Carlos Santana (1B/DH, KC) - Fantasy Baseball Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Draft target ~pick 260

CURRENT ADP: ~292 overall

ANALYSIS: Kansas City Royals first baseman/designated hitter Carlos Santana gets overlooked every single season. The reason is because of rotisserie bias (Roto is the more popular format), but Santana is always such a value in points leagues, where hitters lose points for strikeouts but are awarded points for walks. Santana has posted a walk rate equal to or higher than his strikeout rate in three straight seasons. Even when his strikeout rate is higher than the walk rate, it's not by much. His strikeout rate has also been below 17 percent in five straight seasons, meaning that he will not lose you a lot of points in those formats.

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He also provides a consistently high on-base percentage, which is huge in those formats. But it's not like he should be totally ignored in Roto leagues, either. The ISO did dip in the shortened 2020 season, but it was at .234 in 2019, which was the second-highest mark of his career, and he swatted 34 homers with 110 runs, 93 RBI, and four stolen bases that season. Due to his disappointing shortened season and worries about the Royals' lineup, Santana now has an ADP of 281 overall, which seems insanely low since he was going around 136 overall last season. The Royals may not be world-beaters, but this lineup is more impactful than people give it credit for, so there is a good opportunity for RBI production hitting in the middle of it. Take the discount, especially in points leagues.

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