Austin Lowell | Sat, Aug 10th 2024, 8:10am EDT

Top 11 Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups: Week 20 (2024)

Closers, catchers and more closers. This week we had a plethora of ninth-inning guys lose their jobs after multiple bad outings. The closer job is a revolving door and for those fantasy managers able to stay on top of it, they can snag themselves a top-20 or even top-15 closer just by paying close attention. Luckily for you, I’m here so you don’t have to. I’ve scoured the ranks to find this week’s hottest waiver wire adds including some catchers on the rise and those new closers.

There have been some excellent names already mentioned in this weekly piece and since I don’t repeat players (unless absolutely necessary), I suggest going back and reading some previous columns. It’s never too late to get in on today’s most lucrative assets, so it’s not a bad idea to take another look.

These next 10 players are all rostered in less than 50% of Yahoo Leagues (except for one) and deserve your consideration in most league types. Let’s get to it so you can begin to make those tough decisions on who you’re going to drop.

Top 11 Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups (Week 20)

Joc Pederson (OF – ARI): 46%

Joc Pederson has been a boon for fantasy managers who play in daily leagues. The veteran outfielder sits versus left-handed pitching. Against righties, though, his numbers are as good as any. For the season, Pederson’s OPS against right-handed pitchers stands at a cool .946. That means, whenever a righty is on the mound, you’ve basically been getting Vladimir Guerrero Jr. or Yordan Alvarez production. While the numbers don’t quite match up, the ratios do and Statcast tends to agree.

Pederson’s batting profile is full of red, capped off by his .382 xwOBA, good for the top 6% of the league. His average exit velocity is 92.4 and his xSLUG is a whopping .500. The Diamondbacks have been on fire since the break, and Pederson is a big reason why. While he isn’t the most valuable player in weekly leagues, in those that allow daily transactions, Pederson should be rostered everywhere.

Yennier Cano (RP – BAL): 31%

The Orioles have had enough of Craig Kimbrel nonsense and have seemingly turned the ninth-inning duties over to Yennier Cano. Whether Kimbrel will be back in his regular role shortly is anyone’s guess but the Orioles win enough games to make Cano a viable piece off the wire. The 6-foot-4 righty has one of the best ground ball rates in the game (65%) and he’s surrendered just one run since the end of June. Kimbrel was all over the place in July, finishing with a 6.52 ERA with a couple of blown saves. With the Yankees and O’s battling it out in the American League East for the top spot, the club can hardly afford to give games away in the ninth. Whether Kimbrel is given his job back or it’s Cano’s to lose both are worth starting in the interim.

Jasson Dominguez (OF – NYY): 25%

The Martian isn’t exactly tearing the cover off the ball in Triple-A but neither is Alex Verdugo in the big leagues. The Yankees could use another shot in the arm and we all saw what he is capable of last year. Jasson Dominguez will have to earn his promotion but with his skill set, the 21-year-old could go off at any moment. If you wait until he’s brought up, it’ll likely be too late to obtain Dominguez’s services. The slugging outfielder recently returned from an oblique strain and it’s only a matter of time until he starts mashing again.

Parker Meadows (OF – DET): 6%

I love it when I get to feature guys like this. Players who fly under the radar and can potentially be difference-makers down the stretch. Parker Meadows entered the season with high hopes as the Tigers’ projected leadoff hitter. Unfortunately, he didn’t hit in April, like many of the league’s sluggers, and was sent back down to the Minors. He then suffered a leg injury in early summer and spent a good portion of July on the shelf.

Now finally healthy, the club had no choice but to call up Meadows due to injury problems. And they’ve been pleasantly surprised. The former second-rounder out of Grayson High School in Georgia is batting .414 over his last seven games. During that impressive short span, the power-hitting speed threat stole two bases and swatted two home runs.

Meadows was once considered a potential 20/20 guy or even a 20/30 player as he came up through the ranks. He’s still just 24 years old and sits versus some lefties, but the brother of Austin Meadows could be on the verge of a breakout.

Tyler Holton (SP, RP – DET): 10%

Tyler Holton is the man now in Detroit after Jason Foley‘s rough month. The crafty lefty isn’t your typical closer but he does possess an arsenal that would make even Yu Darvish jealous. Holton will often throw six different types of pitches throughout just one inning with all of them landing for strikes. He mixes his pitches so well that hitters often look foolish when facing him.

Holton doesn’t strike out many hitters and is lucky to reach 92 miles per hour (MPH) with his heater, but all of his pitches are ranked on the plus side by Statcast. His top four offerings rank far beyond average and have helped lead to a fine 2.76 ERA with a 0.84 WHIP over 65.1 innings this year. Hilton was a star out of the pen last season, finishing with an excellent 2.11 ERA over 85.1 innings. He’s also duplicated his remarkable 86.1 average exit velocity, which would rank in the top 5% if he qualified.

The Tigers’ offense hit the skids out of the break but has picked it up in recent days. They’ll still lose more often than not but with their victories usually coming in the one to three run fashion, there should be plenty of save opportunities to go around. (Foley will likely still get some opportunities against heavy right-handed sets.)

Tyler Stephenson (C – CIN): 37%

Tyler Stephenson has been one of the top sources of power lately from the catcher position. Since the start of July, the Reds backstop has launched eight home runs, pushing his season total up to 14. He’s also scored 48 times and driven in 44. Stephenson’s been so hot at the dish that he went from batting ninth in the order to hitting third in a matter of weeks. The soon-to-be 28-year-old is hitting .320 for the month, with more extra-base hits than strikeouts, and is now a near must-add in most league types.

Connor Wong (C – BOS): 49%

Connor Wong is another catcher worthy of your attention. After a scorching hot start to the season, he cooled off considerably in the early summer. After the lull spell, Wong got right back to work, picking up his production again going 15-for-48 over his last 11 games. The fleet-footed catcher has scored 10 runs during that span and added a stolen base and a home run as well. Wong isn’t the sexiest catcher out there but he’s a steady hitter who bats near the middle of a solid Boston lineup and contributes in all five categories. He’s worth a look in deeper leagues.

Justin Martinez (RP – ARI): 23%

Arizona has finally cemented its closer situation with Justin Martinez taking over for Paul Sewald. Honestly, it’s about time with Sewald constantly scuffling through his outings while Martinez has looked like one of the nastiest relief pitchers in baseball. The 23-year-old Dominican averages nearly 101 MPH on his fastball, which has a good bit of sink to it. His ground ball to fly ball ratio is an eye-popping 4.00, which has helped lead to a 1.97 ERA over 50.1 innings. He’s allowed just one home run all year and has been called upon to shut down some of the toughest 2-3-4 combos in the league.

And as if all of that weren’t impressive enough, this here is: Out of the 70% of batters he faces that don’t strike out, 65% of them are going to hit the ball on the ground. That is massively impressive. Martinez should be closing out games in Arizona for years to come.

Ryan Walker (SP, RP – SF): 31% & Jordan Hicks (SP, RP – SF): 27%

In a shocking move, instead of moving their incumbent closer to a less stressful role, the Giants sent Camilo Doval down to the Minors to work on his control. While his walk rate has peaked, he was still striking out batters and limiting home runs. Doval’s demotion becomes a teammate’s promotion, and in this case, all signs point to Ryan Walker taking over the position.

Walker’s been filthy this year, registering a 30.5 K% to go along with a minuscule 5.6% BB%. He’s thrown 60 innings and given up just four home runs while limiting batters to a .189 average. His slider-sinker combo has been leading to zeros all year long and now there is a chance he’ll be dispatched in the ninth.

You may also want to take a flier on Jordan Hicks, however, because the older managers tend to lean more towards the guys with more experience than perhaps the more deserving.

Max Muncy (1B, 2B, 3B – MIA): 61%

Max Muncy isn’t rostered in less than 50% of leagues but considering he’s been out of action so long, there’s a good chance he’s been dropped in your league. The slugging infielder has finally resumed playing and is currently on a rehab assignment in Oklahoma City. At this point of his career, we know what Muncy’s capable of and what he’s not, but the homers can be plentiful making Muncy a worthwhile name to seek out.

Austin Lowell is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Austin, check out his archive.

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