look pretty, but it belies two important factors: (1) He owns a .249/.324/.520 slash line against righties with a .271 ISO, and (2) only three hitters have connected with as many home runs as Arcia, 13, in the second half of the season. Furthermore, to illustrate his legit power, his average batted-ball distance ranks 50th in baseball. He has limitations to his overall profile, but if you’re a fantasy owner who can utilize the platoon advantage, he’s a great source for power. Also, I’m not convinced he’s useless against lefties. He just hasn’t shown it to this point and needs to develop that part of his game. I was huge on Arcia coming into the 2014 season. That will continue heading into the 2015 campaign.” —J.P. Breen
Avisail Garcia, Chicago White Sox
“Garcia got off to a strong start in April, logging a .267/.353/.467 line over the first eight games of the season (that's a valid sample, right?). Then, he tore his labrum and cracked a bone in his shoulder trying to make a diving catch, and that was that until his return a couple of weeks ago. Still, I've seen enough in his brief return to restore my pre-season hope for an impending breakout. An overly aggressive approach has been the knock on Garcia throughout his ascent to the big leagues, and it is precisely in this area that he appears to be making legitimate strides in the right direction. His overall swing percentage has fallen dramatically—over seven percent since his 2012 debut—and just as importantly, he's chasing significantly fewer balls out of the zone. It's an admittedly minuscule sample size, but results of late also match the eye test that he's made significant progress in addressing vulnerabilities up in the zone. This is the same guy pegged by the BP prospect team as a 6 hit, 6 power type heading into the 2013 season. The raw tools are there, and if even some of the progress he's shown in approach turn out to be legitimate he's a low-cost 15/15 option with a respectable batting average as soon as next year. That'll play in AL-only and most medium-depth mixed leagues, and as a longer term option the 23 year old makes for a fine target in deeper dynasty formats.” —Wilson Karaman
Matt Joyce, Tampa Bay Rays
“Another deep-league possibility, Joyce isn't going to win you any leagues with a virtuoso performance next year. What he is, though, is solid, and more to the point, predictable. While he's unusable against left-handed pitchers, knowing that means you can capitalize on his performance against right-handers, who he generally mashes against. Even if you're not paying attention, the Rays are, as his 34 at-bats against southpaws will attest.
He experienced something of a power outage this season, failing to club double-digit home runs for the first time in his major league career (unless he can add two, in short order). While his slugging percentage dropped below .400, he rebounded in batting average and on-base percentage in 2014. Assuming the power decline is an anomaly—.128 ISO in '14 compared to a career .191 ISO—Joyce should be a very playable outfielder in even moderately deep leagues come 2015. Even without the extra-base hits, Joyce's .277 TAv is solid.” —Craig Goldstein
Jake Marisnick, Houston Astros
“Marisnick is owned in just 0.9 percent of ESPN leagues right now, and it's not terribly difficult to see why. The 23-year-old is hitting .239/.275/.283 in the majors in 195 PA this season, and while he's already swiped 10 bases, his lack of power and low walk rate are disappointing. In other organizations, Marisnick may have played his way out of a starting role for 2015. But, with apologies to Dom Santana, the Astros have little reason not to let Marisnick join George Springer and Dexter Fowler as an everyday outfielder next year. Marisnick's average might not be super fantasy-friendly, but this is a player who can easily hit 10-plus homers and steal 20-plus bases if he gets 400-plus PA next season. That makes him fantasy-relevant in leagues with 16-plus teams, and there's definitely a chance the power ticks up a bit, too.” —Ben Carsley
A.J. Pollock, Arizona Diamondbacks
“Through his first 51 games, Pollock triple slashed .316/.366/.554. Those excellent numbers include six home runs, four triples, and 16 doubles to go along with eight stolen bases. We were on the verge of witnessing a bona fide break out season from the Diamondbacks center fielder, when an eighth-inning, Johnny Cueto fastball fractured his right hand. Sure, his .370 BABIP was due for some regression to his .340-.350 minor-league norms, but given the extra-base hits and stolen bases, such regression would be more than palatable for fantasy owners. Even better, Pollock has picked up right where he left off in his return from injury, posting a .286/.348/.452 triple slash over 12 games. Injury and timing has helped suppressed his perceived value for now, but that certainly will not last for long. Scoop Pollock now if you can, because he will not be under-owned for much longer.” —Jeff Quinton
Colby Rasmus, Toronto Blue Jays
"Not all that long ago, 20 home runs with a bad batting average was a marginal proposition in fantasy at best, particularly in your outfield. However, with power diminishing across the board, Rasmus’s fantasy relevance has somewhat increased. Rasmus is a definite batting average risk, and you can’t simply hope that this is the one year in five that he gets lucky and hits at a .270 clip. But even in a BA league, Rasmus’ awful BA hardly matters anymore. Rasmus was on pace this year to hit 26 home runs over 550 plate appearances. That would have been good for sixth best among major league outfielders and fifteenth best overall. With offense dwindling, fantasy owners are going to chase power. Don’t pay the sticker price for the 2015 version of Chris Davis. Try to sneak someone like Rasmus onto your roster instead." —Mike Gianella
Oscar Taveras, St Louis Cardinals
“On one hand, Taveras is owned in likely all dynasty and deeper keeper formats—and even in shallower keeper leagues, there’s a pretty good chance that he’s gone as well. But this isn’t for those people anyway. There are plenty of owners who have been disappointed, and rightly so, with Taveras’ performance thus far. It’s not as though it was realistic for him to perform like a superstar right off the bat, even if I do still strongly believe that is his future, but a .608 OPS in 216 at-bats was not quite what we had in mind. To that end, the struggles for Taveras, while not predictable in depth, has been relatively predictable in terms. He’s always had an extraordinary knack for putting the bat on the ball throughout his minor league career, so his 5.2 percent swinging strike rate is just about as excellent as could have been projected (league average is 9.4 percent). The problem is that he’s making poor contact. He’s only seeing strikes less than 55 percent of the time, and his contact rate on pitches outside the zone is an astounding 85.6 percent. The huge step is going to be laying off the pitches he can’t drive, and once that happens, watch out. Those of you not considering keeping him in shallow leagues better have really strong alternatives, or else you could be making a decision you regret for a decade. —Bret Sayre
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