RADIO
Two more weeks to go. At this stage of the game, it's a full-out sprint with little room for error. Some of the weaker managers have already peeled off to attend to their fantasy football interests as is tradition, but those who remain will be your daily combatants on the waiver wire.
With the end in sight, we don't care as much about long-term viability. Anybody who's performing right now at least merits consideration. We've seen plenty of flawed players get hot at the right time and carry their fantasy squads to victory. A contribution in the clutch can make one a legend, if only in our own minds - a decade on, Ted Lilly remains a fondly recalled name for yours truly after throwing a gem that helped complete the most improbable comeback in my personal history.
As a reminder, we'll be looking at pickups for shallow leagues (30-49% rostered) and deeper formats (10-29%), as well as highlighting players in the single-digits who could be worth a Hail Mary. These are your second base and shortstop waiver wire pickups for Week 26 - September 20 through September 26.
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Pickups for Shallow Leagues
Garrett Hampson, 2B/SS/OF, Colorado Rockies (34% rostered)
Hampson has long been a source of fascination for many fantasy managers, but until this year he hadn't really gotten consistent everyday playing time due to the Rockies being, well, the Rockies. The overall results have been a bit underwhelming, but the 26-year-old is on a strong finishing kick. He ranks inside the top 80 overall players over the past month, during which he's hit .282 with five home runs, three stolen bases, and 30 R+BI. Manager Bud Black has noticed and penciled Hampson into the leadoff spot in each of the last three games.
Kolten Wong, 2B, Milwaukee Brewers (32% rostered)
Despite multiple stints on the injured list in the spring, Wong is closing in on his fourth season with at least 10 homers and 10 stolen bases, while also hitting .280 with solid run production. He's been featured regularly in this space, however, probably in part because the lower volume of at-bats makes his overall numbers look less impressive. But the 30-year-old is entrenched in the leadoff spot for one of baseball's best teams and shouldn't be free to add in so many leagues.
Josh Harrison, 2B/3B/OF, Oakland Athletics (31% rostered)
Not to beat a dead horse, but here's another guy with a lock on the leadoff spot. Harrison hasn't homered since August 26 or stolen a base since August 31, but he's been racking up hits and RBI anyway. The veteran has seven multi-hit games in the last three weeks and has been held hitless just three times in the same span. He's also driven in 12 runs in his last eight games and nine in his last five.
Pickups for Deeper Leagues
Brendan Rodgers, 2B/SS, Colorado Rockies (19% rostered)
Much like his teammate Hampson, Rodgers has been a player of interest to many in the fantasy community for a long time and is now getting the chance to play every day. Unlike Hampson, though, the rookie has been good basically all year save for a slow start. In roughly half a season's worth of at-bats, the 23-year-old has hit .284 with 13 homers, 40 runs, and 45 RBI. He seems like a player whose draft stock will do nothing but rise between now and next spring, but for right now he's on the wire in four of every five leagues.
J.P. Crawford, SS, Seattle Mariners (14% rostered)
Crawford makes the list for a second straight week since his rostered rate hardly budged, and also because he's still comfortably inside the top 75 players in standard leagues over the past two weeks. And stop me if you've heard this before, but he's hitting leadoff!
The Hail Mary
Matt Duffy, 2B/3B, Chicago Cubs (2% rostered)
Last 14 days for the Duffman: .316, 7 R, 4 HR, 10 RBI. Virtually no one appears to have noticed.
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