RADIO
As we sprint towards the home stretch in the 2022 baseball season, time is running out to upgrade your roster for the playoff push. Most trade deadlines are past, so the waiver wire is the best place to shore up weaknesses as we pursue the ultimate honor, a fantasy baseball championship.
If you need help in the middle infield positions we've got a fresh batch of waiver wire options widely available across the fantasy baseball landscape.
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 20 – August 22nd through August 28th.
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Waiver Wire Pickups for Shallow Leagues
Luis Rengifo, 2B/SS/3B/OF, Los Angeles Angels (36% rostered)
One important aspect in evaluating players for fantasy is weighing talent versus opportunity; sometimes a player's circumstance is more valuable than his actual skillset. Case-in-point, Luis Rengifo, who has batted third for the Angels in every game since the Trade Deadline.
Is Rengifo actually a good player? The jury is still out. His average exit velocity is below league average, he never walks, and his expected slugging percentage is below .400. That being said, he's been wildly productive in the three-hole, batting behind Shohei Ohtani. In 17 games this month, he's slugging .500 with 19 runs-plus-RBI while striking out under 14% of the time.
Rengifo is an elite contact hitter, as long as he's getting everyday at bats in a prime lineup slot, he's going to produce stats for fantasy. At the end of the day, all we need in fantasy is the stats. We can save the Statcast measurables for the Angels' front office to worry about.
Michael Massey, 2B, Kansas City Royals (2% rostered)
What's this? A player only two percent rostered in the "Shallow League" section? That's right, as we approach the end of the season, teams are going to call up top prospects and the Royals did just that with Michael Massey. Much like Vaughn Grissom in Atlanta – and last week's column – Massey has the most upside of anyone available on the waiver wire and, if he lives up to said upside, you'll wish you picked him up now.
Unlike Grissom, Massey won't face a playing-time crunch in a loaded Braves lineup as Massey is free-and-clear to man the keystone for the rebuilding Royals. Through nine Big League games, Massey is batting .316 with one homer and six RBI, so he's off to a decent start. When we look at his minor league track record, however, we see how Massey has league-winning upside.
Between Double-A and Triple-A this season, the 24-year-old batted .312 with 16 homers, 13 steals, and a healthy .909 OPS. He's got five-category upside in fantasy and is about to be a hot commodity on waivers.
Waiver Wire Pickups for Deeper Leagues
Kyle Farmer, SS/3B, Cincinnati Reds (23% rostered)
Like Rengifo above, Kyle Farmer is a sneaky-good fantasy baseball pickup as he's getting the chance to bat cleanup for a rebuilding team, and that's led to plenty of production. Since the calendar flipped to August, Farmer is batting .352. He hasn't homered this month, but he's got six dongs on the season and plays half his games in Cincinnati, one of the best hitter's parks in baseball.
He's not a must-add, but Farmer is a great hot-hand play as long as he's riding this hot-streak playing every day for the Reds.
Bryson Stott, 2B/SS, Philadelphia Phillies (12% rostered)
Stott has had an up-and-down season as a rookie, but the Phillies have stuck with him as Stott is one of the top prospects in the system and that patience is paying off in the second half of the season. Since the All-Star Break, Stott is batting .293 with a .328 wOBA, mostly thanks to an improved strikeout rate which he cut over eight percent from the first half of the season.
Stott was a .300-plus hitter throughout his minor league career and has gotten better in the Majors with each passing month.
Waiver Wire Watch List
CJ Abrams, 2B/SS, Washington Nationals (15% rostered)
Abrams had a rough go of things in the majors when he was with the Padres earlier in the season, but this is still a highly-rated prospect who was one of the key players sent to Washington in the Juan Soto trade. Abrams spent some time in Triple-A, but he's now with the Nationals and will surely be given ample opportunity to prove his worth in the Bigs.
He hasn't produced much yet, but Abrams has 80-grade speed so he could be an asset in fantasy for those seeking stolen bases.
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