RADIO
We've reached the dog days of summer and the playoff races are rounding into form -- both in the MLB and in fantasy leagues. Now is the time to find that impact player from waivers for the stretch run to help bring home a title.
This week's edition features several young players who are already making an impact early in their careers. With rookies making a splash across the majors, it's time to go grab them in fantasy as well to replace some other injured or underperforming options we were counting on way back during draft season.
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 21 -- August 14 through August 20.
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Waiver Wire Pickups for Shallow Leagues
Ezequiel Tovar, SS, Colorado Rockies (32% rostered)
This season has been quite the roller coaster ride for Ezequiel Tovar, and his roster rate in fantasy reflected the ups and downs experienced by the 22-year-old rookie. Tovar entered the season as the top-ranked prospect in the Colorado organization; fantasy drafters were salivating at the chance to draft a player with his skill set who would play half his games in the most hitter-friendly environment in baseball.
Then, he hit .213 in April and he found his roster rate in fantasy under 20 percent. Tovar got hot again through May and June -- he posted an OPS of .767 & .885, respectively, in those months. But then he scuffled again, with an average of .216 and an anemic .583 OPS in July.
Now, Tovar is available in roughly two-thirds of fantasy leagues and that number should be much higher. This is an extremely young player and they can sometimes be prone to extended slumps, especially in their first taste of the big leagues.
That being said, there's a reason he was such a highly-regarded prospect in the first place, and there's a reason he made the Opening Day roster as a 21-year-old. So far in August, he's got his OPS back over .750. If he's got another hot streak in him, it's likely this week as the Rockies play a full week of home games in Coors Field.
Zack Gelof, 2B, Oakland Athletics (23% rostered)
Over the past few weeks, Zack Gelof has been in the "Deeper Leagues" section of this column. Given his roster rate remains this low, it's time we bump him up as the 23-year-old rookie has been on a tear to start his big-league career. Through 23 games, Gelof has six homers, six steals, 16 runs scored, and 11 RBI. His slash line of .253/.323/.563 is good but can get even better if he improves the batting average, which there's reason to believe he can.
Thus far in the majors, Gelof has a 30 percent K rate, which is simply way too high despite all of his other production. In the minors, he struck out roughly 27 percent of the time. That isn't phenomenal, but it shows he can make more contact than he's made so far in the majors.
The rest of his Triple-A numbers should delight any fantasy manager looking for a second baseman. Prior to his promotion, Gelof was slashing .304/.401/.559 with 12 homers and 20 steals across 69 games. Yes, they should be taken with a grain of salt as they happened in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. But Gelof was still a highly-rated prospect who crushed in Triple-A and is thriving thus far in the majors. He should be added in most fantasy leagues where he's still on waivers.
Waiver Wire Pickups for Deeper Leagues
Davis Schneider, 2B, Toronto Blue Jays (27% rostered)
Throughout the long and storied history of this great game, there have been players who burst onto the scene out of nowhere and made a huge impact for their team. The latest in this line may be Davis Schneider, who was called up by Toronto last week and already has Blue Jay fans excited to see his glorious mustache on a plaque in the Hall of Fame. Schneider was the 28th-ranked prospect for Toronto entering the season. Thus far, his play has told the scouts where they can shove prospect rankings.
Schneider homered in his first MLB at-bat. Then in his third game, he went 4-for-6 with another homer and four RBI. It should be noted he is 0-for-9 since that four-hit game. But bursting onto the scene the way Schneider did caused many people to take a harder look at his minor-league track record and there's a lot to like.
This year in Triple-A, Schneider was batting .275 with a hearty .553 slugging percentage. He swatted 21 homers, had nine steals, and posted 125 runs-plus-RBI in just 97 games. He doesn't have the longest track record of success, but Schneider is worth a speculative add in fantasy to see where this hot streak goes.
Michael Massey, 2B, Kansas City Royals (3% rostered)
You wouldn't know it from looking at his .223 batting average, but Michael Massey has been one of the league's hottest hitters since the All-Star Break. In that span, Massey has six of his 10 homers on the season. He is tied for third among all second basemen with 15 RBIs in the second half while posting a sturdy .512 slugging percentage.
Massey got off to a miserable start to his sophomore campaign. A look under the hood suggests he has indeed made improvements from his rookie season. His hard-hit rate is up by four percent, as is his sweet-spot percentage. He's recorded a batted ball over 110 mph. His xBA of .261 is much higher than his actual BA and is also 20 points higher than last season.
Massey is part of the future for the rebuilding Royals and should play nearly every day for the rest of this season. He's widely available in fantasy and is a sneaky deep league add for the stretch run.
Other Options to Consider:
- Edouard Julien, 2B, Minnesota Twins (29% rostered)
- Brice Turang, 2B/SS, Milwaukee Brewers (13% rostered)
Prospect Watch
Ronny Mauricio, SS, New York Mets (10% rostered)
This time of year is tough for prospect promotions; the dust from the trade deadline has settled, yet it's still too early for end-of-season call-ups, lest teams risk burning a player's rookie eligibility. With that in mind, let's re-examine one of my favorite prospects in Triple-A who first graced this column back in May, Ronny Mauricio.
Mauricio has been a terror on Triple-A pitching this season, making it even more surprising the Mets didn't give him a look back when they were still in contention. To date, Mauricio is slashing .288/.338/.482 with 17 homers and 19 steals across 100 games for the Syracuse Mets.
The 22-year-old clearly has the tools to be a five-category contributor in fantasy. He should be stashed in deeper leagues and added up in all formats once the Mets deem his outfield defense ready.
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