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BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues
OWNED IN: 29% of Yahoo! Leagues
ANALYSIS: Following up an unexpected career year in 2016, Mike Napoli has not lived up to the expectations Texas had when they brought him back for 2017. However, Napoli has looked better as of late and may be primed to have a strong second half for the Rangers. Napoli is sitting with a .204/.282/.462 line on the year with 21 home runs and 45 RBI. His 8.6% walk rate is the lowest since 2010 and his 32.9% K rate is the highest of his career. However, Napoli is hitting .296/.367/.704 over his last nine games, with three home runs and six RBI. The .385 BABIP in that small sample is obviously unsustainable, but he has had a .229 BABIP all season, which is bound to normalize as the year goes on.
Napoli is on the wrong side of 35 and has struck out way too much this season, but even in a down year he still has 21 home runs in the first 81 games of the season, making him a candidate to cross the 30 home run threshold yet again. Worst case, he's a low-end corner infield option in 12+ team leagues. Best case, he crushes the ball in the second half and sees his BABIP regulate, giving him a strong second half worthy of ownership in standard formats. If he is available in your league, he is likely worth a gamble moving forward.
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