This is just my second week writing the FantasyPros waiver wire column, but I am already setting up some ground rules for myself.
Rule number one is that I will do my best to discuss different players in this space each week. I can’t promise there will never be any repeats, but I want this column to explore the full breadth of waiver wire options, rather than just be about me banging the drum for my “pet” players ever week.
More Week 2 Waiver Wire Advice
- Starting Pitcher Streamers
- Targets by Category
- Two-Start Pitchers
- Two-Start Pitchers Lookahead (April 25 – May 1)
- FAAB Report
That being said, there are plenty of guys I mentioned last week who are less than 50 percent rostered and shouldn’t be. So if C.J. Abrams, Alejandro Kirk, Matt Brash, Tommy Pham, Akil Baddoo, Jeremy Pena, Harrison Bader, or Oneil Cruz are still hanging around on the waiver wire in your league, you still have my full-throated endorsement to go pick them up.
Rule number two is that I am only going to write up players who are rostered in less than 50 percent of Yahoo leagues. So if you’re wondering why I make no mention of Carlos Carrasco, Kyle Wright, Jesus Luzardo, Owen Miller, or Daniel Bard, that’s why. If any of those guys are somehow still out there in your league, they would be at or near the top of my pickup list.
But enough with the legalese. I don’t want to turn into Rob Manfred and get into the habit of messing around with the rules all the time!
Note: Rostered rates are from Yahoo leagues as of Saturday evening.
FAABulous Four: Top Waiver Targets
Check out our weekly FAAB report for more advice on waiver wire bidding
MacKenzie Gore (SP — SD): 45% Rostered
For the second straight week, let’s lead off with a top-tier Padres prospect rocketing into the Big Leagues. With Blake Snell joining Mike Clevinger on the Injured List, opportunity has come knocking for Gore, a former top-three prospect in all of baseball according to MLB.com. Gore plummeted down the prospect rankings following a 2021 campaign that saw him struggle with his mechanics and command of the strike zone, but the pure stuff was always there.
Gore averaged 95.6 miles per hour on his fastball in his MLB debut, topping out at 98.5 mph. He leaned on the pitch heavily, throwing it 72.6 percent of the time, but still held a tough Atlanta lineup to just two runs on three hits in 5 1/3 innings.
If he can improve his command of his secondary offerings, he could quickly ascend to must-start status and make it very difficult for San Diego to pull him from the rotation when Clevinger and/or Snell return.
Jesus Sanchez (OF — MIA): 35% Rostered
There are plenty of hitters off to surprising starts, but not many of them have 70 grade power like Sanchez. Maybe we shouldn’t be so surprised that he’s crushing the ball. The 24-year old slugger was also pretty darn good for the Marlins last season, swatting 14 home runs in just 64 games, and he was even better in the 37 games he played in Triple-A.
Sanchez’s .310 batting average through the first week is heading for a correction, but it’s promising that he’s only fanned five times in his first 30 plate appearances. That suggests he could improve on last year’s .251 mark. It also doesn’t hurt that he is regularly perched in the second or third spot of Miami’s batting order, ensuring plenty of at-bats and run producing opportunities.
Jo Adell (OF — LAA): 45% Rostered
Patience is often severely lacking in the fantasy community, and Adell is a case in point. The Halos’ uber-talented 23-year old was among the most dropped players over the first week of the season, presenting many of you a golden opportunity to benefit from a leaguemate’s folly.
Adell has yet to put up big numbers since his debut in 2020, but give the kid a break; he still has only 80 Major League games under his belt. He hit .289 with 23 home runs and eight steals in 73 games at Triple-A last season, which should give you a decent sense of the kind of upsides he possesses.
Yes, it’s a little concerning that he has 12 strikeouts and zero walks in the early going, but let’s not overreact to 21 plate appearances. Maybe he ultimately needs a little more seasoning in the minors, but he absolutely belongs on fantasy rosters for the time-being.
Merrill Kelly (SP — ARI): 28% Rostered
Kelly has been a pretty pedestrian hurler since he joined the Diamondbacks in 2019, but there is reason to believe he is ready to take a big step forward. He’s been outstanding through his first two starts, throwing 9 1/3 scoreless innings with 13 strikeouts in fairly challenging matchups with the Padres and Astros. Most importantly, he’s showing new skills, including improved fastball velocity and more movement on his changeup. He’s got a favorable start against the Nationals coming up, so pick him up now before it’s too late.
Priority Pickups – <40% Rostered
Nestor Cortes (SP — NYY): 37% Rostered
It’s hard to fly under the radar in the Bronx, but Cortes had an underrated excellent season in 2021, posting a 2.90 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, and 9.97 K/9 in 22 appearances (14 starts). Some sharp analysts like Nick Pollack have poked holes in his arsenal, led by his unintimidating low-90’s fastball, but Cortes kept the good times rolling in his first start of ’22 and is set to face off with the Orioles, Guardians, and Royals over the next couple weeks. Yes, Cleveland has been an early surprise offensively, but all of those matchups look to be pretty favorable on paper. I’ll sign off on giving Cortes an early season test drive.
Tanner Rainey (RP — WAS): 40% Rostered
Kyle Finnegan may have been the Nationals’ closer at the end of last season, but it sure looks like there’s been a changing of the guard. Washington has generated two save opportunities so far this season, and both of them have gone to Rainey.
Like many hard-throwing late-inning arms, Rainey’s command comes and goes. This could all blow up in our faces at any time. But saves are saves, and there is little doubt that Rainey has closer stuff.
The strikeouts are certainly going to be there, and he’s managed to avoid any free passes over his first three outings. Back in 2020, he posted a 2.66 ERA, 0.74 WHIP, 14.16 K/9, and 3.10 BB/9 in 20 1/3 innings. If he could somehow repeat that trick over a full season, he would be an elite fantasy closer.
Hector Neris (RP — HOU): 13% Rostered
Ryan Pressly was my favorite value pick among the high-end fantasy closers, but unfortunately he has landed on the Injured List with right knee inflammation. Astros assistant general manager Andrew Ball said the team expects Pressly’s absence to be “fairly short term,” but his velocity has been down and he’s getting the knee drained. The team sounds committed to taking a cautious approach.
Manager Dusty Baker mentioned Neris, Rafael Montero and Ryne Stanek as candidates to close in Pressly’s absence, but Neris has to be considered the favorite. The hard-throwing, 32-year old right-hander has 84 career saves to his name, constituting the kind of closer experience that likely appeals to an old school manager like Baker. He also pitched the ninth with a four-run lead on Saturday night. Neris has had plenty of ups and downs over the course of his career, but he can be flat-out dominant at times and always misses tons of bats.
Joey Bart (C — SF): 36% Rostered
MLB.com’s number 16 prospect heading into 2021, Bart is the heir apparent to Buster Posey in San Francisco. He doesn’t possess Posey’s batted ball skills — few do — but Bart does bring more power potential than the Giants’ likely Hall of Famer. Bart showed the ability in the minors to hit 25 or even 30 home runs over a full season’s worth of at-bats. He may not quite get there this year, but he’s off to a nice start and it’s worth riding the hot hand to see where it takes you. The bar to fantasy relevance is not high at catcher.
Ji-Man Choi (1B — TB): 15% Rostered
Choi is 30 years old, offers no speed, and has never managed to hit 20 home runs over a Major League season, so I suppose his 15 percent rostership rate isn’t shocking. The limited power output is more a function of playing time than anything else, though. He did hit .261 with 19 homers in 127 games in 2019, which also happened to be the only season he got into the lineup 100+ times. He’s currently hitting .526 with two homers and has been regularly batting either third or fourth for Tampa, which is enough to make him an intriguing short-term pickup, at the very least.
Eric Lauer (SP — MIL): 10% Rostered
Aaron Ashby (SP,RP — MIL): 18% Rostered
The Brewers have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to their pitching staff, and while Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, and Freddy Peralta certainly set a high bar last year, Lauer and Ashby are the latest Milwaukee arms with clear breakout potential.
After a couple middling seasons in San Diego, Lauer took big strides forward in Milwaukee last season, posting a 3.19 ERA and 1.14 WHIP in 118 2/3 innings. It all started with marked improvement in his velocity, suggesting he can keep it going in 2022, even though his peripherals suggest he’s due for some regression. He wasn’t great in his first start, but has a good chance to get back on track against Pittsburgh this week.
Ashby missed bats at an elite level at both the Triple-A and Major League levels in 2021, but he was victimized by a wildly low strand rate and wildly high HR/FB rate. Pitchers who generate a lot of strikeouts and ground balls are extremely intriguing from both a fantasy and real life perspective, and Ashby certainly fits the bill. Whether he will stick in the rotation is unclear, but if he has success against the Cardinals on Sunday, he could persuade Brewers manager Craig Counsell to go with a six-man rotation like he did last year.
Art Warren (RP — CIN): 15% Rostered
Last week in this space, I recommended adding another Reds’ reliever, Tony Santillan, but now it’s Warren’s turn to get some love. A pre-season industry favorite who posted a 1.29 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, and 14.57 K/9 in 21 innings last season, Warren remains lightly rostered, even though he could be emerging as Cincinnati’s preferred closer.
Both Warren and Santillan have picked up saves in the early going, and both are capable of providing strikeouts and strong ratios. But Warren has the more recent save, and Santillan is coming off a rough outing where he allowed three earned runs in a third of an inning — while pitching in the eighth.
Raimel Tapia (OF — TOR): 17% Rostered
After swiping 20 bases in 133 games for the Rockies last season, Tapia’s fantasy fortunes seemingly took a significant hit when he was dealt to a loaded Blue Jays team where playing time would be hard to come by. That was before Teoscar Hernandez and Danny Jansen landed on the Injured List, though. Suddenly, Alejandro Kirk‘s services are needed behind the plate, rather than at designated hitter, and Hernandez’s absence leaves a glaring hole for Tapia to fill in the outfield, too.
Not only is Tapia likely to play every day; he even led off for the Blue Jays on Saturday. Batting directly in front of Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is a pretty good gig if you can get it.
Elias Diaz (C — COL): 23% Rostered
Diaz was never particularly interesting for fantasy purposes while he was a member of the Pirates’ organization, but heading to Colorado has a way of changing things, doesn’t it? He popped 18 balls over the fence in 106 games last season, and is off to another nice start at the dish, hitting .360 with a homer thus far. Based on last season’s extreme home/road splits, he’s at least worth considering while the Rockies are in the middle of a home stand.
Deep League Targets – <10% Rostered
Tyler Naquin (OF — CIN): 10% Rostered
Like last week, I’ll begin my deep league adds with a guy rostered right at 10 percent. Naquin started and finished last season very strongly, and he’s back at it again in the early going this year, hitting .320 with a homer and a steal through seven games. Naquin’s .270/19/70 stat line in 127 games last year wasn’t bad, but his numbers would have likely been more eye-catching if he had avoided a midseason IL stint due to a rib injury. It certainly doesn’t hurt that he’s lodged in the second spot in the batting order for a team that plays it’s home games in one of the most hitter-friendly environments in the league.
Oscar Mercado (OF — CLE): 7% Rostered
Mercado burst on the scene as a 24-year old rookie in 2019, going 15/15 with a solid .269 average in only 114 games. His surface stats have been pretty rough since then, but there are actual some striking similarities between that career year and what he did last season, including his home run pace, stolen base pace, and strikeout rate. He’s only hitting .172 so far this season, but he’s already blasted three home runs and driven in nine runs for the league-leading Guardians offense.
Emilio Pagan (RP — MIN): 8% Rostered
The Twins may not have a single closer following the Taylor Rodgers trade, but if I had to guess who the best bet is for saves going forward, it would be Pagan. The veteran reliever has been pretty solid everywhere he’s pitched, has a 20-save season on his resume, and handled the ninth inning of an 8-4 Twins victory on Friday.
Mychal Givens (RP — CHC): 6% Rostered
Just when it looked like David Robertson would run away with the Cubs’ closer job, in stepped Givens to record the team’s most recent save. Maybe Cubs manager David Ross was just giving Givens an opportunity to close against the Rockies because they’re his former team? Maybe, but it’s equally plausible that Givens is part of a committee with Robertson, with the potential to eventually take over the role. While Givens walks his fair share of batters, he can pile up the strikeouts while providing decent ratios.
Thairo Estrada (2B,SS,OF — SF): 5% Rostered
The Giants always seem to produce fantasy contributors out of thin air, so why not Estrada? The 26-year old never got much playing time as a Yankee, but he’s started every single game for San Francisco so far. Estrada hit 16 home runs and stole seven bases in 102 games between Triple-A and the Giants last year, while also displaying solid contact skills. He’s already homered and swiped a base this year, and brings nice multi-position eligibility to the table.
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | SoundCloud | iHeartRadio
If you want to dive deeper into fantasy baseball, be sure to check out our award-winning slate of Fantasy Baseball Tools as you navigate your season. From our Lineup Assistant – which provides your optimal lineup, based on accurate consensus projections – to our Waiver Wire Assistant – that allows you to quickly see which available players will improve your team, and by how much – we’ve got you covered this fantasy baseball season.
Andrew Seifter is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Andrew, check out his archive and follow him @andrew_seifter.