Justin Bour was originally in the Cubs system, but the Marlins picked him up in the Rule 5 draft in 2013. He was never a heralded prospect; Baseball America ranked him as the 15th best prospect at the start of 2015 season. His body makes it seem like his best position would be at DH, but his hands are good enough to stick at first base.
Today he smacked his third home run (in only 57 ABs) of the year against Gerrit Cole today (Wednesday May 27, 2015). Why does that matter? Bour ranks 17th among hitters with at least 50 PAs in hard-hit average. He’s in the same company as Freddie Freeman, Ryan Braun, Mike Trout and Bryce Harper so fantasy owners have to take notice of what he’s doing. Most importantly, Bour has the power to hit home runs to all fields so there is a chance the hard-hit rate will continue.
Bour is hitting fourth and fifth in the lineup so a high percentage of his at-bats will be with runners on-base and with Michael Morse on the DL, Bour will still likely be platooned against lefties, which is a positive for his fantasy value. There are no other first base replacements on the team so the job is his for at least the next two weeks. If Bour continues to hit first base, against righties, is his the rest of the year.
If Bour keeps making this much hard contact he’s going to hit and for a lot of power. We’re still dealing with a relatively small sample size, but if you play in a deeper league or have a large bench (like NFBC) he is someone you should pick up now before it’s too late. For me he is in the Adam Lind class of first baseman.
