We’re right around the mid-point of the fantasy baseball regular season (for all non-roto players) and the heat is rising. Both the air temperature (if your weather is anything like mine, you’re already sweltering in the mid-to-high 90’s with nary a breeze of reprieve) and the pressure on your team to perform. And, unless you’ve been incredibly lucky, some of that pressure being applied is due to players hitting the injured list seemingly in every game.

Finding a productive replacement for an injured player can be imposing, but that’s why you’re reading this. I’ve done the work and found four suitable injury replacements (three bats, one arm) that will be both productive now and in the future.

Tyler Locklear – 1B – SEA – 2%, Yahoo

Locklear was called up on Saturday night, an injury replacement for Ty France, who was placed on the injured list (IL) with a right heel fracture. Locklear found himself in Sunday’s lineup immediately, going 1-for-4 with a double, run scored, run driven in and a strikeout. Locklear has 25 to 30 home run potential, he just hasn’t tapped into it completely yet. In 2023 he hit 13 home runs over 375 plate appearances across three levels (DSL, High-A and Double-A), and had hit nine in 236 plate appearances across Double-A and Triple-A (8 in Double-A, 1 in Triple-A). He’s probably a three true outcomes kind of hitter (walks, home runs, strikeouts), due to an average or so hit tool, solid eye at the plate and double digit swinging strike rate. He had a 12.2% swinging strike rate and 22.9% strikeout rate in a small sample size in Triple-A, which was lower than his numbers in Double-A this year. I think he will be able to get on base well enough and hit for enough power than we could see him spend most, if not all, of the season in the big leagues. He is a deep league play only, for now, until he showcases the power potential and establishes a near-everyday role with the Mariners. Once that happens, we can start to discuss picking him up in smaller or shallower leagues.

League Size Recommendation: 15 team or deeper leagues

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