Oakland A’s Danny Valencia: Elephant in the Room

Danny Valencia mashed five homers this weekend for the Oakland A’s, clearly getting the attention of fantasy owners.

Baseball is a weird sport, so go figure that all a guy needed to fix his swing was to hit the DL with a lame hamstring. Danny Valencia went on an absolute mashing spree this weekend versus the Rays, as he channeled his inner Reggie Jackson to post a .500 AVG/5 HR/7 RBI/ line.

Unfortunately for most owners, no one owned Valencia nor had him in their lineup, so his weekend barrage was all for naught fantasy wise. An old adage in fantasy sports is to never chase the stats you saw yesterday, making the addition of Valencia off the waiver wire a tricky task. But, which such a great performance, it creates an elephant in the room scenario as fantasy owners will have to address picking him up if he is sitting on the wire.

After his performance on Sunday, he has more than likely flew off waiver wires across all formats, but plenty of fantasy owners will still have the chance to add him. So, should fantasy owners make Valencia a top priority add?

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On April 20, he went down with a hammy injury after being thrown out at the plate against the Yankees. At the time he had a decent average, .294, but the power and RBI production was absent. He returned on May 7 and has not stop hitting yet, as he currently has a 10-game hitting streak on top of his recent power showcase.

When the A’s acquired Danny Valencia during the second half of the 2015 season, his .284 AVG and 11 HR over only 47 games warranted the club to basically give him his first full-time role at third since his early days with the Minnesota Twins.

Valencia has always had a weakness against righties, a career .241 versus RHP compared to his .322 AVG versus LHP. But, over the last few seasons he has greatly improved versus RHP, batting .284 versus them last season and currently hitting .321 of them this season. Thus, highlighting that if fantasy owners want to add Valencia with a long-term outlook in mind, there is room for comfort in his peripherals and the 15-20 HR upside he has shown.

We saw this today as each of his home runs were absolute bombs and came against both a lefty and righty. The A’s lineup may not be a juggernaut, but it seems as though that Valencia can be added now as he can single handedly produce enough counting stats.

For those looking to be further convinced, take a gander at his matchups this week. The A’s play six games this week, three versus the Texas Rangers and the New York Yankees. The first four pitchers he is scheduled to face are, Cole Hamels, Derek Holland, Martin Perez and CC Sabathia. They all just so happen to be lefties, placing Valencia in a prime opportunity to parlay his surge this weekend into  two solid weeks of production.

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Now those pitchers are not chopped liver, but Danny Valencia has always shown that he can handle lefties at a quality rate. The Coliseum certainly hinders his power some as well, but Tropicana is by no means a hitter’s haven and he showed how small he can make any ballpark look with his homers.

This may feel like a waste of time, or a move destined to disappoint, but Valencia has momentum and a favorable fantasy outlook ahead, making him well worth an add.