Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Week 10
Less than ten weeks into the 2024 Fantasy Baseball season, the injury bug and underperformance trends are rampant. Do you have any of Trea Turner, Gerrit Cole, Shane Bieber, Royce Lewis, Spencer Strider, Ronald Acuna Jr., or other injured stars? Chances are you do, and you will be looking to fill those gaps somehow this weekend when waivers run. Who are the players who can adequately give you some level of production while you wait for your studs to return? That’s what we will focus on in this piece today.
This weekly piece will examine five options at or under 50% rostered on Yahoo Fantasy for 12- and 14-team leagues worthy of waiver bids or claims. As the tenth week of the season gets underway, we are getting a larger sample of data from which to conclude. With still four months left in the fantasy baseball season, let’s figure out who to target to help our fantasy rosters.
Baseball Resources
Waiver Options For 12-Team Leagues
Matt Vierling, 3B/OF, Detroit Tigers (23% rostered) – Matt Vierling has been on the highlight reels lately for his walk-off home runs, timely hits, and stellar defense. But he is worthy of rostering for his fantasy contributions as well. He is the 18th-most valuable fantasy hitter over the last two weeks as he hit .371 with four home runs and 13 RBI. Because of his recent offensive explosion he is now a fixture in the first three spots in the lineup as he gets time at third base and all over the outfield. At 27 years old, he is in the prime breakout age, and that is exactly what he is doing. His hard-hit rate, barrel rate, launch angle, and average exit velocity are all way up over last year and a .280 expected batting average supports his .289 batting average.
Masyn Winn, SS, St. Louis Cardinals (22% rostered) – The St. Louis Cardinals have a new leadoff hitter against left-handed pitchers, and it is Masyn Winn. Winn has also started every game but one over the last 2.5 weeks and he has really started to light it up on the basepaths during that time. Winn has a .308 average and seven steals this year and the average is up to .395 in the last two weeks. He’s got some luck on his side with a .356 batting average on balls in play (BABIP) but that’s offset by the fact that he only strikes out 15% of the time. But perhaps the biggest thing working in Winn’s favor this year is the massive upgrade in his line drive rate. After just 13% in his debut season last year, he is now up to 32.6% in 2024.
Dylan Moore, 2B/SS/OF, Seattle Mariners (51% rostered) – Dylan Moore has gone from only starting in four of the Seattle Mariners’ first 12 games to starting every single game except one since May 10th. In his last 38 at-bats, Moore is hitting .289 with three home runs, two steals, seven RBI, and six runs. Moore is splitting time between second base, shortstop, and the outfield, and has frequently found himself in one of the top two lineup slots over the last two weeks. He has a career-low strikeout rate this year and the best hard-hit rate and average exit velocity of his career this season. His contact rate is up by almost 13 percentage points over last year and he dropped his swinging strike rate by about 40%.
Ben Brown, SP/RP, Chicago Cubs (24% rostered) – Ben Brown has shuffled back and forth between being a starter and a reliever this season, but his home is now likely in the rotation after some recent strong games. Strong may be an understatement for what he did to the Brewers this week. He pitched seven innings of no-run ball with 10 strikeouts. That added to his mastery over the last month where he has a 1.16 ERA and 0.94 WHIP with 33 strikeouts in 23 innings. According to Fangraphs, Ben Brown’s nasty curve ball (that he throws 36% of the time and has a 50% whiff rate) is the second-best in baseball after only Aaron Nola.
Jeff Hoffman, RP, Philadelphia Phillies (33% rostered) – Jeff Hoffman is part of a three-headed monster of saves options for the Philadelphia Phillies, but he seems to have taken the lead in recent days. He has three saves, a 0.84 ERA, and a 0.94 WHIP over the last month plus more than a strikeout per inning. Even if Hoffman doesn’t get 100% of the saves this year, the Phillies are winning so many games that the pie for saves is likely to be much larger than many other teams. Hoffman could easily cruise to another 10-15 saves over the rest of the season.
Waiver Options for 14-Team Leagues
Nick Gonzales, 2B/SS, Pittsburgh Pirates (24% rostered) – I’m not sure what the Pirates expected when they promoted the 25-year-old Nick Gonzales three weeks ago, but I’m willing to bet they didn’t expect him to be the 13th-best hitter in the league over the last seven days. In his last 45 at-bats, Gonzales is hitting .348 with a couple of home runs and a steal while primarily hitting fifth or sixth. His roster percentage has sky-rocketed from nothing up to 24% in a couple of weeks, but there are still 75% of leagues where he is available. There is some luck involved here, but a solid contact rate comes along with the stats as well.
Jesse Winker, OF, Washington Nationals (15% rostered) – Someone must have replaced Jesse Winker with a younger, faster model because he has been stealing bases in addition to hitting lately, something he has not done in his career. In the last two weeks, Winker has five steals to give him nine on the year. For context, with those nine steals, he now has 12 total in his eight-year career. He is still hitting, with a .278 average and a couple of home runs in the last 15 days, but if he is going to be stealing bases, he adds a whole other level of value to our fantasy teams.
David Hamilton, 2B/SS, Boston Red Sox (2% rostered) – Like Nick Gonzales up above, the Red Sox called up a young middle infielder who is just a decent prospect and have gotten much better production than they could have ever hoped for. In the last two weeks, Hamilton is hitting .353 with four steals to give him eight in just 31 games. Hamilton is much more of an average and speed guy but he has received the start in 10 of Boston’s last 11 games and is rewarding both Boston and the few fantasy managers that roster him with his performance. Chances are he is available in your league no matter how deep it is.
Matt Waldron, SP, San Diego Padres (13% rostered) – Matt Waldron and his teammate below are two pitchers to roster just for the pure joy of watching them, if nothing else. Matt Waldron and his knuckleball have taken over social media. Over the last three starts, he has been absolutely amazing, striking out 25 batters in 17.2 innings and posting a 1.53 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP. His strikeouts are up about three per nine innings over last year, but challenging hitters even more hasn’t hurt him with the home run ball. He is at just 0.95 home runs per nine innings this year, after 1.96 last year. There might be some growing pains here with Waldron, but in a deep league, his overall numbers have shown he is good enough to stick in the rotation.
Jeremiah Estrada, RP, San Diego Padres (27% rostered) – Matt Waldron and fellow San Diego pitcher Jeremiah Estrada could not be more different. Waldron throws up a bouncy, slow curve ball and Estrada comes in with a 97-mile-per-hour fastball and a 90-mile-per-hour slider. Estrada just set an MLB record by striking out 13 consecutive batters – all swinging, by the way. He is not in the first chair for saves but might pick up a few strays here and there when Robert Suarez can’t pitch for a day. Estrada is a must-own in Saves+Holds leagues of course, and his ratios will help you no matter what kind of league you are in.
