Fantasy baseball infielder grab bag: Roster depth around the horn in Boston, Chicago and Toronto

Now that the clouds of anxiety, doubt and hope brought by the MLB trade deadline have passed, along with the trade deadline itself, it’s time to hunker down for the truly dog days of summer as baseball heads into the back straight away of the season.

The big-league teams have their rosters pretty much set for the next two months, but fantasy baseball owners have the luxury of changing things up every day for several weeks to come. Whether you’re up in the standings or barely scraping by like a recent college graduate fresh off a summer trip to Europe, you’re going to need depth at any position you can find it. I found some nice depth pieces in the infield to cover days off and injuries on your fantasy baseball roster. Some of these players may even become regulars in your lineups. Let’s go around the horn!

Fantasy baseball infielders to watch

Triston Casas, Boston Red Sox 1B 

We head back to Beantown for our stop at first base. Triston Casas is yet another player excelling in his second Major League season this summer. A September call-up in 2022, Casas has held down first base all season at Fenway and is shaping up to be a long-term solution at the position for the Red Sox. With a .255 batting average, an .837 OPS with 15 home runs and 40 RBI, Casas’ numbers may make his season look a bit pedestrian, but the young lefty hitter has been a solid contributor to Boston’s July surge in the standings.

Casas has hit .358 with seven homers and 13 RBI over the past 30 days while slugging .761 with 1.217 OPS. Coinciding with his strong July, the BoSox first baseman has hit safely in 15 of his last 18 games, and eight of those were multi-hit games. As nice a stretch as Casas has had of late, it’s certainly not without its faults as over that stretch of 18 games he has struck out 15 times. In four of those games, he had multiple strikeouts. He certainly likes to swing the bat. A few more faults in Casas’ stars are that he’s just a .204 hitter against lefties, is .208 with runners on base and just-a-shade better .221 with runners in scoring position.

Even though Boston made zero splash at the trade deadline, instead opting to just toss a little water on their brow by trading for a Brewers infielder who they immediately sent to the minors, they are still right in the American League Wild Card race. Wednesday’s Orioles win over the Blue Jays puts Boston just two games behind Toronto for the third Wild Card spot, 9.5 games behind Baltimore in the AL East.

The Red Sox open a 10-game homestand in Kenmore Square Friday against the Blue Jays before welcoming much more favorable opponents to Boston in Kansas City and Detroit. The incoming competition should help Casas raise his .270 batting average in Fenway Park.

Whit Merrifield, Toronto Blue Jays, 2B

The Toronto Blue Jays may have the very first “Whit” in major league history and they’re sure glad they do as the 34-year-old second baseman, who also plays both in the outfield, has reached back in time to do all he can to help the Blue Jays make a run for the postseason. Merrifield’s numbers on the season are reminiscent of his early years in Kansas City where he was a .300 hitter towards the end of last decade. Heading into a huge series with the Red Sox, Merrifield is hitting .299 with nine home runs, 50 RBI and 21 stolen bases. After leveling off a bit in May (.267) and June (.280) after hitting .333 in April, Merrifield bounced back in July hitting .356 with a .997 OPS. Merrifield recently had an eight-game hitting streak snapped and closed out July hitting safely in 16 of the month’s last 18 games.

Like I mentioned, Merrifield plays as much left field as he does second base with a few games in right field sprinkled in. He’s as steady at the plate when at second or in left, hitting .295 and .302 respectively.

The Blue Jays have a tough series in Fenway this weekend then head out to Cleveland before returning to the Great White North to host the Cubs. Merrifield is a .338 hitter in 19 games at Fenway Park, but just a .241 hitter at Progressive field in 53 games. Long-term for both Toronto and fantasy owners, Merrifield is a career .289 hitter in August and a .295 hitter in September/October. Merrifield has posted the most home runs (23) of his career in August out of any other month in the season. The guy likes those late summer nights. Can you blame him?