Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Week 12
Less than twelve 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, Cristian Javier, Spencer Strider, Max Scherzer, 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 eleventh week of the season gets underway, we are getting a larger sample of data from which to conclude. With still almost 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
Ryan O’Hearn, 1B/OF, Baltimore Orioles (49% rostered) – It’s now officially a massive hot streak for Ryan O’Hearn. The veteran first baseman and outfielder who kept popping up in rumors he would lose his job when the Orioles started bringing up all the prized prospects is now thriving and in no danger of any reduction in role. In just the last two weeks, O’Hearn is batting .324 with a pair of home runs, two steals, and six RBI. O’hearn’s massive improvement in his strikeout rate is largely the reason for the strong play. He has dropped from 22% in 2023 to just 10% this year and his walk rate is up to 8%. He’s hitting more fly balls, pulling the ball more, and making more contact at the plate. At 30, O”Hearn is making a leap just at the right time to maintain a job in one of the best offenses in baseball.
David Hamilton, 2B/SS, Boston Red Sox (39% rostered) – David Hamilton is the Hall of Fame version of Nomar Garciaparra that everyone thought we were going to get back in the day? He now has four straight games with two hits and has added some power (four home runs) to go along with his incredible speed (13 steals). Hamilton has minor league stolen base seasons of 70, 57, and 52, so it won’t be a surprise if he reaches 40+ this season since the Red Sox are now batting him in the top five of the order every day. Hamilton’s batting average on balls in play (BABIP) is very high at .379, but fast players do have high BABIPs. Somehow, he is still available in 60% of leagues and is the highest priority among hitters right now.
Andrew Vaughn, 1B, Chicago White Sox (29% rostered) – You’ll see multiple White Sox players on this list, which doesn’t make me feel good, but someone has to play every day even for the most incompetent franchise in Major League Baseball. Vaughn, whose overall .224/.283/.367 line does not look very good at all, has turned a corner as of late. In the last 14 days, he is hitting .361 with three home runs and is flirting with top-75 hitter status in fantasy baseball. In June, he has bumped up his flyball rate by five percentage points and cut his ground ball rate from 55% to 39%. That lifting of the ball allows him to take advantage of his 44% hard-hit rate and is giving him the power he needs to start piling up the home runs.
Jake Irvin, SP, Washington Nationals (51% rostered) – Whether it’s Trevor Williams or Mitchell Parker or Jake Irvin, the Washington Nationals seem to have a knack this year for rolling out pitchers who have excelled. In just his second year in the big leagues, Irvin has made a major leap over his 2023 numbers (4.61 ERA, 4.02 walks per nine). Through his first 12 starts in 2024, Irvin has a 3.00 ERA (3.79 ERA), 7.7 strikeouts per nine innings, and just 1.7 walks per nine. He has cut his home run rate in half, his groundball rate is up, and the barrels allowed per plate appearance have dropped. What’s causing the improvement? He’s added a 90-mile-per-hour cutter this year he throws 14% of the time and has cut back on his average sinker pitch. The wins might not be plentiful for Irvin this year (he does have 5, however), but the rest of the stats look good under the microscope.
Ryne Stanek, RP, Seattle Mariners (14% rostered) – Even though nominal closer Andres Munoz has returned from a back injury, Ryne Stanek is a stash to roster right now considering his effectiveness when Munoz was unavailable and the fact that back injuries have a tendency to linger in pitchers. In the past two weeks, Stanek has two wins and two saves, and he has a number of holds on the season as well. In Saves+Holds leagues he is likely long gone, but he is still 85% available in Yahoo leagues at the moment. Stanek has filled in for Munoz twice now this season and has proved effective with five total saves and more than a strikeout per inning pitched. His 4.21 ERA is a little bit misleading since he has cut his homerun rate in half since last year and has also lowered his walks in 2024.
Waiver Options for 14-Team Leagues
Harrison Bader, OF, New York Mets (4% rostered) – Considering the fact the Harrison Bader bats ninth most days (and he does play most days) and the New York Mets offense is not exactly the 1927 Yankees, I have no idea how Bader has 18 RBI in the last month and is on pace for about 80 on the season. Actually, we do know why. Bader is hitting .286/.345/.469 in his plate appearances with men in scoring position. Those are well above his seasonal numbers overall and show how prolific he has been driving men in. Bader is also contributing his normal home runs (four) and steals (eight). His hard-hit rate and barrel rate are his best since 2020 and he has raised his average exit velocity two miles per hour over last year.
Paul DeJong, SS, Chicago White Sox (18% rostered) – How is veteran Paul DeJong a top-25 hitter over the last two weeks? He has gone on a power barrage that is at least as good as any stretch in his entire career. He has six home runs in his last 48 at-bats and showed some incredible power to all fields. Will that kind of hot streak continue? Likely not, but Paul DeJong has an opportunity to really produce for the White Sox because their is literally no competition for him at his job. DeJong has taken one day off since May 14th and the one guy who played shortstop in his spot that day (Zach Remillard) has since been designated for assignment. The White Sox are going nowhere so they will keep running DeJong out there in the fifth spot everyday for the foreseeable future. DeJong is only 30 years old and is producing the highest hard-hit rate and barrel rate of his career this season.
Blake Perkins, OF, Milwaukee Brewers (8% rostered) – The Brewers have decided to make Blake Perkins their primary center fielder over Joey Wiemer, and Perkins is making their decision look awfully smart right now. Over the last month, Perkins is hitting .312 with five steals and 14 runs. He has molded into a traditional speedy center fielder with elite average/runs/steals ability, but also has five home runs on the year. He isn’t a zero in the power department. Perkins spent eight seasons in the minors before debuting as an old rookie, so it’s not like he is some kind of major prospect, but he is flying under the radar in fantasy circles now that he has a full-time gig with Milwaukee. Since May 21, Perkins has started every game except two for the Brewers.
Miles Mikolas, SP, St. Louis Cardinals (14% rostered) – How many old, boring guys can we fit on the 14-team recommendations for this week? What can I say, sometimes the young kids bust and the steady veterans are the best bets. But Miles Mikolas has been much more than just steady recently. He has five quality starts in his last six starts, and the sixth was a one-run, five-inning outing against Boston. Mikolas has ramped up his ground ball rate, and his strikeout rate (which has never been high) is slightly up, but he primarily has lowered the hard contact and barrel rate against his pitches, helping him dramatically. Combine that with a fly ball rate that has dropped over two percentage points this season, and we can now see why this boring veteran should be rostered in more than 14% of leagues.
Tyler Kinley, RP, Colorado Rockies (6% rostered) – A Colorado Rockies pitcher? Gross, right? Well, saves and saves and Kinley has full control in that department, earning six in the last 30 days. The Rockies are bad, but not so bad that they don’t outslug some teams at home. That can lead to some “rocky” ninth innings with Kinley, but at only 6% rostered in Yahoo leagues, there is a chance to jump here on a player who could have 12-15 more saves the rest of the season. Kinley does have 30 strikeouts in 26.2 innings this year, so he helps in that department as well. The ratios are nothing to get excited about (6.94 ERA, 1.37 WHIP over the last month), but six saves and a win will help any fantasy team no matter how large the league.
