Deeper Hitter Pickups for Fantasy Baseball: Waiver Wire Report for Week 18

We’re coming up on Week 18 of the fantasy baseball season. Trade deadline rumors might be fogging up your fantasy brain, but it's time to lock back in. Fantasy baseball necessitates hyper-vigilance, especially in deeper leagues where the waiver wires are quickly stripped of talent. This weekly article will outline the upcoming schedule, two-start pitchers, and a few waiver targets rostered in less than 5% of leagues.

It’s good practice to maximize at-bats and starts. A quick look at upcoming schedules for the 18th week of the MLB season could give you the edge in this week’s play. There are plenty of two-start pitchers this week who should end up providing great value.

This article will discuss some deeper-league fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups for Week 18, July 24 through July 30. While the season may have settled in, the waiver wires are still hot. Rostered percentages can change quickly. So be quick to check your leagues for their availability. Key point -- this list will focus on rostered players in less than 5% of Yahoo leagues.

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Fantasy Baseball Schedule Outlook

This week has some great schedules to target for fantasy. There are six teams with five games on their schedule. Just four teams have a full slate of games this week, so fewer players will provide extra at-bats.

In this week's weather report: remarkably clear skies across the country, with sparse one-off showers early this week in the Mid-Atlantic and later this week in the Rust Belt.

• Seven Games - CLE, DET, STL, WAS
• Six Games - HOU, TEX, MIL, PIT, PHI, TOR, ARZ, LAD, CWS, NYM, LAA, SD, PHI, BAL, KC, MIN, SEA, CHC, CIN, SF, COL
• Five Games - BOS, NYY, OAK, TB, ATL, MIA

Fantasy Baseball Two-Start Pitchers

There are pitchers of varying quality on this week's two-start streamers list. For more insight, check out my article on this week’s two-start pitcher streamers.

• Kyle Nelson (vs. STL, vs. SEA)
• Kyle Hendricks (@ CHW, @ STL)
• Graham Ashcraft (@ MIL, @ LAD)
• Austin Gomber (@ WAS, vs. OAK)
• Michael Grove (vs. TOR, vs. CIN)
• Colin Rea (vs. CIN, @ ATL)
• Justin Verlander (@ NYY, vs. WAS)
• Cristopher Sanchez (vs. BAL, @ PIT)
• Quinn Priester (@ SD, vs. PHI)
• Yu Darvish (vs. PIT, vs. TEX)
• Ross Stripling (@ DET, vs. BOS)
• Dakota Hudson (@ ARZ, vs. CHC)
• Steven Matz (@ ARZ, vs. CHC)
• Patrick Corbin (vs. COL, @ NYM)
• Trevor Williams (vs. COL, @ NYM)
• Dean Kremer (@ PHI, vs. NYY)
• Logan Allen (vs. KC, @ CHW)
• Aaron Civale (vs. KC, @ CHW)
• Touki Toussaint (vs. CHC, vs. CLE)
• Tarik Skubal (vs. SF, @ MIA)
• Eduardo Rodriguez (vs. LAA, @ MIA)
• Brandon Bielak (vs. TEX, vs. TB)
• Ryan Yarbrough (@ CLE, vs. MIN)
• Kenta Maeda (vs. SEA, @ KC)
• Luis Castillo (@ MIN, @ ARZ)
• Nathan Eovaldi (@ HOU, @ SD)
• Jose Berrios (@ LAD, vs. LAA)

Deeper Infield Waiver Wire Pickups

Kyle Farmer (2B/3B/SS), Minnesota Twins - 3% Rostered

Last week, Edouard Julien got a spot on this list. Since then, Julien has gone 11-for-18 with two home runs, eight runs, five walks, and four strikeouts. His rostered rate has since skyrocketed to 38%.

This week, we'll try our luck with another undervalued Minnesota bat.

Kyle Farmer is on a tear this month, slashing .256/.341/.564 with two home runs and two triples in 44 plate appearances.

Since the All-Star break, Farmer has slugged two no-doubt home runs with an average exit velocity of 92.1 mph on all batted balls. His .607 OPS in June is partially a case of bad batted-ball luck, with a batting average of .211 in June despite a .287 xBA.

With a series against the Royals to close the week, pick up the 32-year-old bat while you can.

Mike Moustakas (1B/3B), Los Angeles Angels - 2% Rostered

The Moose is loose! Now freed from the endless pit of despair (otherwise known as the Colorado Rockies organization), Mike Moustakas looks like his old self on a team still in the Wild Card chase.

The 34-year-old has a .781 OPS this season, but his four home runs this month and run of playing time in an injured Angels lineup are enough to roster him for the next few weeks.

Ben Rortvedt (C), New York Yankees - 0% Rostered

With starting catcher Jose Trevino out for the season, the Yankees recalled catcher Ben Rortverdt from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Most of his major-league experience comes from a 39-game stint in 2021 with the Minnesota Twins. He slashed a pitiful .169/.229/.281 with a 29.6% strikeout rate before being sent to the Yankees the following offseason as a part of the Josh Donaldson trade.

Rortvedt's defense is his calling card, with three framing runs, four blocks above average, two caught-stealing above average, and five defensive runs saved in 2021.

That should give him a longer leash at the major-league level with New York. But with a solid .286/.395/.505 line in 29 games with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this season, his offense could be good enough to get him a permanent stay.

Rortverdt is a flier, but with the catcher position thin with talent on the wavier wires, anyone with the potential to produce should be rostered in deeper leagues.

Jared Triolo (3B/SS), Pittsburgh Pirates - 1% Rostered

While Jared Triolo's 13-game hit streak was snapped yesterday, he's still worthy of a pickup. Since his recall on June 28, Triolo holds a .290 batting average with nine runs and nine RBI in 19 games as Pittsburgh's starting shortstop.

The light-hitting infielder should be great for those in need of someone to hike up their team's batting average in fantasy for the next few weeks. And with a 28.2 ft/sec sprint speed and 20 steals in each of the last two seasons in the minors, he could add in a steal or two.

Ke'Bryan Hayes has just resumed baseball activities, so his return shouldn't be coming for a decent chunk of time. This gives Triolo a good chance to extend his run of playing time.

Deeper Outfield Waiver Wire Pickups

Trey Cabbage (OF), Los Angeles Angels - 1% Rostered

If you didn't know Trey Cabbage before, you should now.

The unranked prospect was called up during the All-Star break. He has since gone 5-for-15, including that gargantuan home run and two doubles.

There isn't much you can say with just 15 at-bats at the major-league level, but Cabbage's performance with Triple-A Salt Lake this season speaks for itself.

In 81 games with Salt Lake, he slashed .287/.385/.576 with 23 home runs, 64 RBI, and 24 stolen bases. The 26-year-old has worrying plate discipline problems, with an 18.1% SwStr rate in Salt Lake. But little is expected in that department from a swing-for-the-fences-type rookie.

With four starts at first base in the past five games, Cabbage should soon gain eligibility at first base. But I'd recommend getting to him beforehand.

Max Kepler (OF), Minnesota Twins - 4% Rostered

While a .723 OPS doesn't look like a comeback, Max Kepler is firmly in the midst of one. Kepler's 91.2 mph average exit velocity, .398 xwOBAcon, 45.1% hard-hit rate, and 10.9% barrel rate are all career-high numbers.

While it didn't translate to real production in the first months, Kepler is slashing .270/.327/.530 with eight home runs in 110 plate appearances since June 10. The 30-year-old's advanced numbers signal that he is at his offensive peak, and it's only a matter of time before other fantasy players recognize his value.

Dane Myers (OF), Miami Marlins - 5% Rostered

After going 0-for-12 in his last three games, Dane Myers has returned to the five-and-under club. In 48 at-bats, Myers is slashing .333/.347/.438 with a home run, eight RBI, and seven runs.

The mass dropping is likely because many believe the first few games of his career were a mirage, but the opposite is true. While he struggled on June 21, he had an average exit velocity of 94.1 mph and a .312 xBA in the two hitless games prior.

While a 62.9% groundball rate and 29 ft/sec sprint speed point to the type of regression we're currently seeing from Elly De La Cruz, Myers' expected numbers are still far higher than his actual numbers. The rookie has some stuff to work on, but he is truly a fantasy blessing.

More Waiver Wire Pickups and Streamers