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It was quite the eventful week in fantasy baseball, particularly at the second base position. Braves star Ozzie Albies (foot) was placed on the 60-day injured list, leaving fantasy managers that used a high pick on him scrambling for a replacement.
While the waiver wire won't replace the production of a star like Albies, there are plenty of intriguing options, particularly among prospects getting full-time reps for their respective teams. Let's dive in.
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 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 11 – June 20th through June 26th.
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Waiver Wire Pickups for Shallow Leagues
Brendan Donovan, 2B/SS/3B/OF, St. Louis Cardinals (45% rostered)
Leading off a prospect-filled waiver wire column is 25-year-old Cardinal Brendan Donovan. Donovan has been playing all over the diamond for St. Louis and has impressed in his first taste of the Big Leagues. He's got 45 hits in 45 games thus far while boasting elite plate discipline as evidenced by his 1:1 strikeout-to-walk rate. He won't provide much power, but Donovan is an on-base machine and should score plenty of runs batting in front of Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado.
Jon Berti, 2B/3B/OF, Miami Marlins (38% rostered)
The outlier this week is Jon Berti. Unlike the other names on this list, Berti has been around for a while, never providing much more than fringe fantasy value. That has changed this season as the 32-year-old is running wild on the base paths. Berti has 15 thefts on the season, but that isn't even telling the whole story. He's got 11 stolen bases in 15 games in June as he's clearly got the green light to run at will for a Marlins club that needs all the help it can to score runs. If you need stolen bases, there is no excuse not to add Berti.
Ezequiel Duran, 2B/SS/3B, Texas Rangers (31% Rostered)
Normally we only include two Shallow League pickups, but given the plethora of prospects being called up, we'd be remiss not to touch on Ezequiel Duran. The 23-year-old is mostly playing third base for Texas, but he's got shortstop eligibility on some sites and is an intriguing fantasy option no matter where he slots into the lineup. Through 13 games, Duran is batting .308 with a .521 slugging percentage after slugging .574 in Double-A.
Waiver Wire Pickups for Deeper Leagues
Luis Garcia, 2B/SS, Washington Nationals (11% rostered)
Luis Garcia was in the Watch List section last week and he's moving up in the world after Nationals manager Davey Martinez gave the vote of confidence to the 22-year-old prospect. Washington is in the middle of a rebuild and it's stated that Garcia will start at second base for the foreseeable future. Garcia is off to a hot start in the Bigs, batting .343 through 17 games with two homers. He was hitting .314 in Triple-A this season and batted .303 in 37 Triple-A games last year. He's worth a flier in a lot of fantasy leagues.
Bryson Stott, 2B/SS Philadelphia Phillies (17% rostered)
Stott has been struggling lately as he's 0 for his last 18, but he was still a .300-plus hitter in 99 games the past two seasons in Double-A and Triple-A. He's got four homers in 40 games thus far so he's not just an empty batting average. With Jean Segura (finger) on the IL, Stott has been playing everyday at the keystone and should be better than he has been this past week.
Waiver Wire Watch List
Anthony Volpe, SS, New York Yankees (5% rostered)
Given all the prospect talk, we'd be remiss not to include one of the top prospects in all of baseball in the Watch List section. Anthony Volpe is tearing the cover off the ball at Double-A to the tune of a .308 batting average with four doubles, five RBI, and three steals in his last 10 games. The Yankees are rolling right now and likely want Volpe to play in Triple-A, but crazier things have happened. Duran (mentioned above) went straight from Double-A to the Majors and if the Yankees do indeed call up Volpe, you'll want to be familiar with him.
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