5 players you need to add in fantasy baseball right now

2. Albert Pujols, 1B/DH, Los Angeles Angels

At this point in his career, you know what you’re getting with Pujols as a fantasy owner. Anything in the same area code as a .300 batting average is long gone, along with anything he added in the stolen base category. But he has topped 600 plate appearances in four straight full seasons, with at least 95 RBI in all four (more than 100 RBI three times) and at least 28 home runs three times in that span. The peak level of “The Machine” is never coming back, but if you took Pujols’ Hall of Fame resume off those recent power numbers they look a little better and even pretty useful in fantasy.

Shifting to being the Angels’ full-time DH over the last two seasons has helped Pujols stay in the lineup. But the presence of Shohei Ohtani has taken away some opportunities to DH, and Pujols already has almost as many starts at first base (four) as he had in all of 2017 (six).

Good power numbers no longer stand out that much in real or fantasy baseball. But a spot in the middle of a good Angels lineup puts Pujols in position to produce, health permitting of course, and he should get first base eligibility back in all fantasy leagues very soon.

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