Justin Bour: Pouring on the Home Runs
By Bill Pivetz
The Miami Marlins fans didn’t have much to cheer for this season. Their superstar hitter played in just 74 games this season and the rest of the lineup couldn’t pick up the pieces. While they did see the return of their ace, it wasn’t enough to prevent the team from falling 20 games back in the NL East. However, there is one player keeping the heat on in Miami and his name is Justin Bour.
Batting primarily in the middle of the Marlins’ lineup, Bour is making quite a name for himself. He played in just 39 games last season, hitting .284 with one home run and 11 RBI. This wasn’t a big enough sample size to warrant Bour being drafted in standard fantasy leagues.
This season, Justin Bour is raking them in. In 122 games, he has 21 home runs, 68 RBI and a .266 batting average. The average is expected to be lower compared to other hitters because of his boom-or-bust power numbers. He has a 33.3 fly ball and 21.6 HR/FB percentage.
While I did mention to pick up Justin Bour earlier in the season, he had five home runs and 10 RBI at the time, now is a better time than any to add Bour.
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In his last 30 games, Bour hit five doubles, nine home runs and 29 RBI with a .296 batting average. He does have 33 strikeouts in that span, but the homers and batting average more than make up for it. He has four home runs and eight RBI in his last three games, including two homers and three RBI on Sunday.
Over the last 30 days, Bour ranks third among first basemen on ESPN’s Player Rater. Over the last 15 days, he is No. 2. Most of his power numbers came from the No. 4 slot in the Marlins’ lineup. With no Stanton, Bour has been a nice substitute as the cleanup hitter.
Surprisingly, Justin Bour is only owned in 15.2 percent of ESPN leagues. It jumped up 6.3 percent over the last week. With his power numbers just sitting on the waiver wire in about 85 percent of leagues, you need to pick him up to make a difference in your championship matchup.