Fantasy Baseball In-Season Position Eligibility Changes

During your prep work for the fantasy baseball season, one of the strategy articles I wrote in the 2017 Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide revolved around targeting players with multi-position eligibility. Drafting players such as Javier Baez, Jedd Gyorko, Ben Zobrist and Brad Miller would not only give you an easier way to adjust on the fly during your draft, but also afford you the necessary roster flexibility to maximize your in-season at-bats, especially in leagues with daily roster moves. It would also increase your weekly waiver wire options as you weren’t necessarily locked into searching just one position to fill in the event of an injury. If you lost your starting shortstop and the position’s waiver options were weak, you were now able to look at potential second base or outfield adds with the comfort of knowing one of these players could fill in at shortstop for the short-term.

While no expert would ever steer you away from improving your roster flexibility, many dismissed the notion of targeting such players as being an overrated strategy. Now here we are, a little more than two months into the season, and with the multitude of injuries nearly every fantasy owner has endured – whether it’s due to the new 10-day DL or just a massive increase in the number of ouchies – roster flexibility and an increase of potential waiver options is not only coveted, but necessary. In leagues with 12 teams or more, there simply aren’t enough quality players to go around. That’s why tracking in-season position eligibility changes is so important right now.

For example, how many of you out there were aware that in leagues with a five-game in-season appearance minimum to qualify at a position, Cubs first baseman now has second base eligibility? Crazy, right? According to MLB rules, players may not use a first-baseman’s glove at any other position other than first base. So when Cubs manager Joe Maddon employs a defensive shift, either against a right-handed pull-hitter or to come in even further to cover a potential bunt, Rizzo is forced to change gloves by some umpires. Apparently it is up to umpire discretion. When that happens, according to official MLB scoring, Rizzo is considered a second baseman and that, believe it or not, counts towards his position eligibility.

There is no rule that says how long a player must be at the position to qualify as an appearance, so even making the move for just one pitch counts. According to official scoring, Rizzo has now made six appearances at second and despite him only playing there for 2.1 innings in total, it’s only the number of game appearances that count. Can you imagine what this is doing for Rizzo owners right now?

Granted, Rizzo hasn’t exactly been himself with regard to offensive productivity, but we’re playing the long game here and while he may be ranked just outside the top-10 at first, his numbers easily push him into the top five among second basemen. Unless you’re rostering someone like Jose Altuve, Robinson Cano or Daniel Murphy, why wouldn’t you immediately shift Rizzo to the keystone and grab yourself someone like Justin Bour or Tommy Joseph to give your team an extra edge in the power department? You can even expand your search to third base waivers as well if you have a corner infield spot.

So with all of that, I was inspired to look at other players who have already qualified at another position this season or are extremely close to doing so. If you own any of them, you’re psyched, but even if you don’t, you can still better your team by making them targets for your trade talk.

Players Who Have Acquired New Position Eligibility (5-games in-season)

Players Who Are Close to New Position Eligibility (5-games in-season)