Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups: Orlando Arcia, Kyle Manzardo, Josh Rojas

Mother’s Day is special. As far back as I can remember, it involved baseball and my mother Abigail. She and I became Dodger fans — and baseball fans — when I was nine years old, with many nights watching or listening to Vin Scully or Jaime Jarrin calling games. I often credit Scully with teaching my mom better English as we followed the action.

If you got to share the game with your mother like I did, well, what’s better than catching a game with her? If she’s not into fantasy baseball, maybe one day catching highlights won’t be so bad. There’s no real way to transition from this special day on May 12, so I won’t even attempt it. Happy Mother’s Day. Feliz Dia de Las Madres. Here are some deep fantasy baseball waiver wire sleepers.

Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups: Week 8

Orlando Arcia (SS – ATL): 18%

It’s somewhat hard to believe Orlando Arcia is 29 — turning 30 on August 4 — because it feels like a long time ago he was one of the top prospects in baseball. That was just under a decade ago, which is eons in baseball years.

Arcia is coming off a season where he hit .264 with 17 home runs for an Atlanta offense that was one of the most prolific in recent memory. The Braves are 12th in runs scored as of this writing, and in looking at the middling production for studs Ronald Acuna, Matt Olson and Austin Riley, the feeling that better days are coming in Atlanta is very apparent. Arcia is a cheap way to get a piece of this offense at a point where about three-quarters of the season is still to be played.

Kyle Manzardo (1B – CLE): 17%

After 29 games at Colorado Springs in Triple-A, where he hit .303 with nine home runs and 20 RBI, the Guardians called up Kyle Manzardo. In his first three starts, he hit in the bottom third of the Cleveland lineup and got his first big-league hit in a pinch-hitting appearance on May 8.

A series in Chicago to take on the bottom-dwelling White Sox could be a springboard to Manzardo gaining some foothold on a big-league job. Keep an eye if he sits against left-handers, but otherwise, look for signs of a breakout. Prospects have done u-turns back to the minor leagues this early part of the season, but fantasy managers need to keep taking chances on the young players in case they break out.

Josh Rojas (2B, 3B – SEA): 12%

The infielder scuffled for two teams last season, coming on the heels of hitting nine home runs with 23 stolen bases in 2022 for Arizona. With Seattle off to a sluggish start that has them sitting 25th in runs scored, Josh Rojas was inserted in the leadoff spot in the lineup on April 24. Since then he’s hit .400 with an OPS of 1.142. He’s also slugged a pair of homers and swiped a couple of bags, scoring six runs while driving in four more.

As long as he is hitting in front of Julio Rodriguez, a volcano ready to erupt, Rojas is worth taking a flier on for his power-speed combination and spot in the Seattle lineup.