September 4, 2017

Kyle Bishop recommends outfielders (OF) who can be valuable waiver wire targets or adds to help fantasy owners for Week 23 of the 2017 fantasy baseball season.

Welcome back to the Outfield Waiver Wire, where we look at the best outfielders available in at least 50 percent of Yahoo leagues. Consider this column your recommendations for Week 23 outfield waiver wire pickups.

We're entering the stretch run, but there are still plenty of guys who can help you floating around on the waiver wire. Not every move can be a blockbuster. Value is value, wherever you can find it. This column is designed to help you do just that.

Let's get down to business.

Week 23 Outfield (OF) Waiver Wire Targets

Shin-Soo Choo, OF, Texas Rangers (39% owned)

Choo has been underowned all season long. There are plenty of explanations: his checkered injury history, his status as a boring vet, his solid but unspectacular all-around contribution. Regardless, his ownership rate’s recent uptick still isn’t reflecting his value. The veteran has hit 18 home runs and stolen 12 bases, totaling 149 R+RBI in 124 games to go along with a passable .262 batting average. While he won’t log the fourth 20/20 season of his career, he could easily end up at 20/15 and has an outside shot at 100 runs. That’s top-30 outfielder territory.

Ian Happ, 2B/OF, Chicago Cubs (28%)

Despite the typical ups and downs of a rookie season, Happ’s home run on Sunday gave him 21 bombs on the year. Pair that with his seven stolen bases, .859 OPS, and above-average run production – to say nothing of his eligibility at second base – and it’s fairly strange to see him languishing on the waiver wire in three out of every four leagues. Particularly since seven of his homers have come in his last 15 games. Happ, who just turned 23, has a rosy long-term outlook. Don’t sleep on how much he can help you over the rest of this season, though.

Max Kepler, OF, Minnesota Twins (19%)

Kepler’s overall performance has only improved marginally over his rookie showing last year, but he’s getting hot at the right time. That goes for both his employer (currently occupying the second wild-card slot in the AL) and fantasy owners. The 24-year-old has hit .266/.337/.595 with seven homers, 36 R+RBI, and two steals over the past 30 days, putting him just outside the top 20 outfielders over that span. Byron Buxton’s hot streak is getting a lot of attention, but his teammate deserves some love as well.

Delino DeShields, OF, Texas Rangers (15%)

The likely season-ending injury to Adrian Beltre was a great loss for baseball fans everywhere, because Beltre is indisputably the best. It did, however, open the door to more consistent playng time for DeShields, whose 28 steals are just one off the pace of the American League lead (Jose Altuve and Rajai Davis are tied with 29) despite only playing in 90 games. Nine of those swipes have come since the break, and DeShields has flashed better form at the plate in the second half as well. He’s sliced nearly 10 points of his strikeout rate while adding nearly seven points to his walk rate. DeShields also has seven multi-hit games in the last three weeks.

Matt Olson, 1B/OF, Oakland Athletics (3%)

Olson homered on Sunday, giving him four bombs in his last six games. The A’s rookie has acquitted himself well in limited action, slashing .248/331/.554 with 12 homers and 43 R+RBI in 40 games. A strikeout rate north of 30 percent will keep his batting average depressed, but owners in need of a quick power infusion could do a lot worse, particularly in deep and AL-only formats. Given his paltry ownership rate in the Yahoo universe, Olson is almost certainly available in your league.

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