Baltimore Orioles second baseman Jonathan Schoop enjoyed a fairly solid first full season last year. He managed to stay healthy the entire year and his defense effectively guaranteed his playing time was never at risk, even during prolonged offensive slumps. Schoop batted .267/.298/.454 with a career-high 25 home runs, and 82 RBI last season. He only drew 21 walks, which thoroughly impacts his ability to be considered a top-10 fantasy baseball second baseman at this point. Regardless, his ability to drive the ball out of the park is a valuable asset in fantasy baseball as is his ability to play every day.

Did You Know: Schoop had the second highest exit velocity on a batted ball last season, at 121.6 mph, and his average home run distance was 410 ft – behind only D.J. LeMahieu among all second basemen.

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Supporting Cast

Short of playing in Colorado, Schoop has a pretty solid cast of supporters offering him protection in the lineup. He’ll most likely slot into the fifth and sixth position in the lineup on a daily basis, meaning he’s hitting behind Mark Trumbo. Given Trumbo’s propensity for striking out, it’s possible Schoop could come up with men on base his fair share of times. Hitting ahead of Trumbo are Adam Jones, Manny Machado, and Chris Davis.

The biggest concern with this lineup is how often they’ll come up against left-handed starting pitching within their own division. They were one of the worst offenses in the league against lefties last season, mustering a pitiful .301 OBP, striking out over 22% of the time, and checking in with an 83 wRC+. Don’t expect the entire offense to be that terrible against LHP again this season, as that should improve somewhat with the addition of Welington Castillo.

The Expectations

The FantasyPros projection system has Schoop down for 23 home runs, 72 RBI, and a .261/.286/.448 batting line. With Schoop, that batting line is absolutely realistic but the expectation is he’ll continue to make gains by cutting down on the strikeouts and putting the ball in play more often. He lowered his strikeout rate from 25% in 2014 and 2015 to 21% last season and is at zero risk of losing playing time because he’s a gold glove caliber second baseman.

That said, Schoop could very well lead all second baseman in home runs and RBI but it’s unlikely he scores more than 80 runs. He also won’t offer up anything much higher than a .260 batting average and his anemic walk rate (3% last season) will confine him to a sub-.320 OBP.

The Value

If you’re in an OBP league or a league where you are penalized for strikeouts, forget about Schoop. He has value, even with the second base position being the deepest it has been in years, but it’s limited solely to his power output – which is off the charts. He had the fourth-highest total of “No Doubt” home runs last season and led all second basemen in the category, with 12. His power is absolutely legit and also has some decent protection in the lineup while playing the majority of his games in hitter-friendly ballparks across that AL East. There is a major concern about his ability to hit lefties, however, as his batting average plummets by 32 points and his strikeouts increase nearly 7% against southpaws. Helpful hint: it would be wise to keep that in mind for daily fantasy contests or scoring periods where he’ll be facing the Boston Red Sox a lot of lefties.

Schoop comes in at number 11 on my second base rankings, but he seems to get drafted as the 17th or 18th best second baseman in fantasy baseball (around 180 overall). In standard 12-team leagues, I’m comfortable taking him in the 13th round or later but it seems he’s lingering till the 15th and 16th rounds. At auction, paying up to $14 (+/- $1) isn’t completely unreasonable in my mind because he still contributes in four different offensive categories and plays every day. You could do much better than Schoop at second base in fantasy baseball, but at his current ADP and the way fantasy baseball owners are treating his free-swinging ways you have to realize he’ll provide solid value if you don’t want to break the bank for someone in the top tier at the position.

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Lance Rinker is a correspondent at FantasyPros. For more from Lance, check out his archive or follow him @LanceMRinker.