Tyler Flowers that is! In our first Hot Pickup of the season, we have chosen a catcher who has been in the majors for part of the past four years, and who now enters his fifth season as the White Sox starting catcher. He was a distant 33rd round pick of the Atlanta Braves in the 2005 draft and hasn’t seen much playing time with Chicago until this year.
#21 C Tyler Flowers shown here crushing his 1st HR of the year, averaged 420 feet on his blasts last season! Photo: AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast
He is barely owned in most leagues but we suspect that will change over the next several days or once managers get familiar with his potential as a Sleeper candidate. Flowers hasn’t found it easy getting substantial playing time as the ever durable A.J. Pierzynski has seen the majority of action behind the plate since Flowers’ arrival in the bigs.
Not one to hit for average, even in the minors, Flowers has impressed with his propensity for hitting the long ball and hitting rockets at that. His home runs last year averaged 420 feet!! Although a limited sample, Flowers has had 280 career at bats for the White Sox and has belted 14 homers for an average of about 1 HR for every 20 ABs. Already this year, in just 7 at bats, Flowers has crushed two home runs; one off of Ervin Santana and the other off Jamie Shields. We realize it’s only been three games, but in deeper leagues, how many catchers are still out there on waivers that can garner you 20-25 home runs?
Flowers does have batting averages below the Mendoza line, .205 in the majors and .244 in Triple-A, but his home run potential will more than make up for the low averages. He is available in around 85% of leagues but we will guarantee you that it will be a lot lower by this time next week. Good news travels quickly around fantasy leagues so grab him if available. We predict he will be among the leaders in home runs by a catcher by season’s end.
#21 Tyler Flowers gets some high fives from his teammates after hitting his 1st HR of the season off of Jamie Shields. Photo: Scott Strazzante, Chicago Tribune
FANTASY FURNACE 
I Have Him On 4 Of My 6 Fantasy Teams! hahaha
LikeLike
Well done my man!! Amazing how little he seems to be owned…
LikeLike
Phenomenal performance by Yu Darvish in that near perfect … game for the Rangers .
Tophatal …………………..
LikeLike
would you pick up flowers for jp arencibia?
I am in a twelve team, roto, one catcher league and picked jp with the last pick in the draft.
LikeLike
No. Stay with JP. There really isn’t much difference between the two. They both can’t hit for average but JP hits a dinger every 18.5 ABs in his major league career while Flowers is at 19.9. At least JP has more total at bats in the majors than Flowers does so he’s more proven.
If you can stash him on your bench, then you could slide him in when JP doesn’t play or as insurance in case he gets injured as catchers are so prone to do. You also prevent some other owner who doesn’t have a catcher with this much offensive potential from picking him up..
Good luck and thanks for checking in. (you can always email us at fantasyfurnace.com with any fantasy questions).
LikeLike
Thanks for the response. It is great to know that I have some access to professionals.
LikeLike
TO: Robakers
Sorry…our correct email address is: fantasyfurnace@yahoo.com
LikeLike
Great insight and analysis Hank!
LikeLike
Thanks for checkin’ Justin & for the kind words!
LikeLike
Should I drop Adam laroche to pick up flowers?! Help please!!
LikeLike
Taking out the 2011 season when he only played 43 games due to injuries, LaRoche has averaged 29 HRs and 100 RBIs in 2010 and 2012 with a .266 BA. Not sre if I would give up on the 34 yr old veteran right now, who by the way is listed as day to day (back strain).
Are you in a 2-catcher league? If you were willing to give up LaRoche, who is your other 1B? How many teams make up your legue?
LikeLike
I’m in a h2h league, 10 teams with 3 utilities and I have 2 catchers, arencibia and Maurer. On first base, I have hosmer, morneau (and maurer if I play him there) so I’m pretty stacked on both positions. I feel like I need more power in my lineup. Thank you for your help!
LikeLike
If you’re in a 2 catcher league, and you have 2 catchers, maybe you should think of grabbing Flowers as your back-up to use on days when one of the other two is not playing. What will you do if one of them (Mauer/JP) get hurt? Although with only 10 teams in your league I guess there’s always a catcher on waivers too consider.
For any fantasy questions feel free to contact us at fantasyfurnace@yahoo.com
Good luck!
LikeLike
So yes to dropping LaRoche for Flowers?
LikeLike
Well, you ARE pretty stacked at 1B and you do not seem to have any backup for your two catchers, so you could pick up a little insurance package in Flowers. You won’t lose out on HRs to LaRoche and given his propensity to getting injured, it doesn’t seem like a bad pickup to us-especially in a 10-team league. Go for it man!!
LikeLike