This weekly waiver-wire watch column is designed to help you monitor and pick up players in the coming weeks. These are the players you’ll want to add now before becoming the hot waiver commodity in a week or two. Using underlying and advanced metrics, this “watchlist” will help you get ahead of the competition in your league and reap the rewards from your pickups later.
The players could be anyone from a prospect in an ideal situation close to the Majors, a reliever in a saves+holds league, or even a starter doing well with misleading surface-level stats like ERA. They might even be hitters with quality underlying stats. Or they could be none of those types of players and entirely different.
The point is that they’ll help you find success in your fantasy league while staying ahead of the curve against your league mates.
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Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Watch List
Logan O’Hoppe (C – LAA)
O’Hoppe has been out for most of the year due to shoulder surgery, but he’s reportedly on a rehab assignment at the moment. Per an MLB.com article on Monday, the catcher is heading to Salt Lake City to continue his rehab assignment with the Angels’ Triple-A affiliate.
Per the article:
“[Angels manager Phil] Nevin expects that it will likely be one or two weeks before O’Hoppe joins the Major League club.”
The catcher made an instant impact for the Angels earlier in the season. And while we’re only dealing with a 59-plate appearance sample size, the 23-year-old’s production was notable.
In the 59 plate appearances, O’Hoppe hit .283 with a .339 on-base percentage, five barrels (a 12.8% barrel rate for anyone counting along at home), four home runs, and a .352 xwOBA.
Among the 30 catchers with at least 150 plate appearances this season, just eight have an xwOBA north of .350. Most of them (Sean Murphy, Willson Contreras, Yanier Diaz, Will Smith, Adley Rutschman, Tom Murphy, Travis d’Arnaud, and Mitch Garver) are probably rostered in most leagues.
Among the same group of qualified catchers, a slightly different list of eight have a higher barrel rate than 12.8%, Sean Murphy, Gary Sanchez, Tom Murphy, Garver, Diaz, Cal Raleigh, Francisco Alvarez, and Jake Rogers.
Prior to sustaining his shoulder injury, O’Hoppe looked like a potential top-10 catcher for the rest of the season. Once he returns from his rehab stint, he very well could be one again from now until the end of the fantasy playoffs.
Emmet Sheehan (SP – LAD)
Optioned to Triple-A earlier this month due to an overcrowded Dodgers rotation also featuring Clayton Kershaw, Bobby Miller, Julio Urias, Lance Lynn, Tony Gonsolin, and Ryan Yarbrough, Emmet Sheehan might be further down the organizational depth chart at the moment, especially with Walker Buehler potentially returning at some point this season.
Still, he makes for one of the more intriguing stash options for fantasy managers (especially those with NA spots or deeper benches) down the stretch where rotation options are concerned.
A quality streaming option at worst in 10-team leagues (in the right matchups) or a useful rotation option in slightly deeper leagues, Sheehan thrived in 53.1 innings at Double-A this season, logging a 1.86 ERA and a 3.23 FIP. Most importantly, though, he missed bats at an elite rate with 88 strikeouts, good for a 14.85 strikeout per nine-inning rate.
And while those strikeout numbers didn’t exactly translate in his first stint in the Majors – Sheehan struck out just 7.04 batters per nine frames in 38.1 innings for the Dodgers – there’s plenty of upside here, despite a 5.63 ERA and a 5.15 FIP in those 38.1 innings.
Because while the 23-year-old didn’t miss bats at the same high rate – he also walked 4.23 batters per nine frames and logged an 11.2% walk rate that sits in the 15th percentile league-wide – he did a solid job limiting quality contact.
In his 38.1 innings, Sheehan limited batters to a .298 xwOBA and just a .314 xwOBAcon. His .195 xBA ranks in the 92nd percentile league-wide.
Admittedly, Sheehan’s stat line isn’t perfect here. He allowed a 9.7% barrel rate on 11 total barrels, though five of those 11 barrels came either in his first start or last start.
Still, he has plenty of win potential, too, with three pitcher wins in eight appearances in the Majors. Should he return to the Dodgers due to injury or ineffectiveness, he’d once again be a priority waiver claim – this time for the stretch run.
Dynasty Addition/Trade Target of the Week
Bryan Woo (SP – SEA)
Bryan Woo is on the 15-day injured list due to right forearm inflammation and has just 55 career Major League innings to his name.
In theory, his fantasy trade value should be rather low, making now the perfect time to swing a trade for the right-hander if he’s rostered in your dynasty league.
In reality, it really shouldn’t be that low.
First and foremost, MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer tweeted the following on August 8:
“There are ‘no real concerns’ about Bryan Woo’s right forearm inflammation, per Mariners GM Justin Hollander. The IL stint was out of ‘an abundance of caution.’
He felt more sore than usual coming out of his start on Thursday, which led to today’s move.”
Furthermore, don’t let Woo’s 4.75 ERA and 4.07 FIP in those 55 innings fool you; he’s been very good so far.
The 23-year-old has added 60 strikeouts while allowing just 17 walks and eight home runs in the Majors for Seattle. And while his ERA and FIP range from reasonably high to solid, his underlying metrics tell a much different – and more encouraging – story.
Woo ranks in the 62nd percentile or better in terms of whiff rate, walk rate, chase rate, strikeout rate, xBA, barrel rate, xSLG, xwOBA, average exit velocity, and hard-hit rate.
Bryan Woo Percentile Rankings
- Whiff Rate: 62nd (27.8%)
- Walk Rate: 64th (7.3%)
- Chase Rate: 67th (30.2%)
- Strikeout Rate: 68th (25.9%)
- xBA: 70th (.225)
- Barrel Rate: 73rd (6.6%)
- xSLG: 77th (.353)
- xwOBA: 80th (.286)
- Average Exit Velocity: 81st (87.2 MPH)
- Hard-Hit Rate: 86th (32.9%)
The only other full-time starter who can say the same in terms of ranking in the 60th percentile or better in all of those metrics? Pablo Lopez. That’s it. That’s the list.
Even with Emmerson Hancock joining the rotation, Woo (when healthy) doesn’t look to be going anywhere anytime soon from Seattle’s group of starters. What’s more, while his ERA is slightly misleading, it’s also inflated by a few poor outings.
The right-hander surrendered seven hits and six earned runs in his first start on June 3 in two innings of work on the road against the Texas Rangers. He gave up eight hits, seven runs, and six earned runs on July 18 versus the Minnesota Twins, which lasted 3.1 frames. Other than those two outings and a July 23 start in which Woo allowed four hits and four earned runs in six innings against Toronto, he’s allowed three runs or fewer in each of his other eight starts.
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