RADIO
This week, we'll flip our calendars to August, which has plenty of ramifications in fantasy baseball. First and foremost, the trade deadline. Players will be swapping teams left and right, which can drastically change a player's value in fantasy. Heck, in AL-Only and NL-Only formats, some players can even become available when they weren't before. As always, our RotoBaller team has all the happenings regarding the trade deadline.
In this space, we'll highlight some middle infielders that can help your squad climb up those standings, or prepare to crush it in the playoffs. Don't turn your attention to fantasy football just yet, we've got baseball championships to win!
As a reminder, we'll be looking at pickups for shallow leagues (30-49% rostered) and deeper formats (10-29%), as well as highlighting prospects in the single digits who may get the call and deserve a spot on your watch list at the very least. These are your second base and shortstop fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups for Week 19 -- July 31 through August 6.
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Waiver Wire Pickups for Shallow Leagues
Wilmer Flores, 2B/1B/3B, San Francisco Giants (41% rostered)
Wilmer Flores is one player who won't be excited to see July end, as he posted one of the best months of his career. Among all qualified hitters, Flores ranked second in the majors with a .387 batting average, while his .726 slugging percentage ranked seventh.
July may have been an outlier month for Flores, but his season-long numbers aren't too shabby either. The 31-year-old is slashing .291/.352/.529 with 13 homers, 32 RBI, and 32 runs scored with exceptional plate-discipline metrics. With triple-eligibility, it's surprising a batter as hot as Flores is available in this many fantasy leagues.
Edouard Julien, 2B, Minnesota Twins (49% rostered)
Speaking of hot hitters, there are few players more scorching-hot right now than Edouard Julien, who posted an absurd .804 slugging percentage in the month of July. He didn't have enough plate appearances to qualify for the official MLB leaderboard. But if we count players with at least 60 PA, then it was Julien who ranked second in the majors with a .393 batting average in July.
The Twins are all-in on Julien as their everyday second baseman and he's been batting second for a sneaky-good lineup. The 24-year-old is a former top prospect and he's been tearing it up since being recalled from Triple-A back in May.
Waiver Wire Pickups for Deeper Leagues
Zack Gelof, 2B, Oakland Athletics (8% rostered)
Zack Gelof hasn't gotten off to the flashiest start to his Major League Baseball career, but a look under the hood reveals why he was such a highly-regarded prospect. Thus far in the big leagues, Gelof has a 40-percent hard-hit rate, a 90.8 mph average exit velocity, and he's already recorded a batted ball of 107 mph for his first career home run.
Prior to his promotion, Gelof was crushing Triple-A to the tune of a .304/.401/.529 slash line across 69 games. With Oakland rebuilding, Gelof will be in the lineup most days, giving him plenty of utility in deeper fantasy formats.
Marco Luciano, SS, San Francisco Giants (14% rostered)
Let's keep things in the Bay Area and highlight San Francisco prospect Marco Luciano, who was promoted by the Giants last week. The promotion was aggressive -- Luciano only played six games in Triple-A and he's only 21 years old -- but he was playing well in the minors and will now be inserted into a key role for a contending team.
In 56 games at Double-A, Luciano popped 11 homers and accrued a .450 slugging percentage while posting 64 runs-plus-RBI. Obviously, this is a big upgrade in terms of pitching he'll face, but the Giants have gotten very little out of the shortstop position this season. If he hits the ground running, Luciano has staying power in a good Giants lineup and can be an impact player in fantasy for the rest of the season.
Other Options to Consider:
- Ezequiel Tovar, SS, Colorado Rockies (37% rostered)
- Jordan Westburg, 2B/SS/3B, Baltimore Orioles (23% rostered)
Prospect Watch
Jordan Lawlar, SS, Arizona Diamondbacks (5% rostered)
The trade deadline means several prospects will be on the move to new teams. But one player who is virtually untouchable is D-Backs shortstop, Jordan Lawlar. After a slow start to the season, Lawlar has begun to flex his muscle in Double-A, as he's batting over .300 and slugging over .500 since May 23.
Last season, we saw Arizona aggressively promote Corbin Carroll late in the season and it's worked as Carroll is a leading candidate to win Rookie of the Year. Given the incentives teams have to promote top prospects, don't be surprised if Arizona is equally aggressive with Lawlar later this season. If the D-Backs think he can help them make the playoffs, he'll be in the big leagues. If that happens, he should be added in fantasy as well.
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