The Weekend Reset: Jung Money on the Dean's List

Good evening sleepyheads. The weather is warming up and the baseballs are just flying out of the ballpark. In fact, Monday April 13^th presented quite an interesting power statistic. There were 9 players to hit 2 dingers. Now I know what you are thinking – that’s an anomaly but is it really that unexpected? Well, when you consider there was a mere 10 games played on this day you get an appreciation for how rare this feat was. Hopefully you rostered one of these big boppers and not the poor pitchers who were the victims in this entertaining, yet ratio inflating crime.

While your league mates are fast asleep, you’re going on a 3AM scavenger hunt for league winners. You may need to dig through some trash until you find that league-winning treasure. We may have to slay a few dragons until we get to the princess. But by damn will it be worth it. Put your dignity in a box and tape it shut. We’re going dumpster diving for gold.

All ownership rates are from Yahoo as of Sunday evening

MOISES BALLESTEROS (C CHC - 15% rostered)

Mo’ money, mo’ problems? Not always. It was not that long ago that the catcher position was a wasteland – a few guys capable of being difference makers, but after that it became shallow very quickly. Moises was the Cubs top ranked prospect entering the year and he made the roster out of spring training.  Unfortunately, he does have some playing time concerns at present. He has started 14 games of a possible 21. Enough with the negativity though. No catcher will play 162 games in this day and age. Moises is catcher eligible, but most of his playing time has been at DH. Gotta love a catcher who doesn’t need to catch all the time, avoiding all the usual wear and tear of the position. Not to mention, he doesn’t need to worry about having to manage the pitching staff. What has he done in his somewhat regular playing time? .381 BA, 7 runs, 3HR, and 10 Ribeyes. Let’s peel back the curtain and take a look behind the scenes, courtesy of Baseball Savant:

That’s a pretty hot profile there. He is outperforming his xBA, but the thing that really catches my eye is how often he’s barrelling up the ball for hard contact. Seemingly most of the time he’s making contact it ends up being a hard-hit ball. I mean, he’s ranked as the 8^th overall catcher in my 5x5 categories league. If you’re scuffling at the catcher position in a deeper league (12+ teams) I think he’s a great speculative add. Especially if your league has daily moves. If he keeps hitting like this, the Cubs will need to find a regular spot in the lineup for “Mo Baller”. And perhaps you should find a spot for him too. Especially those of you rostering JT Realmuto as your starting catcher.

JOSH JUNG (3B TEX – 12% rostered)

The Glass Cannon himself, Joshua Jung. If you owned this player during his breakout 2023 year you know exactly what I’m talking about. Capable of carrying your team in 4/5 offensive categories for a week. Then he may get demoted or wind up on the IL, but you can’t take that stretch of dominance away from him. What did he do in 2023? In 122 GP/515 PAs – 75 runs, 70 RBIs, 25 doubles and 23 HRs. Now he hasn’t reached these heights since that magical 2023. After a very slow start (0/17) he has righted the shift to a tune of a .303 BA, 7 2Bs, and 2 HRs. A quick peek at his Savant profile reveals he actually should have some positive batting average regression if he can keep hitting like this:

Jung is also in the top 8% for hard hit rate. He has cut his strikeout rate to 16.7% in the early goings of the 2026 season (career 27.3 K%). His Barrel rate is so low (has only been credited with 1 barrel) due to his average launch angle being a measly 8.6 degrees. I would definitely be loading up the Glass Cannon with ammo in deeper leagues (14 team mixers) and have him on my watchlist for shallower leagues for the present time. Let’s hope he can consistently hit higher than the 6-spot for fantasy purposes.

DEAN KREMER (SP BAL - 17% rostered)

Kremer began the year in AAA, as he was squeezed out of the opening day rotation. Well Zach Eflin’s season ending elbow injury has opened a spot in the rotation. Despite a late start to the season, Dean “The Dealer” Kremer has been in mid-season form. He is dealing punchouts at an unprecedented rate (16Ks in 11 IP) with some decent ratios (4.09 ERA, 0.91 WHIP). Unfortunately, he has fallen victim to the gopher ball in his 2 starts, surrendering four HRs in total. If he can trend closer to his career HR/9 rate of 1.3 while maintaining those strikeouts, we may have a nice depth piece for the rotation. He has a 6-pitch mix and leans on his split finger (42.3%). He’s gotten 11 of his 16 strikeouts on the splitter and batters only have an xSLG of .124 against it. That pitch is nasty, look at this footage of mowing down several D-backs hitters during his first start: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/bPXxVqtl_Po

If he can maintain his current strikeout binge, count me in for 12+ team mixed leagues. We can write down all the names of his strikeout victims on the “Dean’s List”.

BRAD KELLER (RP PHI - 15% rostered)

Nothing too earth shattering here. It would appear that Keller is the next man up in the Phillies’ bullpen with news of Jhoan Duran hitting the 15-day IL. Duran was diagnosed with an oblique strain, which can certainly be challenging to return from. In other words, there is certainly no guarantee that he will be returning after a minimum IL stint. So, there is potential that this could turn into a longer-term closing gig. Keller has 4 holds with a 4.15 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, & 9:3 K:BB ratio. Let’s not forget his strong 2025 season – a 2.05 ERA, 0.96 WHIP and 75Ks in 69.2 innings. If I were a Duran owner, I would be adding Keller as an insurance policy given the uncertain nature of oblique injuries. If you have a short-term need for saves, I would also consider adding “BK”. He’s a whopper of a man (6’5” 255 lbs).

Let’s see how my collection of Sedated Sleepers performed in week 4. As a reminder it’s a 12 team H2H 5x5 categories league.

The HERO of the week is YORDAN ALVAREZ, with a 4 HR effort. SAL STEWART continues to have a strong year. He has now started 2 games at the keystone, 3 more games to get eligibility.

Now it’s been a tough week for a few guys, so a couple ZERO candidates. On the hitting side of things both CAM SMITH & CHASE DELAUTER did next to nothing with the exception of 3 runs between the both of them. DEVIN WILLIAMS continues to have an uneven year as he blew his first save and the Mets have lost 11 straight. Yikes.

Meanwhile my team just got man-handled this past week. Just look at the offensive stats my opponent hung on me:

My week wasn’t even that bad. But that’s the beauty and downfall of head – to – head matchups, isn't it? You just gotta beat the guy you're playing, how hard could it be? Inevitably it was difficult this time around.

Another week in the books folks. If you’ve made it this far, you’re either a contender looking for any sort of advantage or a bottom-feeder who is desperately trying to avoid your league’s last place punishment involving a tutu, fairy wings, and your kid's little league game. Either way this is where hope meets desperation – at a gas station at 3 in the morning. This game we play is a marathon run at a sprinter’s pace so stay aggressive, stay petty, and most importantly stay ahead of your idiot league mates who think that a player’s draft slot in March has any bearing on his current day value. Until next week, stay searching my friends.