Once the team trots out these players, though, fantasy owners start noticing them. Sometimes all one needs to garner attention is a chance, so it's time for me to look at Houston Astros.
In Houston's starting lineup, there's only one player who had played in more 300 major-league games entering the season. So it is a tough proposition to even figure out what these players can do.
Also only two of the team's offensive starters are currently owned in more than 50 percent of ESPN fantasy league. So don't feel bad if you don't recognize these names.
Left fielder J.D. Martinez only reached that ownership level after jumping more than 46 percent in the past week.
Martinez, a 24-year-old, began the year with a nine-game hitting streak to make his value jump that high, went into a weekend series with the Dodgers hitting .326 and has already hit three homers and driven in 12 runs.
He has never been a big power hitter, but that part of his game seems to still be blossoming.
He hit 12 homers in his first minor league season in 2009, increased it to 18 in 2010 and had 19 total last year, including six in the majors.
That trajectory and a few more years of maturity say that a few seasons with 25 homers would be a reasonable expectation.
Then there is that beautiful average, which is not a surprise as Martinez batted .342 overall in the minors.
Carlos Lee is the other player fantasy owners are embracing, and mostly just because we already know his name.
At 35 years old, he has a résumé that includes six seasons of batting at least .300, five seasons over 30 homers and seven years when he stole at least 10 bases.
He hasn't batted .300, however, since hitting the number on the button in 2009 and has gone four seasons without hitting that homer or steal total.
Seeing as fantasy baseball rarely gives credit for veteran leadership, he's a lower-tier afterthought.
Second baseman Jose Altuve, though, is very youthful at just 21 and he only played in 57 games before this season.
He is getting some attention by hitting .348 and he also showed flashes of speed last year, stealing seven bases in that limited action.
Playing at such a weak spot, if Altuve could bat around .300 and swipe 20 bases a year, he would be rather valuable.
Altuve isn't the player with the most speed potential on Houston, though, as center fielder Jordan Schafer already has six steals this year.
Only 25 this season, Schafer began to show his legs last year when he stole 22 bases in 82 games with the Braves and Astros.
His numbers this season already show that he won't be the shy on the bases, and he could approach 40 SBs. The biggest hurdle to that number appears to be getting on base.
He has a .386 OBP this season, but only posted a .321 in his time in the minors, which is lower than a team would want from its leadoff spot.
There are some oddities below Schafer in that starting lineup, including a starter in right field who somehow still is owned in essentially no fantasy leagues (Brian Bogusevic), a third baseman who is difficult to find on ESPN.com because he isn't the most famous athlete with his name (Chris Johnson) and a catcher (Jason Castro) whose last name is the same as his birthplace (Castro Valley, Calif.).
Hopefully, Ozzie Guillen can keep himself from talking about that last part.
And then there is a shortstop whose name once meant something in this area â€" Jed Lowrie.
That name may start meaning a lot less now, though, since Lowrie was part of the deal that brought Mark Melancon and his 49.50 ERA to Boston.
I was initially surprised to find Lowrie owned in only 2.2 percent of leagues; He was never stellar and attracted disabled-list stints like Kim Kardashian draws inexplicable relationships, but he wasn't that bad, was he?
But yes … yes he was. So much so that those people who do own him probably all harbor fond Fenway memories of Lowrie.
He played in 256 games with the Red Sox over four seasons, batting .252 with 19 homers, 117 RBIs and 3 steals. He always did just enough to look good enough, but not much more.
So let that be a cautionary tale about the potential for overvaluing players you know.
When instead you can write whole columns potentially overvaluing players no one knows.
Josh Bousquet can be contacted by email at tgfantasy@gmail.com.
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