The All-Star break is a great time to re-evaluate your team's construction, especially in a Rotisserie league. At this point in the season you should have a clear idea on your team's weakness, and one of the fastest ways to make up points is to fix those holes. Below I've given you two players for each standard Roto category.
These are the patches your categories teams need:
Home Runs
Both of the home-run options are Orioles, and that's no coincidence. They play in a great hitter's park and in a division full of them. Renato Nunez has taken advantage of that to the tune of 20 first-half home runs. Nunez has been a lot better at home (.313 ISO) and against lefties (.321 ISO), so naturally the only place he's actually been bad has been on the road against right-handed pitchers (.555 OPS). This makes him easier to use in a daily lineups league, but his batted ball profile and lineup slot suggest a net positive in home runs and RBI in the second half.
Deeper-league option: Chance Sisco (26%)
Stolen Bases
There's always been a thought that Kevin Kiermaier possessed more Roto upside than he'd shown. He just could never stay healthy. Well, he played 80 games before the break and he's five home runs and four steals shy of career-bests in both. Somehow, he's still rostered in fewer than half of leagues. For as long as he's healthy, I'd expect him to be a great option for steals without hurting you in any of the categories.
Deeper-league option: Jarrod Dyson (25%)
Batting Average
The Pirates have a strange offense with a team batting averaged of .271 that is third-best in baseball but an overall offensive profile that is average at best. Kevin Newman fits that profile perfectly. The truth is you could choose Newman or Bryan Reynolds for this section, but I find it more likely Newman will maintain an average over .300 the rest of the season. His 12% strikeout rate is in line with most of his minor-league career.
Deeper-league option: Josh Reddick (38%)
Runs
Mercado's 29 runs aren't impressive and neither is his recent form, but I believe in the talent and the Indians have left him in the No. 2 spot in the lineup through his struggles. That's huge, because he's scored 23 runs in 34 games in that place in the order. That puts him on pace to be among the league leaders in the category over a full season. I'd also expect a good batting average and help in steals.
Deeper-league option: Brandon Belt (29%)
RBI
Like Mercado, we've got to do a little math to see just how much help Garrett Cooper can be in RBI (and other categories). Cooper became a fixture in the middle of the Marlins order on May 14. Since then he has 31 RBI in 46 games. That's basically the same pace as Mercado's run pace. He's also been a big help in average and has been on 30-homer pace. Those numbers might regress a little bit, but he's very under-owned based on his pedigree and performance this season.
Deeper-league option: Todd Frazier 14%
Strikeouts
As excited as we generally get about prospects I'm pretty surprised Dylan Cease isn't closer to universally owned. I suppose it's because of his Triple-A ERA numbers, but there was almost certainly some bad luck involved there. In his minor-league career he whiffed 11.4 per nine innings and should have an excellent chance to stick in the White Sox rotation the rest of the season.
Deeper-league option: Matt Barnes (30%)
Saves
We keep waiting for Jose Leclerc to take this job back and he keeps blowing opportunities. For now it seems the most likely outcome is that Shawn Kelley is the Rangers' closer the rest of the season. Because of the Rangers' surprising success, Kelley is also less likely to be dealt than Ian Kennedy or Sergio Romo. A pitcher of Kelley's skill level on a competitive team with this role deserves universal ownership in categories leagues.
Deeper-league option: Diego Castillo (25%)
ERA
Taylor Rogers could have fallen into at least three categories in this column. He has 12 saves, a WHIP below one and a very low ERA. I chose ERA, because his SIERA (2.69) is the ninth-best among qualified relievers, and I feel most confident in him keeping that up. He's essentially a four-category contributor in category leagues.
Deeper-league option: Tommy Kahnle (7%)
WHIP
Ryan Pressly has now thrown 63 innings over the past two seasons for the Houston Astros. He owns a 1.14 ERA with 79 strikeouts in 63 innings. But the most impressive number is his 0.71 WHIP. For the life of me I can't imagine how he's available in any categories league. Pressly can help your ratios in a big way without hurting you too much in strikeouts.
Deeper-league option: Giovanny Gallegos (4%)
Wins
Yes, I know Anibal Sanchez is only 5-6. But he was 0-6 a little more than a month ago. He's gone six innings in six of his past seven starts and has only allowed more than two runs in one of them. He looks like he may be returning to the same form that saw him post a 2.83 ERA in 2018. I wouldn't expect anything close to that, but I would expect a mid-3.00 ERA with a good WHIP and several wins in the second half.
Deeper-league option: Ryan Yarbrough (30%)
