Fantasy baseball: Hidden home runs in Miami, St. Louis and Washington

Home runs have value whether you’re actually playing baseball, as in on a field in a uniform, or if you’re just a dude having fun playing fantasy baseball.

In fantasy baseball, home runs just don’t mean RBI and runs … they also mean total bases. Total bases are a huge factor into whether you win or lose week by week, so just because you may not get extra points for the actual homer, that doesn’t mean they’re not a big deal. If your team is in a homer drought or your roster just isn’t going yard the way you hoped it would after the draft, I have a few names under the radar that just might give your team a boost via the home run.

Let’s take a look and get your fantasy baseball team some dingers.

Jorge Soler, Miami Marlins

I have to admit, as a northeasterner living in Dallas, I’m not spending all that much time following the Miami Marlins. I know they have a history of winning once every 20 years or so then get sold off and stink for many years. Oh, and they have a pool in the bleachers. Well, the pool has been closed since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in spring of 2020 and the Marlins don’t exactly stink. When scanning the league to find hidden home runs, I stashed my swim trunks and uncovered a little gem in Miami.

Veteran outfielder Jorge Soler is just one home run away from matching his 2022 total of 13. Soler only played in 46 games last season. Unfortunately, that low number of games played isn’t exactly an outlier in his career. Soler has only played in more than 100 games three times over his 10-year MLB career. In 2015 (101 games), Soler hit 10 homers for a Cubs team that was swept by the Mets in the NLCS. In 2019, over a full 162 games, Soler smashed 48 homers for the Royals. In 2021, he hit 27 homers in a split season between the Royals and eventual World Series champion Braves, including three postseason dingers.

Soler has shown some pop in his career and this month that pop is coming back into form. Soler has seven homers so far in May and 12 total on the season. With three home runs over the past seven days, Soler is heating up and looking to close out the month strong. He’s only batting .241, but has risen that number 21 points thus far in May and he does have 27 RBI for a Marlins team battling the Mets for second place in the NL East and looking to get over the .500 mark.

The Marlins are finishing up a series in Colorado, then head to Dodger Stadium for the holiday weekend before returning home to face the Padres next week. All three teams are middle of the pack in home runs allowed, so there should be opportunities for Soler to add to his monthly home run total and certainly surpass his 2022 numbers.