Digging Deeper - Waiver Wire Options for Week 23

September 1, 2021

Matt Wallach outlines his favorite week 23 waiver wire pickups and adds for deep leagues, and AL-only or NL-only fantasy baseball leagues for the 2021 MLB season.

Welcome back to the NL-only and AL-only pickups column. Each week, I'll look at five players who are under 15% rostered in Yahoo! leagues and who can be considered as options to add in deep-league formats, such as 15-teamers or AL or NL-only leagues.

I'll also include a recommendation for what to do with each player on your roster. And lastly, I'll take a look at some of my picks from the previous week to see how they're performing.

Without further ado, let's get into it.

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Odubel Herrera - OF, Phillies

9% rostered
Recommended move: Add for a few weeks 

Herrera was recommended in this column earlier in the year, as he was playing well back in May. In that month, he hit for a solid .292/.367/.438 triple slash, good for a 119 wRC+, while also contributing three stolen bases. That definitely had fantasy appeal, and Herrera was quickly scooped up by a lot of fantasy managers.

Things did fall off in a big way in the months since, however. In June and July combined, Herrera crashed back down to earth with a lackluster .212/.248/.363 line, which pretty much ended whatever hype he had accumulated earlier in the year. Herrera though has started to right the ship a bit, though. With a hot month of August in which he hit .333/.389/.638 (168 wRC+), Herrera could be an intriguing option in deeper leagues for the remainder of the season. He'll need to continue to play well, but if he can continue to hit as he did in August, with a superb 50% hard-hit rate and an 11.1% barrel rate, the odds of sustained success would be more likely.

The downside is that Herrera is not an everyday player. He is on the strong side of a center field platoon for the Phillies, so his weekly playing time will likely be dictated by the matchups. It is encouraging though to see him at the top of the lineup for the Phillies when he is in the starting lineup. Clearly, the team is running with the hot hand, and assuming Herrera remains a competent enough bat, he should stick at the top of the order, and get on base plenty for the team's bigger boppers in Bryce Harper and J.T. Realmuto to drive him in.

Yadiel Hernandez - OF, Nationals

5% rostered
Recommended move: Add for a few weeks

Next up is another National League East platoon outfielder in Hernandez. He has quietly been a solid hitter for the Nationals this season, with the 34-year-old rookie hitting .287/.348/.444 for the season, which is good enough for an extremely solid 111 wRC+.

That's not too shabby at all, and to make things better, it seems as if Hernandez has figured some things out at the plate in the second half of the year, as his slash line in that time span is an even better .323/.387/.535 (143 wRC+). His Statcast metrics haven't been overwhelming, but he still has posted respectable hard-hit and barrel rates at 36% and 7%, respectively since the start of July.

With the Nationals just trying to ride out the remaining month of the season, Hernandez does figure to be in the lineup most of the time, with playing time looking even more solid for the remainder of the year due to the demotion of Victor Robles to Triple-A. Again though, the platoon thing does make it difficult to project playing time for the week. It does appear though that the Nationals will face nothing but right-handed starters for the rest of the week, so Hernandez definitely figures to be in there more often than not this time around, and he should reasonably be expected to do well.

Jorge Mateo - 2B/SS/OF, Orioles

3% rostered
Recommended move: Add for a few weeks 

Mateo was recommended two weeks ago, and he just continues to hit. It's an overall .338/.365/.493 slash line for Mateo since becoming an Oriole on August 3. It was also another productive week for him last week, with him hitting at a .353/.421/.529 clip. Yes, it does come with a concerning and unsustainable .417 BABIP last week, and somehow an even higher and more unsustainable .536 mark since August 15.

It definitely shouldn't be expected for Mateo to continue to defy BABIP like this for the remainder of the year. It is important though that this hot stretch from him has allowed him to continue to rack up playing time for the O's, as the only time he has sat recently was due to a back injury. He missed a few games last week, but was inserted right back into the starting lineup upon being healthy. As long as he keeps hitting well, he should remain in the lineup, and hopefully providing good numbers, or at least a high enough batting average to make him a useful fantasy option for the rest of the year.

The stolen bases haven't been there as much as fantasy managers would hope for though. He does have four steals as an Oriole, but three of those came before August 15, and he has just once since with only two attempts. When he ended up on the last-place Orioles, there was definitely the belief that the team was just going to let him run wild. That can still change now that we're in the final month of the season, but it does seem less likely that Mateo will be a stolen base threat every game. We'll have to see what ultimately happens, but as long as he's hitting well he should still be a good deep league option, and now with triple eligibility too.

Emmanuel Rivera - 3B, Royals

1% rostered
Recommended move: Add for a few weeks 

A real deep cut for fantasy purposes, Rivera has quietly been playing much better lately after a rough start to his time in the majors. He was recalled by the Royals on August 4 and was inserted right away as the team's starting third baseman. He struggled in his first 48 plate appearances with a paltry .261/.292/.283 slash line. He has turned it around though since August 20, as he has hit for a strong .286/.375/.429, 123 wRC+ line.

It's still a small sample of course, but it does look as if Rivera is doing some things right so far with a 47.6% hard-hit rate per Statcast for the season, albeit with a weak 1.6% barrel rate, and not a single barrel in this hot stretch that goes back to August 20. Importantly, he has also netted two stolen bases in his time up so far, with both of them coming in this same August 20th to now hot run. He could potentially be a decent batting average-speed combo for fantasy purposes. A deep one at that, but he could still provide some sneaky fantasy value down the home stretch of the season.

The Royals felt confident enough to pencil him into the everyday lineup upon being called up, so it seems likely that they'll stick with him there for the rest of the year, so playing time doesn't appear to be much of a worry here either, which is important.

Josh VanMeter - 1B/2B/3B/OF, Diamondbacks

0% rostered
Recommended move: Add for a few weeks 

Another real deep cut here to close it out, VanMeter did have some sort of fantasy hype once upon a time, but has struggled to get things going since becoming a Diamondback last season. His overall slash line for the season of .215/.309/.376 definitely wouldn't scream "must-add" or anything like that, but that is being dragged down some by the dreadful start he got off to this season.

He had just a 69 wRC+ in the first half of the year, but has picked things up in the second half with a .247/.324/.452 slash line (106 wRC+), while also doing a lot better in the last two weeks with a .265/.366/.471 line (123 wRC+). His strikeout rate has come down big time, with a 22.9% strikeout rate in the second half compared to a too-high 30.5% rate in the first half, and he's hitting for more power, with the substantial uptick in ISO (.204 in the second half vs. .125 in the first half). Also notable about VanMeter's profile is that he keeps the ball off the ground, with just a 33.6% ground ball rate for the season, which has also gotten better in the second half at 28.6%. Putting more balls in play, especially more balls in the air seems like a good idea and recipe for success, and it does look like VanMeter is doing more of that in the second half of the season, which has shown up in better results.

He is in a straight platoon situation right now though. It does make sense, as VanMeter has struggled mightily against left-handed pitching in his brief Major League sample with a wRC+ of just 88 against them for his career. It's not the best week for VanMeter in terms of matchups though, with the D-Backs facing two lefties in their series against the Mariners this weekend, but target him for the series against the Rangers next week, as he should get more favorable matchups against a poor Texas staff. With eligibility pretty much everywhere on the field and improving results, VanMeter could be a sneaky option for the stretch run.

Reviewing Last Week's Picks

At the end of each week's post, I'll review what happened with last week's picks and offer a suggestion for them in the future.

Alex Dickerson (OF, SFG) 

Last week: 8% rostered. This week: 8% rostered. 

Dickerson was recommended last week due to the Giants facing a heavy amount of right-handed starters, which would increase his odds of both being in the lineup and also doing well in those games. He was in the lineup, but he did not do so well, with just a 57 wRC+ last week. The matchups aren't as favorable for Dickerson this week, with the Giants squaring off against the Brewers and Dodgers, so he probably shouldn't be much of a priority this week. Still, Dickerson has been solid this season, and they do have a series in Colorado next week. You could try dropping him and picking him up next week.

Current recommendation: Drop. 

Tommy La Stella (1B/2B/3B, SFG) 

Last week: 5% rostered. This week: 5% rostered. 

La Stella was recommended for the same reasons as Dickerson, and he also struggled last week, oddly enough. He did do better than Dickerson, with an 83 wRC+, but still, that's not solid. A .200 BABIP looked to be what did him in, as he did still hit the ball hard with a 91.4 miles-per-hour average exit velocity mark last week, and he did hit one home run. He's dealing with some left-side tightness that kept him out of the lineup to start this week though. With uncertainty about playing time this week and those tough matchups coming up, this seems like a drop. Same thing as Dickerson though, look for him for the series against the Rockies.

Current recommendation: Drop. 

Corey Dickerson (OF, TOR) 

Last week: 4% rostered. This week: 3% rostered. 

Dickerson has seen his playing time spike with injuries elsewhere for the Blue Jays, and he continues to hit well. Last week, it was a .350/.381/.600 line for the veteran. He is still locked in a platoon role though, so his ultimate upside is a bit hampered, but still, Dickerson looks as solid as ever. He should stick around your fantasy lineup for a bit longer.

Current recommendation: Hold.  

Bradley Zimmer (OF, CLE) 

Last week: 3% rostered. This week: 3% rostered. 

Zimmer continues to hit well as he looks to have resurrected his career with his strong play as of late. It was a .333/.455/.556 line for him last week, while living up to his power-speed profile with a home run and two stolen bases as well. There are some favorable matchups coming up with the Royals, Red Sox, and Twins next up on the schedule for Cleveland. Zimmer should be in your lineup for those games for sure.

Current recommendation: Hold. 

Bryan De La Cruz (OF, MIA) 

Last week: 1% rostered. This week: 2% rostered. 

De La Cruz went off last week with a .556/.600/.667 slash line. He's not hitting for much power, but it is hard to argue with the results on the batting average side. He still is running a .470 BABIP since being called up by the Marlins, so this likely won't last forever. Still, he is playing well, and as long as he's playing well, he should stick on your fantasy team.

Current recommendation: Hold. 

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