Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Week 3
This weekly piece will look at five options under 50% rostered on Yahoo Fantasy for 12- and 15-team leagues that are worthy of waiver bids or claims. As the third week of the season gets underway, we starting to get a larger sample of data from which to draw conclusions. With just over five months left in the fantasy baseball season, let’s figure out who to target to help our fantasy rosters.
Waiver Options For 12-Team Leagues
Vaughn Grissom, 2B, Atlanta Braves (24% rostered) – With news that Orlando Arcia (who was off to a fantastic start) broke his wrist this week, hot prospect Vaughn Grissom will be one of the top pickups of the weekend. The 24% of people who already roster Grissom are a hold-over from Spring Training when he was being universally drafted before a surprise demotion to Triple-A to start the season. The Braves don’t have much choice now with Arcia out and Dansby Swanson gone. Grissom will likely get the call on Friday or Saturday. He slashed .291/.353/.440 in his 41 games last season and was already hitting .366/.458/.585 in his first 10 minor league games this year.
Austin Hays, OF, Baltimore Orioles (41% rostered) – Like many of his Baltimore teammates, Hays is simply on fire to start the season, meaning his stay under 50% rostered is likely to be short. He is hitting .302/.348/.628 with three homers and a steal so far, thanks to a flyball rate that is up six percentage points from last season. He has also lowered his outside-zone swing percentage from 39.7% to 28.2% this season so he is being much more selective in when he swings the bat.
Geraldo Perdomo, SS/3B, Arizona Diamondbacks (26% rostered) – Perdomo, a switch hitter, has now started in four of the last five games and is swinging a hot stick to start the year. The 23-year-old is hitting .409/.536/.682, and while that is clearly not sustainable, he has improved everything from his 148-game rookie season. He smashed five home runs and stole nine bases last season and already has one of each in 2023. If he can play five times a week, and give us modest power and speed numbers, his third base and shortstop eligibility can be especially helpful in this time of so many injuries.
Drey Jameson, SP, Arizona Diamondbacks (30% rostered) – The long-term injury to Zach Davies opened up a spot in the rotation, and Jameson looked fantastic in his first audition in the role. He fired four scoreless innings with four strikeouts against Milwaukee. Once he gets stretched out, he should be in line to go 5-6 innings each time out where he can display the high-strikeout, low-walk stuff he showcased across three minor league seasons. He has been lucky with BABIP so far (.207), but also has an uncharacteristically low 38.7% ground ball rate. As those even out, we should end up with a pitcher who deserves to be on our rosters all year.
Dylan Floro, RP, Miami Marlins (22% rostered) – Does Floro have a save yet this season? No, not even one. But he has looked like the superior pitcher to A.J. Puk, even though Puk has been serviceable and has racked up one save so far. Floro sports a shiny 0.00 ERA and more than a strikeout per inning. He has allowed three total baserunners in six innings compared to the four in five innings Puk has allowed. Floro has the better stuff, closer experience, and a pickup of him right now is a play to save some of your FAAB dollars if and when the Marlins make an official change in the ninth inning. Even if they don’t Floro is likely to steal 5-7 saves throughout the year with pristine ratios.
Waiver Options for 15-Team Leagues
Trayce Thompson, OF, Los Angeles Dodgers (18% rostered) – Thompson only has four starts this year, three of them when the Dodgers faced a left-handed starter. But those four games plus some late-game pinch hitting have resulted in a .316/.458/.947 line with four dingers in just 24 plate appearances. Thompson is a fringe fifth outfielder in 15-team leagues but becomes much more valuable in leagues with daily transactions. You want to lock and load him when LA plays a lefty, but this power is left. Both his expected batting average and expected slugging percentage are within just a few points of his actual numbers, according to Baseball Savant.
Franchy Cordero, OF/1B, New York Yankees (24% rostered) – If ever there was such a thing as a post-post-post-hype sleeper, Cordero would be it. After failed stops in San Diego, Kansas City, and Boston Cordero is finally reaching some of the potential as a 28-year-old that many thought he would show as a 24-year-old. So far, he is hitting .280/.333/.800 with four bombs in seven games. He bats left-handed so can draw a start on most days, but the best thing of his early-season numbers is he has cut down on his strikeouts from 34.5% for his career to just 25.9% this season.
Josh Lowe, OF, Tampa Bay Rays (10% rostered) – Josh Lowe is also on a strong side of a batting platoon in right- and center-field for Tampa Bay. With plenty of opportunity in the early part of the season, he hasn’t wasted it with two homers, a stolen base, and a .385 average. The 25-year-old is still very raw and has yet to tap into his massive potential, but the strong start to this season will certainly help. His poor game on Thursday notwithstanding, Lowe should have plenty of more big games with a lot of playing time coming his way now that Jose Siri is on the IL.
Brad Keller, SP, Kansas City Royals (7% rostered) – Rostering Brad Keller comes with a number of major headaches attached to it, but he has been producing in the early going despite the stress-inducing under-the-hood numbers through his first three starts. His 2.12 ERA and 1.12 WHIP alongside two wins look great. But what doesn’t look great are his expected ERA (5.08), his BB/9 (4.24), and his BABIP allowed (.238). All those are bound to regress soon, plus he has to deal with a below-average Royals’ offense. But, he is a consistent, healthy starter which is a lot more than can be said for many pitchers right now. The other thing on the positive side of the ledger is his strikeout rate is at a career-high 8.47 per nine innings through three games.
Jose Quijada, RP, Los Angeles Angels (10% rostered) – The Los Angeles Angels’ bullpen was one of those dreaded “best-guy-in-the-best-situation” ‘pens before the season started. But a hierarchy is starting to take shape and Quijada is moving toward the top of the pyramid. He has two of the Angels’ four saves and is let to allow a run all season. He has only allowed one hit and one walk in five innings and looks to be a co-closer at worst. If Quijada keeps getting a save per week, his roster percentage will be up over 50% before too long.
