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OWNED IN: 19% of leagues
ANALYSIS: Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Mallex Smith has hits in five of the last six games and has either a run scored or RBI in four of those six games. Smith has also stolen three bases in his last three games (bringing his season tally to 21) and also has a triple and two doubles in the last four games. Since the beginning of July, Smith is hitting .388 with 11 extra-base hits and, even more impressively, even has a 10.3% BB rate.
Smith has mainly hit at the bottom of the Rays lineup, but his combination of average and speed is very enticing. He does have a .446 BABIP since the beginning of July, but also has a 42.1% hard hit ball rate and 32.1% line drive rate. While his 1.24 GB/FB rate in the same time period is not great, his speed will likely turn ground ball outs into infield singles.
It is not great to target players that hit at the bottom of the lineup, but the Rays are hitting well and Smith has been on a tear. While he is a good player to start in deeper leagues, he also has value as a bench player in more shallow leagues as well.
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