The All-Star break is now behind us, and that means crunch time for fantasy seasons. Not only are there just a handful of weeks remaining in the regular season in most leagues, with many still jockeying for position in the standings, but trade deadlines are fast approaching as well. The MLB deadline is on July 31 this season, and many fantasy leagues set their own deadlines accordingly. Whether your league does the same or not, it’s always a good idea to know that information weeks ahead of time and have your negotiations mostly finished by the time the week of your league’s deadline rolls around.
I’m also a big believer in knowing ahead of time which players you want to target, essentially having a shopping list ready, and then opening up discussions with their respective managers. This is almost always going to be a more productive use of time than having general trade talks with the managers you already speak to the most, and seeing what you can get from them. I much prefer to identify which player I want on my team, analyze the roster of their current manager ahead of time, and then open up with an offer that, in theory, should help both sides.
This week’s column will focus on a trio of sluggers who are all 30 years of age or older, but who all still pack plenty of punch. These sluggers look primed for big stretch runs of the season where points leagues are concerned.
2025 Stats (285 PA): .266/.372/.473; 13 home runs; 30 RBI; 39 runs; 1 stolen base
Corey Seager had an awful month of June for the Texas Rangers that made many start to question if he could be a consistent top contributor any longer in fantasy leagues. He answered those questions with a scorching-hot month of July, and a lot of his underlying metrics suggest he is going to continue to be much closer to the masher he was right before the All-Star break than the guy who was hardly making contact the month prior.
His decision-making has seen a notable uptick during his hot stretch, which is a skill that Seager has displayed in the past and can be expected to replicate moving forward. His power is what puts him into elite territory, though, especially for the shortstop position. His Power+ score of 127 currently ranks first among all shortstops, with only Zach Neto within shouting distance.
All of Seager’s other power-related metrics bear out the fact that he still packs a serious punch.
Seager’s only flaw is a whiff rate of 29.2% that elevates his strikeout numbers, especially during slumps. His sprint speed of 25.1 ft/s (7th percentile) is also surprisingly low for an otherwise athletic middle infielder who has been in the league for ten years now but is still only 31 years old.
Seager’s pure hit tools compensate for that lack of speed by more than enough, though. His Ideal Plate Appearance (IPA) rate of 32.6% ranks 20th among all qualifying hitters, and his Hard-Contact rate of 36.1% ranks 18th. He is putting together consistently high-quality at-bats, controlling the strike zone well and making excellent contact, all the tools that you want to see when investing in a slugger down the stretch. Primarily because his ceiling for points production is so great compared to most others at his position, Seager should be very high among trade targets as we approach the deadline.
2025 Stats (234 PA): .298/.380/.546; 12 home runs; 38 RBI; 33 runs; 1 stolen base
Alex Bregman is back in the Boston Red Sox lineup after missing almost two months with a right quad injury, and though that lineup is now without Rafael Devers, it is otherwise in a much better place than when Bregman went out injured. At that time, Bregman was doing the majority of the heavy lifting for the Boston offense, driving in plenty of runs from the third spot in the order, but otherwise not getting much help. Now, while Bregman should be expected to regain his stroke pretty quickly off the IL, the team isn’t as reliant on his production, with the likes of Ceddanne Rafaela, Roman Anthony, and other young talents breaking out and swinging hot bats.
Throwing Bregman back into the mix should only fuel that fire, and I personally expect the Red Sox offense to keep rolling for the rest of the summer. The team gained serious momentum in the weeks prior to the All-Star break, and getting Bregman back into the lineup every day should only increase the vibes around Boston. As for Bregman himself, his pre-injury at-bats were consistently impressive for Boston as he displayed excellent decision-making and delivered clutch run-producing moments in bunches. Though his Process+ rolling chart is limited in scale due to the time he has missed, there is enough data there to display a consistently great approach.
One of Bregman’s strengths pre-injury was in how consistent his points production was week in and week out, and that is backed up by the fact that his rolling chart hovers around the same area the entire time, never dipping into any real lulls. Though he started off a bit slow in his first few games back, Bregman was able to crush a pinch-hit three-run home run in the most recent July 18th match-up versus the Cubs, indicating he’s ready to pick up right where he left off.
Bregman’s main strength is his elite decision-making, and those metrics are borne out by his rare combination of fantastically-low chase and whiff rates.
Normally, players who are able to limit both chase and whiff do so at the expense of hard contact, with Luis Arraez being the most extreme example. Yet Bregman is able to do so while retaining a Hard-Contact rate of 33.3%, which ranks 47th in the league. It is a unique approach that he has been locked into this season and one that has also suited his new home ballpark of Fenway Park quite well.
Perhaps Bregman’s first-half injury has sunk his current manager’s place in the league standings, and that manager is getting ready to sell off some assets. Start thinking of your opening offer now for the talented third baseman to get ahead of your league-mates on this one, before Bregman really starts to heat back up.
2025 Stats (426 PA): .279/.355/.505; 21 home runs; 56 RBI; 63 runs; 3 stolen bases
Brent Rooker continues to be one of the more underrated, unheralded sluggers in the game, partly because he plays for the Athletics. Yet he delivers consistent production, plays nearly every day, and has a well-rounded approach that keeps him out of slumps and allows him to deliver quality points production nearly every single week. Bregman’s consistency in his Process+ rolling chart was impressive for a small sample size, but Rooker’s is really something to behold given the fact that he’s been available to play every day.
Rooker’s power is obviously impressive and is his calling card, but he is no slouch in the other departments, either. Though he does whiff quite a bit (his 31% whiff rate is in the 10th percentile), the rest of his approach is rock-solid. His decision-making since the start of June has gone from pedestrian to elite, raising his production even further, and his contact ability is solid enough to add to his approach, rather than be a negative, which is often the case for power-heavy hitters.
Rooker’s xBA of .294 is impressive considering he is able to consistently launch balls into the seats—he isn’t just swinging for the fences, and he also limits chasing and draws his walks at above-average rates. His Ideal Plate Appearance (IPA) rate of 32.2% ranks 25th in the league, yet another metric backing up the fact that Rooker is stringing together quality at-bats at an elite level. He doesn’t quite have the same shine on his name as some of his peers due to where he plays and a general lack of flash to his game, but if you want a player who puts his head down and gets to work every day, and produces week in and week out, you couldn’t do much better than Rooker.
