Less than nineteen weeks into the 2024 Fantasy Baseball season, the injury bug and underperformance trends are rampant. Do you have any of Shane Bieber, Kyle Tucker, Spencer Strider, Jacob DeGrom, Ozzie Albies, Mike Trout, 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 nineteenth week of the season gets underway, we have more than a half-season sample of data from which to conclude. With more than two 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
Eugenio Suarez, 3B, Arizona Diamondbacks (45% rostered) – Eugenio Suarez has long been one of the streakiest players in Major League Baseball, and he is certainly on one of his hot streaks right now. He has five home runs and nine RBI over the last week, including a three-home run game against the Nationals on Tuesday. In addition, he is hitting .333/.398/.733 in July and has cut his strikeouts down 31% in June to 25% in July. His pull rate on his batted balls has gone up for three straight months, a good sign that the power is here to stay.
Brandon Lowe, 2B, Tampa Bay Rays (36% rostered) – Brandon Lowe was not one of the Tampa Bay Rays traded off in the fire sale this week at the trade deadline. That means his spot as the second hitter in the lineup is secure, and he should be able to keep his hot streak going from the last week. In those seven days, Lowe is a top-20 fantasy hitter and has hit .324/.415/.704 over the last 30 days. In his last five starts, Lowe has 11 hits and can credit his .518 slugging percentage this season to a 15% barrel rate, five percentage points better than last year.
Masataka Yoshida, OF, Boston Red Sox (50% rostered) – Masataka Yoshida missed about 45 games in May and June this year due to injury, but his performance since has has been back proves he is fully healthy and deserves to be rostered in more than half of Yahoo leagues. He hit .333/.411/.487 in July, including three home runs and 20 RBI. This season, he has cut his groundball rate way down from 54.6% in 2023 to just 43% in 2024. That has meant a sharp increase in line drive rate and fly ball rate, which is how he is slugging .487 over the last month. His contact rate is up and his strike rate is down, making Yoshida finally look like the player they signed out of Japan to a five-year deal last season.
Sean Manaea, SP, New York Mets (42% rostered) – After a couple of mediocre starts against the New York Yankees and the Miami Marlins, Sean Manaea bounced back in a huge way on Tuesday, allowing no runs and striking out 11 Twins en route to his seventh win this season. Manaea continues to make gains on his strikeout rate, walk rate, home run rate, and ERA from earlier in the season. And while he has made gains across the board, his success in minimizing home runs is the key to his strong season. He has allowed only 0.96 HR/9 this year and has kept his hard-hit rate under 40% all season.
Chad Green, RP, Toronto Blue Jays (45% rostered) – Blue Jays manager John Schneider has declared Chad Green the closer while Jordan Romano is on the IL and now with Yimi Garcia traded away . The problem so far, however, is that the Blue Jays are struggling and Green has just two saves since July 12th. Green has experience closing before, however, and is sporting a pristine 1.67 ERA this season. He has such a strong ratio because he isn’t walking anyone (2.5 walks per nine innings), he isn’t giving up home runs, and his groundball rate has jumped from 28% last season to 34% in 2024. The strikeouts are not really a part of his game this season (7.8 K/9), but for a stop-gap closer option available in more than half of leagues, your fantasy team could do a lot worse than Chad Green.
Waiver Options for 14-Team Leagues
Nolan Schaunel, 1B, Los Angeles Angels (16% rostered) – I imagine in on-base percentage (OBP) leagues, Nolan Schaunel has a much higher roster percentage considering his 11% walk rate and his .354 OBP in 2024. He has been solid all year long, but especially in the last month. He is hitting .316/.455/.494 with three home runs and two stolen bases in the last 31 days, now slotting into the number two spot in the lineup every day for the Angels. Most importantly, he has his fly ball rate over 30% for the first time this year and his groundball rate dropped from 52% in June to 31% in July.
Dylan Moore, 2B/SS/3B/OF, Seattle Mariners (11% rostered) – Dylan Moore, who qualifies at almost every position of need in fantasy baseball, is scorching hot right now. He has seven hits, eight RBI, and three steals in his last six games. With nine home runs and 20 steals already this year, Moore has been a sneaky source of power and speed, even if it comes at the expense of batting average (.213 on the season). But there are signs of life. In July he raised his walk rate to over 10% and cut his strikeout rate from 33% in June to 24% in July. That helped him produce almost 55% flyballs for the month which brought six extra base hits and 10 RBI for the month. Moore has started at three different positions in the last week and seems to now have a starting role everyday, even if he bounces around the diamond.
Tommy Pham, OF, St. Louis Cardinals (7% rostered) – Tommy Pham was dealt back to the St. Louis Cardinals this week, and his latest tenure with them began in grand fashion. He hit a grand slam in his first game with St. Louis and then had three more hits and two RBI the next day. In the last week, he is hitting .474 with seven RBI and looks to now have a secure spot moving between all the outfield spots and the DH position on a week-to-week basis. Pham has the highest launch angle of his career this season, which is giving him more balls in the air and more power behind his swing.
Max Meyer, SP, Miami Marlins (37% rostered) – A date with the Atlanta Braves this week is not the best spot for Max Meyer, but perhaps that bring the price down on waivers if this top pitching prospect is not already claimed in your league. His first game back against the Brewers was a bit of a rocky return, but he still has a 3.00 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, and 17 strikeouts in four innings in this debut season. With his arm on ice in the minors for a while, Meyer should be back up for good this season as the Marlins look to get him a couple more months of MLB experience before 2025. This former number three overall draft pick showed electric strikeout stuff in the minors while showing an uncanny ability to keep the ball in the ballpark against opposing batters.
Victor Vodnik, RP, Colorado Rockies (7% rostered) – After the Jalen Beeks (and his 8.18 ERA with the Rockies) experiment didn’t work, Colorado traded him to Pittsburgh and turned to their fourth closer of the year, Victor Vodnik. He has been the best option so far with a 2.92 ERA, 0.97 ERA and four saves over the last month despite calling Coors Field home. The 24-year-old rookie has excelled in the role, and even though many saves are probably not in the cards for the fledgling Rockies, he might be in line to get all of them for the rest of the season. His best attribute? He keeps the ball in the park with a 0.80 HR/9 rate over the entire season.
