Angels C.J. Cron: Late Season Power and Contact Available

While the Angels are out of playoff contention, the offense is still producing. One of the major contributors is C.J. Cron. If you need power, he’s out there.

The Los Angeles Angels have the pieces necessary to compete in the American League West. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case and many fantasy owners are hoping Mike Trout can get out of LA. I say they should wait another year. The reason is the emergence of C.J. Cron. He is having his best season at the plate and should be added in most leagues.

Despite just playing in 93 games, Cron already surpassed his 2015 batting average and RBI total. He is just one home run away from tying his total from last year. It hasn’t been until now that fantasy owners are paying attention to him.

He did miss 35 games with a broken left hand, but hasn’t missed a beat. Since his return, Cron is hitting .318 with four home runs, 11 RBI and a nine runs. While his strikeout to walk ratio is not the best (13:1), he is making good contact with the ball and filling all aspects of the stat sheet.

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Trout is obviously the best hitter on the team. Albert Pujols is heating up in the final weeks. Having Cron hitting behind both of them will provide him a lot of opportunities to see some good pitches and drive in runs.

There are other players available that you can slot as your corner infielder or in the utility slot, like a Jedd Gyorko, who keeps hitting solo home runs, or Trevor Plouffe. However, Cron is very consistent at the plate. While you wish his recent on-base percentage was a little better, the runs, hits and RBI are more than enough from someone you’re adding in September.

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Cron has been added in 29.8 percent of ESPN leagues over the last week. He is still owned in less than 50 percent of all leagues. Cron hasn’t missed a game since returning, so the playing time is there. He just had an 11-game hit streak end on Tuesday as he went 0-for-4, but I think he’ll bounce back just fine.