2024 Fantasy Baseball Second Base Spotlight: Finding Power At 2B
With fantasy baseball in full swing, you’ve likely been reading all the great content in our fantasy baseball draft guide here at Fantasy Alarm, as well as partaking in many fantasy baseball mock drafts and best ball contests.
When looking at some of your teams, you may notice that the elite talent at second base dries up rather quickly, and once you get beyond the likes of Zack Gelof and Nolan Gorman, it gets rather dicey at second base. Additionally, you’ll notice that the second base position lacks power overall.
So, in this edition of the fantasy baseball positional spotlight, we are going to take a look at finding cheaper power production at second base, and I have found three guys, all outside of the top 100 that you can draft as above-average power producers (A.K.A. cheap power) at the position.
Using the 2024 fantasy baseball projections here at Fantasy Alarm, here are the average projected slugging percentage and home run totals of the top 20 players at each position. Again, this is the average of the top 20 players (sorted by projected home runs) at each position:
| SLG | HR | |
| C | .427 | 20.85 |
| 1B | .473 | 26.75 |
| 2B | .449 | 21.8 |
| 3B | .457 | 25.2 |
| SS | .448 | 22.4 |
| OF | .509 | 32.9 |
| OF (top 40) | .469 | 27.8 |
As I mentioned earlier, the elite options dry up a bit quickly at 2B, and by NFBC ADP, the top three projected guys in home runs at the position are the first three being taken off the board.
Alas, here we are, looking for other options later in the draft to help your team’s power numbers from the second base spot. Here are my favorite sources of cheaper power at second base for the fantasy baseball season:
Nolan Gorman, St. Louis Cardinals
I can’t stop writing about Gorman this season! So, here I am again! Yes, Gorman is one of my favorite values at the position, and yes, he’s one of my favorite sources of power at the second position. Remember, through the month of May last year, he slashed .272/.360/.555 with 13 home runs, 41 RBI, and four stolen bases!
Yes, he cooled off from there, but Gorman is still incredibly young, and last season, he hit 27 home runs and had a 97th percentile barrel rate! Thus far in his young career, he has a 162-game average of 32 home runs!
97th percentile barrel rate. 86th percentile hard hit rate. 79th max exit velocity. 77th percentile average exit velocity. 87th percentile xSLG. 94th percentile xISO. He’s a 30+ homer bat this year, something that only a couple of second baseman will likely do.
Brandon Drury, Los Angeles Angels
Much like Gorman, Drury’s number tailed off as the 2023 year went on, but by season’s end, Drury still had 26 home runs and a .497 SLG to show for the campaign. He’s been very consistent over the last two seasons, slashing .262/.313/.495 with a .232 ISO and 54 total home runs.
His 2023 season saw him post the best barrel rate (11%) of his career, not to mention his highest average exit velocity. Drury remained excellent against left-handed pitching, but in 2023, his improvements against RHP were noticeable, namely the .261 average and .503 SLG! Drury is locked into an everyday role for the Angels, and he figures to hit right outside the heart of the order.
He’s a free agent at the end of the year, so we have the contract year narrative with him, or perhaps he gets dealt at the deadline to an improved lineup. Our projections have Drury hitting 25 home runs with a .450 SLG in 2024.
Brandon Lowe, Tampa Bay Rays
Lowe’s 2023 season was impacted by injuries, as a lower back issue sent him to the injured list in June, and then a right patella fracture cut his season short. Despite the injuries, he still managed to hit 21 home runs with a .443 SLG and .212 ISO across 109 games.
Lowe had a slow start to the season, and by slow, I mean slowwwwww. Prior to his back injury in June, he was slashing just .205/.299/.398. However, once he returned from his injury, he rode a .254/.353/.483 slash line the rest of the way, alongside a 23.8 percent strikeout rate and .229 ISO.
While the Rays likely sit him against left-handed pitching, he’ll play on the large side of a platoon at second base, and his combination of a double-digit barrel rate and 40+ percent fly ball rate is quite lucrative for power production.
Lastly, I’ll leave this here…
In 2021, Brandon Lowe hit 39 home runs.
- 2021: 89.3mph EV, 16.9 degree LA, 14.0 Barrel%, 43.1 HH%, 44.0 FB%
- 2023: 91.4mph EV, 16.0 degree LA, 10.7 Barrel%, 47.5 HH%, 44.8 FB%
Just keep that in mind in your upcoming fantasy baseball drafts.
Player News
Padres activated INF/OF Gavin Sheets from the paternity list.
The procedural move puts Sheets back on San Diego’s active roster for Friday’s second-half opener against the Nationals. He finished the first half of his Padres debut with 14 homers over 92 games before heading out on paternity league over the weekend.
Brewers LHP Bruce Zimmermann has elected free agency.
Zimmermann heads back to the open market in search of a new opportunity after triggering the opt-out in his minor league pact with Milwaukee. The 30-year-old southpaw hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since the 2023 campaign. He’s compiled a pedestrian 4.35 ERA across 89 innings (19 appearances, 13 starts) this season at the Triple-A level. He’s merely organizational fodder at this stage of his career.
Athletics selected the contract of OF Carlos Cortes from Triple-A Las Vegas.
Cortes will remain stationed in the minors, but he’s been officially added to the Athletics’ 40-man roster. The 28-year-old corner outfielder has put up some impressive numbers this season, even for the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, slashing .321/.418/.603 with 16 homers across 299 plate appearances over 68 games. He’ll be making his big-league debut if he gets a call to West Sacramento at some point in the second half.
An MRI revealed that Sal Frelick is currently dealing with a Grade 1 strain of his left hamstring.
The Brewers want to keep an eye on his progress before making a decision on whether Frelick will need a trip to the injured list. The 25-year-old suffered the strain during Sunday’s game against the Nationals. There’s a good chance he won’t be in the lineup for Friday’s game against the Dodgers, but his long-term status is still very much up in the air.
Patrick Corbin will start Friday’s game against the Tigers.
Corbin will get the nod to open the second half of the 2025 campaign, and he’ll be followed by Kumar Rocker on Saturday with Nathan Eovaldi starting Sunday. Jacob deGrom will likely start Monday, but that hasn’t been announced as of yet. Corbin did a solid job in the first half, but doesn’t offer a ton of fantasy upside; especially against a quality lineup like the Tigers.
Orioles claimed RHP Elvin Rodriguez off waivers from the Brewers.
Rodriguez was then optioned to Triple-A Norfolk. He’s on the 40-man roster, so it’s possible the 27-year-old helps the Baltimore bullpen as a multi-inning option before 2025 comes to a close.