Closing Time: Yasmani Grandal, come splash with me

We've seen plenty of ebb and flow in the brief career of Yasmani Grandal. He was a buzzy hitting and catching prospect at the front of the decade; a hot-hitting rookie upon promotion in 2012; a suspended sophomore last year; and not much of anything this summer, invisible in the post-hype days. 

But it's time to reopen the Grandal case. He's swinging a mean bat of late, and can help you on the final weekend of the season. 

Grandal made his biggest splash of the year, most literally, in Thursday's 9-8 loss at San Francisco. He cranked a solo homer off the right-field foul pole in the sixth inning, then dunked a grand slam an inning later. Enjoy the sweet swings on the video - both balls were absolutely crushed. 

Grandal's overall stat line isn't going to entice many, but let's focus on what he's done in September. He's on a .282/.395/.535 binge, with four homers, 15 runs and 11 RBIs over the final month. Those numbers will play anywhere. And while he's a catcher for eligibility sake, he's not burdened by the tools of ignorance: 16 of his 20 starts this month have come at first base. No surprise he's hitting better, freed from the physical demands of catching. 

Add it up, let's see what we have. Grandal is an OBP machine with some pop (15 homers), a hot hitter who's up against a Giants team he generally owns. A faux catcher is always welcome for our purposes. He's free to add in 93 percent of Yahoo leagues. Take some hacks with us.


(yahoosports.com)