Jankowski running way onto fantasy rosters

Cincinnati Reds center fielder Billy Hamilton is unsurprisingly the Major League leader in stolen bases per plate appearance. But up until Hamilton swiped four bases on Sunday, another speedster held the top spot.

This player is … drumroll, please … Travis Jankowski of the San Diego Padres.

The 25-year-old is San Diego’s everyday leadoff hitter. And while the Padres don’t have the most exciting offense, almost anyone who leads off every single day is deserving of some fantasy love. Especially when that player is stealing bases at a higher rate than anyone in baseball besides Hamilton.

While Jankowski is severely under-owned, there are some logical reasons why fantasy owners are overlooking him. He took over the Padres’ everyday center-field job when Jon Jay went down with a fractured forearm in late June. Before that, he was used sparingly — with just 96 plate appearances in the first three months of the season — so his full-season stats are still unimpressive on the surface.

Additionally, Jankowski isn’t exactly a great hitter. He has little power of which to speak, with only three homers in his 1,444 Minor League plate appearances. Moreover, his .260 batting average with the Padres this season is propped up by a .375 batting average on balls in play. Combine that high BABIP with a strikeout rate in excess of 26 percent, and the hesitancy to pick him up is understandable.

On the …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com