Fantasy Baseball: Buy Low, Sell High

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Buy Low

Vinnie Pasquantino, 1B, Royals

The season line is why his owner wants out. .245/.332/.384, nine homers, 41 RBI in 89 games. You drafted last year's 32-homer, 113-RBI first baseman and have been staring at a hole since he missed time, including a wrist absence.

That full-season number is lying to you. Since the All-Star break he's hit .345/.424/.534, and his average exit velocity in that stretch has jumped into the low-93s after sitting at 89.3 mph for the year. The walk rate is already a career high at 11.3 percent. Thursday he went 2-for-5 with a homer and three RBI in Toronto. That's the bat you paid for, just late.

He is not catching 32 homers. He doesn't have to. If a frustrated manager still has him priced like a replacement first baseman, buy. Redraft: start him every day down the stretch. Dynasty: this is the window before next year's draft board treats him like 2025 again.

Alejandro Kirk, C, Blue Jays

Buy in redraft if your catcher slot is a zero. Hold/buy in dynasty — same contact-first bat, just a half-season. Deep leagues: he's a must if he's sitting there.

Sell High

Ozzie Albies, 2B, Braves

Twenty homers. .256 average. All-Star. That box score will get you a real return from someone who remembers 2023.

Do not pay that price. His average exit velocity is 86.9 mph. His hard-hit rate is 28.2 percent. League average is about 39 percent. He has three stolen bases and has been caught four times. The 20/15 second baseman you used to roster is gone, and the homer total is running ahead of the contact quality. Second-half at-bats have been softer.

If someone in your league still has him as a top-eight second baseman, sell. Redraft: take the bats that actually square the ball up. Dynasty: you can hold into free agency if you want the bounce-back bet, but the underlying contact is already telling you what next year might look like.

Mike Trout, OF, Angels

Trout has had the "he's back" season. Twenty homers, 11 steals (first time in double digits since 2019), a .382 on-base percentage, an All-Star nod. Managers who rode him through the injury years will not want to move him.

The second half is the sell. Exit velocity has sat around 87.8 mph since the break, and his barrel rate has dropped to 6.1 percent after 19.9 percent in the first half. Season-long he's at .241/.382/.434 with 47 RBI in 115 games. The OBP is real. The thump is not what the name still implies, and Anaheim is not about to feed him a September RBI binge.

Sell in standard 5x5 if someone is still treating him like a top-15 outfielder. Hold in OBP leagues — that .382 is the one piece that has not moved. Dynasty: don't dump him for scraps, but if a contender offers a younger outfielder who will actually play 140 games next year, take the call.

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Kirk has played 59 games. That's the whole issue. .274/.352/.408 with seven homers, a 10.9 percent strikeout rate, and an 11.3 percent walk rate is a top-eight catcher season if you give him the other 70 games. Injuries and Toronto's year stole those games, so the counting stats look empty (17 runs, 29 RBI) and his name has fallen off trade boards.

Catcher is still a wasteland. A guy who hits .274, walks, and almost never punches out is the profile you actually want in September, not the 25-homer dart throw batting .210. He will not save you in home runs. He will help you in average, and the RBI show up if he stays in the middle of that lineup.