Week 7 is here and with it comes some pretty exciting waiver wire additions. The guys I highlighted in week 6 have seen mixed results. Enmanuel Valdez went yard on Friday and had a fairly productive week overall. Seattle Mariner’s new rookie phenom Bryce Miller has gone on to have one of the greatest starts to a pitching career in major league history.
Now, you’re not always going to find historically good players on the waiver wire. Especially not seven weeks into the season. But you can find productive hitters who are either starting to or have broken out. Capitalizing on these breakouts is what can make or break your matchup for that week and if you’re here reading this, it means you value these wins. You can’t win your league this early on, but you can surely lose it.
With that in mind, let’s break down some of my favorite waiver wire additions for the week. As always, we’ll be focusing on guys with a roster rate below 50%. I am aware that there will be leagues where most of these guys might be taken, but such is life. I’ll do my best to highlight guys who should be very widely available. And for the record, Eury Perez would be on this list but he already blew past the maximum roster percentage to qualify. If you’re in one of the rare leagues where he is available, add him.
More Week 7 Advice:
- Top 50 Starting Pitcher Rankings
- Two-Start SP Rankings, Tiers & Targets
- Fantasy Baseball Category Pickups
- Fantasy Baseball Streaming Pitchers
- Deep Sleepers & Waiver Wire Pickups
- Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire FAAB Report
Waiver Wire Priority Additions
Christopher Morel (2B/3B/SS/OF – CHC)
Last week I highlighted Bryce Miller and mentioned the reason he was on the list was because he was rostered in far fewer ESPN leagues than he should be. Morel is on the list for the same reason. Rostered in 56% of Yahoo leagues and just 9% of ESPN leagues, Morel needs to be rostered in every league in my opinion. His first-half numbers in 2022, his 1.156 OPS in the minor leagues this year, and now his blistering start to his 2023 major league season. After four games with the Cubs, he now has a double, two home runs, and a stolen base. Five batted ball events of 103+ MPH already show he’s making impressive contact as well. He has the power and speed combo to be an excellent fantasy asset for the entire rest of the season.
Schmitt is someone I can say I truly did not see coming. At least at this level of production. After going 2-4 on Saturday he’s now hitting an incredible .550 through his first five games. Pair that with three doubles, two home runs, and the fact that he’s struck out just one time and you have a guy who may become a points league monster. I have questions about whether the power will stick around, he had just two home runs in 36 Triple-A games, but his eight batted ball events over 100 MPH already have me intrigued. Ride this hot streak while you can, it may not slow down for quite awhile.
This is now officially a Casey Schmitt fan account ? pic.twitter.com/gWNSDiB4ZQ
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) May 12, 2023
LaMonte Wade Jr. (1B/OF – SFG)
Back-to-back Giants! I swear every time I write these I always end up with multiple people from the same team and that’s never my intention but…here we are. I had held off from adding Wade to last week’s article because I was skeptical he could keep it up. I was wrong. He’s upped his line drive rate by 3% this season and done a better job of hitting the ball to all fields. In turn, he’s seen his BABIP sit at a sustainable .301 and his batting average at .275 while turning more of those line drives into home runs. In May he’s hitting .343 with two home runs, six runs scored, and seven RBI. He’s also been hitting leadoff against righties. Look for this solid production to continue.
I think Pratto is going to be the guy on this list who needs to be added because of the hot streak, but be cautious once the hot streak wears off. As of Saturday, he has a .500 BABIP but in his last 13 games, he’s hitting almost .400 with five doubles, two home runs, 11 runs scored, and 13 RBI. The BABIP is going to regress, but there’s reason to believe the power will. In 2021 he hit 36 home runs in 124 minor league games. In 2022 he hit 24 in 131 games between Triple-A and the majors. He’s gotten most of his ABs hitting fifth and sixth, so look for him to have plenty of opportunities for counting stats moving forward. The batting average may suffer, but he could legitimately hit 20-25 home runs this season.
Deep League Additions
Rostered in less than 10% of leagues while regularly batting in the middle of the lineup and hitting for power usually isn’t something that happens. I think the fact that he plays for Oakland is resulting in him being overlooked for fantasy purposes but he shouldn’t be. Through 10 games so far he has three doubles, three home runs, and has scored seven runs. He’s pulling the ball more (51.2%) and making much less soft contact (18.5%) which is leading to more quality at-bats. He hit 25 home runs in 2022 and followed it up by hitting seven in his first 25 games in the minor leagues this season. His batting average will surely drop quite a bit, but the power numbers and counting stats should be there to make him fantasy relevant. Especially in leagues that start five outfielders.
JJ Bleday – Oakland Athletics (3) pic.twitter.com/6Iz9OoPxN1
— MLB HR Videos (@MLBHRVideos) May 10, 2023
This will be the second consecutive week that Varland makes this list and for good reason. Called up to make a few starts due to injuries, Varland’s spot in the big league rotation seems a bit more permanent as of late. Tyler Mahle going down for the year and who knows when Kenta Maeda will be good to go means both Varland and Bailey Ober should have those rotation spots locked down now. Through his first three starts, he’s been good as well. Two quality starts including a six-inning, one run, six-strikeout performance against San Diego on the ninth. He’s added 1+ MPH to all pitches this year and every pitch has a 25% or better whiff rate. Including an excellent 43.5% whiff rate on his changeup. He’s going to have his ups and downs, but he seems like a solid option moving forward.
The Boston Red Sox rotation is loaded with guys who excelled in 2018. Now in 2023, it’s interesting to see them still find success. That includes Paxton who just made his first full start since 2020. He had only thrown 21.2 innings total since 2019. He did look pretty damn impressive in this start. Five innings while giving up just two runs and striking out nine. His fastball averaged an impressive 96.3 MPH and generated 10 whiffs on 28 swings. In total Paxton put up a 45% CSW which is incredibly dominant. The skill has always been there, injuries are what has been his downfall. Should he stay healthy, Paxton should continue to put up roster-worthy fantasy numbers moving forward. Especially in 12-team or deeper leagues.
Kirilloff is someone I had so much hope for coming into this season and then he had such a weird start. All that matters now is that he’s finally at the major league level and, well, he’s mashing the hell out of the ball. On Saturday he went 3-3 with two solo home runs and scored three runs. For the year he’s hitting .438 in his handful of games and has walked (6) more times than he’s struck out (3). He is strictly a strong side platoon against righties, but there’s still a clear path to at-bats in a lineup ripe with talent. He should primarily bat cleanup and while he’s not gonna be a 40-home-run guy like Gallo, should he stay healthy he can hit 20 home runs and drive in 80. He’s worth making room for in 12-team or deeper leagues.
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