Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Week 6

Waiver Options For 12-Team Leagues

Willi Castro, 2B/SS/3B/OF, Minnesota Twins (27% rostered) –  The Minnesota Twins are on an absolute tear right now in real life, and it has spilled over into fantasy baseball as well. The Twins have four of the top 15 fantasy hitters over the last week, including Ryan Jeffers, Carlos Santana, Jose Miranda, and super utility player Willi Castro. Castro is hitting .412 with 10 RBI and three steals in the past two weeks thanks to a career-high 37% hard hit rate and 86.5 mph average exit velocity. There are some warning signs here with a 30% strikeout rate and a .385 batting average on balls in play (BABIP), but those are offset by a strong 30% line drive rate through his first five weeks. 

Andy Pages, OF, Los Angeles Dodgers (32% rostered) – The Kike Hernandez and Chris Taylor experiment is not working in 2024 as it has in years past, but luckily the Dodgers have struck gold by bringing up Andy Pages to play in the outfield every day. Pages was a prospect whose swing always projected him to hit lots of fly balls and home runs, and that has been the case in his first 14 games. Pages has a 26-degree launch angle, leading to three home runs and a 50% flyball rate. He is a free-swinger (no walks so far), so that could lead to some holes in his swing, but there should still be plenty of power. 

Jacob Young, OF, Washington Nationals (51% rostered) – Jacob Young is a surprise one- or two-category specialist this season for the Nationals this season, but as long as you don’t need him for power, Young can be waiver wire gold in the other stats. He is hitting .314 this year with 16 runs and 12 steals already. He has started in center field in 10 of Washington’s last 11 games after starting the year in AAA. He seems to have played himself into a fulltime role even when Lane Thomas or Victor Robles returns from injury. 

Erick Fedde, SP, Chicago White Sox (44% rostered) – After recommending Garrett Cleavinger last week, it feels like we are playing with fire to recommend another pitcher from the worst team in Major League Baseball. But Erick Fedde has turned his career around so far this year after spending last season in the Korean baseball league. His strikeouts are up over 10 per game and he also has a career-best 2.34 walks per nine innings. Fedde has been aided by almost completely abandoning his fastball in favor of more breaking balls. His sinker (32.8%), changeup (18%), and slider (27%) make up almost his entire arsenal now and have helped jump-start the resurgence. 

Héctor Neris, RP, Chicago Cubs (57% rostered) –  We will fudge a little bit on our 50% rule with Hector Neris because it makes absolutely no sense why he is not 100% rostered right now. He leads the Major Leagues with five saves over the past two weeks and Adbert Alzolay continues to struggle even in lower-leverage innings. Even at 35 years old, Neris continues to find ways to get batters out in the ninth innings even though his strikeouts are under 9.00 per nine innings for the first time in his career. He is also walking way too many men, but with a 57% ground ball rate this season, he is getting plenty of easy outs and double plays. With the Cubs right in the thick of the playoff race this year, look for Neris to continue to close games as long as he is effective. 

Waiver Options for 14-Team Leagues

Mike Tauchman, OF, Chicago Cubs (21% rostered) – Injuries to Seiya Suzuki and Cody Bellinger opened the door for Mike Tauchman to get a boatload of playing time, and he has not disappointed. He has hit .366 with three home runs, nine runs, and eight RBI in the past two weeks and it looks to be a performance supported by his metrics. He lowered his strikeout rate from 2023, raised his walk rate, and increased his launch angle and barrel rate significantly. There is some slight risk that Tauchman loses a full-time role when those two primary outfielders return, but he may have played himself into more time on the field and his .427 on-base percentage and .500 slugging percentage will help any fantasy team. 

Tyler Nevin, 1B/3B/OF, Oakland Athletics (13% rostered) –  There are very few consistencies in the Oakland batting lineup these days, even Esteury Ruiz has only started four of Oakland’s last eight games. So the fact that Nevin has started each of the Athletics’ last 10 games gives us confidence that this low-rostered player who is eligible at three positions will be a consistent force in our fantasy lineups. Brought over from Baltimore earlier this season, Nevin has found a home at the top of the Oakland lineup and is actually the fifth-best fantasy hitter over the last week. He has hit .417 with three homers and a steal while showing tremendous plate discipline. This is the journeyman’s age-27 season so perhaps things are finally clicking for the former number 38 overall draft pick as his hard hit rate is at an all-time high. 

Nick Senzel, 3B/OF, Washington Nationals (11% rostered) – The rebuild is ahead of schedule right now for the Washington Nationals, and while Nick Senzel might not be a part of the long-term plans, his short-term production has been amazing lately. The power has really driven the production as Senzel has five home runs and nine RBI in the last two weeks alone. The career-best barrel rate (14.3%) is what is driving the new power for Senzel, and that’s coming from being more patient at the plate. Senzel has dropped his first pitch strike percentage by six percentage points since 2023. 

Keaton Winn, SP, San Francisco Giants (33% rostered) – This is officially considered Keaton Winn’s rookie season, but he is performing like a seasoned veteran and is flummoxing hitters with his interesting pitch mix. He isn’t a dominant strikeout pitcher (just 7.41 strikeouts per nine innings), but he is inducing 60% ground balls in his six starts that have resulted in three wins and a 3.18 ERA. His splitter-sinker combo (which he throws a combined 62% of the time in 2024) is deadly for hitters and just causes them to pound the ball into the ground over and over. It’s given him a 0.70 HR/FB rate through his first 34 innings and assures the big offensive innings are rarely going to appear. 

Justin Lawrence, RP, Colorado Rockies (9% rostered) – Rostering a Colorado Rockies pitcher is rarely an advisable strategy, but when every save counts in deep leagues, a closer who is only 9% rostered in leagues needs to be considered. Lawrence is striking out a batter per inning this year, even if it comes with 4.5 walks per nine innings. The Rockies surely aren’t going to win many games and Lawrence likely doesn’t reach 20 saves this year, but he has the role and can pile up 12-15 throughout the season. The swinging strike rate has bumped up for Lawrence this year, so if Rockies can just win some games, some sneaky saves could be on the way.