H2H Points League Pickups, Waiver Adds: Week 9

Nicklaus Gaut's H2H points leagues waiver wire pickups for Week 9 of the 2020 fantasy baseball season, identifying free agents to add and pitchers to stream.

The end is nigh. If you're reading this, then congratulations! You're probably in the playoffs. But that doesn't mean you can take the foot off the gas.

With the possibility of games being suddenly canceled still hanging over the final few weeks of play, you always have to be ready to quickly sub in replacements. Because it's the time of year when every point could count.

We'll be doing this roundup of point league happenings every week here at RotoBaller, with waiver-wire targets and streaming pitchers being evaluated in terms of the different scoring systems of ESPN, Yahoo, CBS, and Fantrax. Player values can vary wildly from platform to platform, so we'll make sure to highlight where players are the best and worst fit at. We know point players get neglected and we're here to help. Let's get to Week 6.

• Fantasy baseball trade analyzer
• BvP matchups data (Batter vs. Pitcher)
• PvB matchups data (Pitcher vs. Batter)
• Who should I start? Fantasy baseball comparisons
• Daily MLB starting lineups
• Fantasy baseball closer depth charts
• Fantasy Baseball live scoreboard
• Fantasy baseball injury reports

Playing For Points Through a Pandemic

While the number of games has changed, the way that points are scored on each platform has not. You must account for, as precisely as possible, how a player performs under your particular scoring system. Don't be fooled into believing you can just make rough adjustments in your head, bumping up guys with high on-base percentages and low strikeout-rates. Every point, in every category, counts. For example, ESPN and Fantrax are virtually identical in their scoring for hitters and roster size. The only difference is that stolen bases are worth one more point on Fantrax and ESPN subtracts one point per strikeout. That's the difference over Ronald Acuna Jr. being a top-five batter versus a top-25 batter.

If your league uses standard settings, then great! Turn to page 94 and you can skip ahead to the leaderboards. If you play with custom settings, it'll still be fine. Go back to page 43 and look below at the scoring systems of the four major platforms. I bet there's a chance that you'll find that your league's scoring is very similar to one of the four (well, not Yahoo's), even if it's not the platform you actually play on. For example, my home league started on a now-defunct platform before moving first to ESPN and is now at Fantrax. But our scoring is basically ESPN standard but with two points for stolen bases and a handful of other minor adjustments.

If you look above, you'll likely find a suitable mirror to your own system. While every point counts, as long as they aren't seismic changes you can get away with some "close enough". IE. If everything is the same except for HBP (or something similar), you're probably fine.

All of the following charts are updated prior to Saturday's games, on stats and ownerships. Clicking on a chart will open a new page with a magnified version.

First Base Leaderboard

First Base Waiver Wire

Add in 12-Team Leagues

• Must Add: Brandon Belt
• Other Adds: Jared Walsh, Mitch Moreland, Miguel Cabrera
• Deeper Pulls: Jesus Aguilar, Evan White, Ji-Man Choi

Second Base Leaderboard

Second Base Waiver Wire

Add in 12-Team Leagues

• Must Add: Brad Miller, Nick Solak
• Other Adds: Joey Wendle, Cesar Hernandez, Garrett Hampson, Ty France
• Deeper Pulls: Kolten Wong, David Bote

Third Base Leaderboard

Third Base Waiver Wire

Add in 12-Team Leagues

• Must Add: Maikel Franco, Alec Bohm, Rio Ruiz, Bobby Dalbec
• Other Adds: Evan Longoria, Colin Moran, Yoshitomo Tsutsugo,
• Deeper Pulls: Jedd Gyorko, Travis Shaw

Shortstop Leaderboard

Shortstop Waiver Wire

Add in 12-Team Leagues 

• Must Add: Andres Gimenez
• Other Adds: Jurickson Profar, J.P. Crawford
• Deeper Pulls: Brandon Crawford, Willi Castro

Outfielder Leaderboard

Outfielder Waiver Wire 

Add in 12-Team Leagues

• Other Adds: Brandon Nimmo, Raimel Tapia, Randy Arozarena, Justin Upton, Kevin Pillar, Victor Reyes, Alex Dickerson, Aaron Hicks, Clint Frazier
• Deeper Pulls: D.J. Stewart, Garrett Cooper

Catcher Leaderboard

Catcher Waiver Wire

Add in 12-Team Leagues

• Must Add: Joey Bart, Daulton Varsho, Sean Murphy, Max Stassi
• Other Adds: James McCann, Kurt Suzuki, Jorge Alfaro
• Deeper Pulls: Carson Kelly, Danny Jansen

Relief Pitcher Leaderboard

Relief Pitcher Waiver Wire

Add in 12-Team Leagues

• Must Add: Greg Holland, Devin Williams
• Other Adds: James Karinchak

Starting Pitcher Leaderboard

Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire

Two Start Streamers

Other Streaming Matchups

More Points Leagues Analysis