Fantasy Baseball: Tigers Nick Castellanos starting to come to life?

Nick Castellanos is off to a slow start for the Tigers this season. But, now that he is on a hot stretch at the plate, is he coming to life for fantasy owners?

Patience is a hard virtue to having in fantasy sports. Days and weeks go by and those players that we once were excited for, are now guys that we question even why we took them. Tigers’ third basemen, Nick Castellanos, had all the signs of being a potential breakout player. But, now that he has heated up over the last few weeks, is he starting to come to life for fantasy owners?

Nick Castellanos is already in his fourth full season at the MLB level for the Tigers. The 25-year-old has found decent success in his career but it always seems as though he could reach that next level. Fantasy owners were excited about his fantasy value this season after he was coming off his best career campaign in 2016 which saw him post a .285/18 HR/58 RBI/.827 OPS line over 110 games.

Even though his fantasy value was on the rise, Castellanos got off a dreadful start the first two months of the season, hitting rock bottom in May where he only managed a .175 AVG. By that point, most fantasy owners threw the towel in and rightfully dropped him.

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But, the turn of the calendar was a welcome sight to Castellanos and he has rebounded in a big way posting a .308/5 HR/14 RBI line in June and already notching five hits over 12 at-bats in July.

Looking deeper into his batted ball data, there are no clear indicators that point to his rough stretches this season.

The strikeout rate is still high, 25%, yet he currently has a 8% BB rate which is a career best. His LD rate stands at 27%, another career best, while he is still posting decent FB rates at 33%. His 41% GB rate could be an indicator of why the power is down, but amazingly he is only making soft contact at a 9% rate while also posting  43% Med and 49% Hard contact rates. His batted ball data would suggest that he is not as bad as his line is.

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With his recent hot streak and solid contact rates, fantasy owners should start to be more interested in him once again. He is starting to shape up to be a nice second half rebound candidate, yet one that is still available in over 70% of leagues.  It is hard to find a hotter hitter over the last three weeks and with the peripherals to match it, it is time to reinvest.

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