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Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Week 6
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Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Week 6

Fantasy Baseball

Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Week 6

A fireballer and a slugger at a premium position. Those are the kinds of must adds I’ll be breaking down this week. In the Week 6 edition of the Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire, I’ll be breaking down the must adds, drops and two-start pitchers of the week.

Must Adds:

Zack Cozart – SS – Cincinnati Reds
22% Owned
OPP: 3 vs PIT, 3 @ PHI

If you’re in 12+ man mixed leagues, Zack Cozart needs to be rostered. The shortstop quietly has a lot of power with his .204 ISO and his 32.2% hard hit ball percentage. He’s batting .344 and his surgically repaired knee looks to be just fine. At one of the harder positions to fill in fantasy baseball, Zack Cozart could help a lot of owners out.

Nathan Eovaldi – RHP – New York Yankees
16% Owned
OPP: May 12 vs KC

It seems as if Nathan Eovaldi has finally found a payoff pitch to go along with his heater. All it took was Eovaldi to increase his velocity on his slider by 3MPH (85 to 88) and his K/9 is now 8.84, the highest of his career. His walk rate is just the icing on top, a career low 1.91 BB/9. Almost a full walk lower than last years mark of 2.86.

Drops:

Michael Saunders – OF – Toronto Blue Jays
23% Owned
OPP: 3 @ SF, 3 @ TEX

Now that Kevin Pillar has seemingly found his stroke in the leadoff position, Michael Saunders becomes expendable in all fantasy formats. Being moved down the lineup removes a plate appearance a game which hurts his fantasy stock in a big way. To make matters worse, manager John Gibbons has shown that he’s not afraid to rest the injury prone Canadian.

Aaron Blair – RHP – Atlanta Braves
8% Owned
OPP: May 12 vs PHI

Aaron Blair is one of the many prospects that were called up across the league in late April, early May. If you’re a Blair owner, unfortunately you picked the worst possible prospect. Across three starts (16.1 IP), Blair has racked up a very underwhelming 5 K’s. If names like Sean Manaea, Jose Berrios and Jesse Hahn are on the wire, take a shot at them before Blair.

Two Start Pitchers:

This week for two start pitchers, I’ll be doing it a little differently. No names really jump out to me but a pair of matchups do. With proper streaming, you’ll be able to take advantage of two starts against a certain team.

Chris Young vs Atlanta (May 14th) – 8% Owned
Kris Medlen vs Atlanta (May 15th) – 6% Owned

Chris Young and Kris Medlen are two guys who will likely not be owned in your leagues. When the 13th comes around, pick up Young. When the 14th rolls up, drop Young and pick up Medlen. Medlen has a 7.25 K/9 while Young has an 8.8 K/9. Atlanta is the worst team in baseball this year and they don’t hit the long ball at all. Streaming the duo should rack you up a pair of wins and about 15 strikeouts.

Thanks for reading! If you have any MLB season long or DFS questions, feel free to contact me via Twitter @BESTofMATT

Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Week 5

With Dee Gordon out for 80 games, you’ll most likely need a replacement if you own shares of him. When it comes to the middle infield, I’ve got the perfect solution for you. In this week’s Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire article, I’ll be breaking down the biggest must adds, players you can cut ties with, two-start pitchers and the latest trends going into Week 5’s Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire!

Must Adds:

Brandon Drury – 3B/MI/OF – Arizona Diamondbacks
17% Owned
OPP: 3 @ MIA, 3 @ ATL

Although he’s not 2B eligible yet (he needs three more starts at 2nd base or seven more appearances at the position – so, he will be soon eligible), Brandon Drury is able to slide in as your middle infielder for now. Drury is one of MLB.com’s 100 top prospects and the Diamondbacks plan to keep sliding him into the lineup as long as he’s producing. His walk rate isn’t the greatest but he makes up for that with his .294 ISO. His hard hit ball percentage is 31.5% while his soft hit percentage is only 18.5%. While he continues to tear the cover off the ball, take advantage and get him on your team.

Hector Neris – RHP (RP) – Philadelphia Phillies
14% Owned
OPP: 4 @ STL, 3 @ MIA

If you’re in a deep league or need desperate help with your ERA, Hector Neris is your guy. He strikes everyone out that he faces with his 14.44 K/9. While Jeanmar Gomez is the closer, Neris is the set up guy and arguably the best reliever in baseball right now. A three pitch reliever, Neris’ split-fingered fastball has looked downright nasty leading him to his 0.63 ERA.

Drops:

Tyler White – 1B/3B – Houston Astros
44% Owned
OPP: 3 vs MIN, 4 vs SEA

I contemplated last week making Tyler White a droppable player. This week, there’s no doubt. After his scorching start, White has cooled down considerably. His high strikeout rate was a concern to begin with (25.6%) but now that he’s not hitting for power – it’s one of the main reasons you should drop him. The Astros also have White on a very short leash as they have top prospect A.J. Reed waiting in the minors.

Kolten Wong – 2B – St. Louis Cardinals
55% Owned
OPP: 4 vs PHI, 3 vs PIT

Kolten Wong is off to a miserable start this season. His .226 AVG to go with just two RBI isn’t going to cut it. With Wong sidelined on and off with the flu, Jedd Gyorko has been stealing his playing time. Aledmys Diaz has been a huge surprise for the Cards and it wouldn’t be a surprise if Kolten Wong was eventually the odd man out of the infield.

Two Start Pitchers:

Bartolo Colon – RHP – New York Mets
22% Owned
OPP: May 2 vs ATL, May 7 @ SD

Atlanta is not good. The Padres are not good. Need any more reason to start Bartolo Colon against them? Big Sexy’s K/9 (7.99) is the highest it’s been since 2001 when he played for the Indians. Bartolo isn’t afraid to pound the strike zone this year either. He’s hitting the strike zone at a 53.8% rate and truly trusting his pitches. Did I mention that Atlanta has five homeruns as a team to go with a .229 average? Go get Big Sexy.

Other Two Start Pitchers: Matt Moore (LAD/LAA), A.J. Griffin (TOR, DET)

Trends:

Dee Gordon – 2B – Miami Marlins
75% Owned

I could rant about how perplexing it is that Dee Gordon has been caught for the use of PED’s. That would most likely be 500+ words so I’ll digress. Dee Gordon shouldn’t be dropped. He’s gone for 80 games, not the whole season. He could still finish the season with 25+ stolen bases when he comes back around the All-Star break. If you have an extra slot on your roster and somebody has dropped Gordon, pick him up. This is a guy who swiped 122 bags in two years. Also a guy who had 205 hits last year. AKA a guy who can help you when fantasy playoffs come around.

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions regarding MLB DFS or season long leagues, feel free to reach out to me via Twitter @BESTofMATT

Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Week 4

There goes Chris Colabello for 80 games. As they say though, one mans loss is another persons gain! That holds especially true for the Toronto Blue Jays. In this week’s Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire article, I’ll be breaking down the biggest must adds, players you can cut ties with, two-start pitchers and the latest trends going into the Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Week 4!

Must Adds:

Justin Smoak – 1B – Toronto Blue Jays
1% Owned
OPP: 3 vs CHW, 3 @ TB

With Chris Colabello out of the lineup for the foreseeable future due to a suspension, Justin Smoak takes over as the starter at first base. His wOBA is .378 to start the year so he’s having no trouble getting on base, his power numbers (like most of the Jays lineup) just haven’t come around yet. In deep mixed leagues, at 1% owned, Smoak is a low-risk high-reward player you can “wait-and-see” with.

Jordy Mercer – SS – Pittsburgh Pirates
5% Owned
OPP: 4 @ COL, 3 @ CIN

Against lefties, Jordy Mercer is the leadoff man for the Pirates. Against righties, he slides down the lineup a bit. Regardless of where he hits, he seems to be producing. His K% is down from 17.9% to 13.0% and his BB% is up from 6.3% to 9.7%. With 11 RBI to start the year, Mercer is producing in a position that is terribly hard to find production from.

Drops:

J.T. Realmuto – C – Miami Marlins
32% Owned
OPP: 4 @ LAD, 3 @ MIL

J.T. Realmuto’s offensive struggles are supposed to be highlighted by his base stealing abilities. Unfortunately for fantasy owners, he hasn’t been coming through. There seems to be no signs of life in his bat, either. Last year, he was hitting the ball hard 29.3% of the time. This year he’s down to 15%. With catchers seemingly coming out of nowhere this year – it’s safe to cut ties with Realmuto in 10-12 team leagues.

Mallex Smith – OF – Atlanta Braves
12% Owned
OPP: 2 vs BOS, 2 @ BOS, 3 @ CHC

The Mallex Smith hype has certainly worn off. He was called up as a highly touted prospect and many jumped to the waiver wire to scoop him up. He has an alarming 15 strikeouts in 37 at bats. He was supposed to make up for any offensive struggles by scorching the basepaths. Two stolen bases just isn’t going to cut it.

Two Start Pitchers:

Kendall Graveman – RHP – Oakland Athletics
7% Owned
OPP: Apr 25 @ DET, Apr 30 vs HOU

Kendall Graveman is the most intriguing option out there this week. Only five SP have both a 60% or higher groundball percentage and a 10% or higher swinging strikeout rate. Noah Syndergaard, Felix Hernandez, Steven Strasburg and Masahiro Tanaka are the first four and Graveman rounds out the list (H/T to @StephenNickrand for the stat!). He’s been implementing his slider more often (up to 13.7% from 8.4% last year) and that’s been dancing around the strike zone.

NOTE: Graveman is the only two start pitcher this week but an honorable mention goes to Ross Stripling (25% owned). If Stripling dazzles against Miami, scoop him up for his appearance against the lowly Padres later in the week.

Trends:

Blake Snell – LHP – Tampa Bay Rays
34% Owned
Triple-A Durham

Unless it’s a keeper league – I’m not usually into stashing prospects but Blake Snell has changed my mind. Used for a spot start, the Rays top prospect went five innings giving up one run and striking out six against the Yankees. The Rays desperately need some pitching help as it stands. Chris Archer hasn’t been performing well (Don’t panic Archer owners – he’ll come around) and Jake Odorizzi hasn’t been the greatest either. Blake Snell has shown the Rays what he can do and he’s definitely worth a stash in 12 man mixed leagues.

Thanks for reading! If you have any MLB DFS or season long questions, feel free to reach out to me via Twitter @BESTofMATT