Myriad Red Sox, Cameron Schlittler and more top fantasy baseball waiver wire options
The list includes a lot of familiar names. Addison Barger, Agustín Ramírez and Colt Keith are players I've been touting for a while now. From my perspective, all three look like mid-level breakouts. That's to say, they're not full-on stars, but they're backing up strong performances with great underlying metrics.
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Roman Anthony, Jackson Holliday, Jasson Dominguez, Nick Kurtz and, to a lesser degree, Ronny Mauricio were billed as future stars when they were prospects.
Kurtz has shown the massive power that can make him one of the game's premier sluggers if he can keep the K rate below 30%. Even at 33%, he's still good enough to be rostered everywhere.
Anthony, who has just breached 100 PAs in his MLB career, is showing all the ingredients to be a star; he just needs to pull the ball more. That said, he's interesting trade bait for this year (redrafts only) because of the massive hype around him.
Holliday, meanwhile, is quietly putting together a solid power-speed profile. For now, he's similar to Dansby Swanson, but at just 21, he could grow into more power.
Dominguez has been uneven this year, but he's flashed the power and speed that could make him a fantasy star.
Mauricio has power and generates a lot of pulled flies, which will help him maximize that power. The playing time is not guaranteed, but he's not a bad power gamble.
Over to the catchers, Austin Wells has been on a power surge, but expect him to soon return to being a decent option for homers and RBIs without much else. As for Victor Caratini, he's useful enough in two-catcher leagues, but in more reasonable formats, you can do better.
Regarding the other Red Sox players, Romy González has been one of the hottest players in baseball for two weeks. Enjoy it while it lasts, and feel free to cash in if someone wants to pay as if it will continue. He swings hard and has cut his strikeout rate, giving him a small chance for continued success. However, he is whiffing just as much as in years past, and I expect the K rate to come back up.
Trevor Story, undoubtedly motivated by some harsh words I had for him earlier in the season, has been just as scorching. My issue was that he wasn't doing enough to offset a K rate above 30%. He has kept the strikeouts in check for the past month and found a little more power. I'd still be open to selling high — I'm not buying the near 30-30 pace — but he should continue to be a nifty fantasy contributor.
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At 24 years old, Ceddanne Rafaela is the one you can dream on long-term. His hardest hit this year was 4 mph harder than any he had in previous years, and the barrel rate rocketed from a meh 7.5% to an excellent 13.2%. He chases way too much, but young players sometimes have twitchy enough reflexes to get away with that for a while.
One more Red Sox player is among the most added: Masataka Yoshida, who just made his season debut. He'll help your average and sprinkle in middling power. I'm not interested in 12-teamers, but he's worth a look in deeper leagues.
Onto some lesser rostered names …
A few of you commented last week that you'd like this section to include ranks. I get it — you're looking for guidance on priority adds. I've resisted that because 1) rankings at this depth get arbitrary quickly, and 2) your needs will vary based on team balance, league depth and risk tolerance. This week, I'm clustering players; I'm generally more interested in players in the first cluster, but they might not be the best additions for all teams in all formats.
Cluster 1
Tyler O'Neill (OF, BAL) — I was very in on O'Neill during the preseason, believing he could be a monster source of power. Now that he's back, he's a worthy gamble, though it's too early to know which version we're getting for the balance of the season.
Gavin Sheets (OF, SD) — He continues to be a steady producer. The park tamps him down, but he's still solid.
Jac Caglianone (OF/1B, KC) — The rookie is still a speculative pickup, but huge power is always a good place to take a shot, and he's starting to see results.
Cluster 2
Ryan O'Hearn (OF/1B, BAL) — O'Hearn is like Caglianone but with a higher floor and lower ceiling. He's likely to move at the deadline, so there's some uncertainty around park and playing time going forward.
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Chandler Simpson (OF, TB) — Bump him to the top of the list if you need speed. Just don't expect much else — he hits at the bottom of the lineup and has not barreled a ball all season.
Lars Nootbaar (OF, STL) — I'm rooting for a trade here in hopes that a fresh start and new voices can unlock Nootbaar's combination of power and feel for the zone. For now, I'm having a hard time finding optimism that he snaps out of his funk and rises above 12-team replacement level.
I've already mentioned most of the guys I like here. You can scan other sections for more names (like Keith, Caglianone, etc.)
Cluster 1
Josh Smith (SS/1B/3B, TEX) — Smith is a great multi-category contributor.
Romy González (1B/2B, BOS) — See above. If you have a spot for him, you might as well see how long this hot streak goes.
Cluster 2
Jake Burger (1B, TEX) — I still like Burger's bat, but he seems off right now. The expected stats say he ought to be significantly better.
Nolan Schanuel (1B, LAA) — He has upped his power this year, but still doesn't have much. The average is nice, and he's got the high floor you appreciate more in deeper leagues.
Cluster 1
I take back my complaints about the corner infielders. At least they hit home runs. If not for the guy below, I would have potentially skipped straight to Cluster 2.
Colt Keith (1B/2B/3B, DET) — Expect a solid average and power going forward.
Cluster 2
Jonathan India (2B/3B/OF, KC) — The x-stats say he has a bit more power, but I'll believe he's more than a two-category guy (average and runs) when I see it.
Carlos Correa (SS, MIN) — I don't know if the power rebound is coming, and the underlying metrics have gone in the wrong direction this year, but the floor is still decently high.
Evan Carter (OF, TEX) — The playing time has been a little inconsistent, but I'd still put him in my first cluster among the more rostered outfielders. He's blazing fast, has some power and hits for a decent average.
Tyler Freeman (OF/2B, COL) — Freeman's another speedster. The average will drift down, but the home park helps buffer that. He'd be in the second cluster above.
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Mickey Moniak (OF, COL) — Moniak's variance is high, but the power-speed upside puts him in Cluster 2.
Cluster 3
Jake McCarthy (OF, ARI) — Back from the IL and reemerging as … a decent deep-league filler.
Dane Myers (OF, MIA) — He steals a lot and does very little in the other counting stats. I had thought this type of player was disappearing, but there have been many of them this year. Maybe a latent effect of the new rules?
Matt Wallner (OF, MIN) — Dane Myers' exact opposite. He has power, a bad average and no speed. He's a better play in OBP leagues.
Cluster 3
Michael Toglia (1B, COL) — Toglia still strikes out too much, but he's capable of going on power binges and tossing in steals here and there.
Noelvi Marte (3B, CIN) — He's a dart throw at this point, but there are some interesting tools here, and maybe the trade deadline opens up more playing time for him.
This is just a continuation of Cluster 2. I like all three of these guys about as much as the other MIs mentioned above (except for Keith — the main point of this column is to tell you every week that Colt Keith and Evan Carter are good).
J.P. Crawford (SS, SEA) — He leads off and hits for a good average. He doesn't have much power or speed, but he keeps you afloat across the board.
Jake Cronenworth (2B, SD) — For fantasy purposes, he's similar to Crawford with a little more power and a little less average. Low ceiling, high floor.
Jeff McNeil (2B/OF, NYM) — He's getting a little more power by hitting more pulled fly balls, but he's mostly still the contact master he's been his whole career.
Cameron Schlittler (SP, NYY) — He looks good. The debut was uneven, but he should provide plenty of strikeouts with decent control. He should be rostered in every league until further notice.
Juan Morillo (RP, ARI) — Morillo has a pretty typical reliever profile — good stuff and control issues. With the Snakes' closer role apparently cursed, he has a shot at some saves, though Kevin Ginkel probably has the lead there.
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Brice Matthews (SS/3B, HOU) — Matthews has had a strikeout rate over 30% since reaching Double A last year, but if that doesn't sink him, he has a really exciting profile. Between last year and this one, he has played in 152 minor league games and stolen a combined 57 bases. He has hit for a good average, a great OBP and solid power, translating to a .283/.400/.476 line in Triple A this year. As with all prospects, there's no way to know how he'll do in 'The Show' until we see it, but the ceiling for fantasy purposes is high.
Cluster 1: Emmet Sheehan (LAD), Joe Boyle (TB)
Sheehan will back up Shohei Ohtani on Saturday. His solid strikeout rate, elite walk rate and role should set him up for wins and good ratios.
As for Boyle … did the Rays fix him? He was the most extreme all-stuff, no-control guy. Since being traded to a team that is trying to win, he's kept his walk rate to a very workable 10.6% in 73 minor league innings, and he's been better than that in his two turns following Drew Rasmussen. He's suddenly moving into volatile ace territory if he can keep it up. I'm getting ahead of myself here, but he's a grab-and-see-where-it-goes guy if nothing else.
Cluster 2: Adrian Houser (CHW), Charlie Morton (BAL), Jack Leiter (TEX)
Leiter has good stuff and a wide arsenal, but it hasn't all come together. He might figure out a good mix at some point, but I'm not holding my breath for the ERA to drop below 4.00.
I really want Houser to keep his success going, but I can't quite talk myself into it. He is suppressing home runs in a big way and going deep into games. He has collected wins in his past three starts, with six total runs of support from his team.
Morton suddenly returned to his former self in Atlanta in June, with a 28% strikeout rate, which coincided with more use of his legendary curveball. For now, I believe he'll keep it up.
Slade Cecconi (CLE), Colin Rea (CHC), Simeon Woods Richardson (MIN), Brandon Walter (HOU)
Walter is quietly emerging as a solid mid-tier SP with a good K rate and elite control. I expect the HR/FB rate to drop and bring his ERA with it. Cecconi is getting lucky on stranding runners, but his 24.1 K% and 8.1 BB% are still good enough to give him a SIERA under 4.00. Those two are my favorites of this group and would solidly fit in Cluster 2 above.
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I'm convinced the Cubs have a machine that makes different versions of decent pitchers who perform a little better than their stuff. Rea's K% is not great, but he gives you mostly solid outings with a good shot at a win.
Woods Richardson has tamed his homer issue for now, but I'm nervous it could reemerge, and I don't see a ton of upside here. Still, he's one of the more workable options at this depth.
Ronny Henriquez (MIA) is the Marlins' closer and has been pitching well.
Bryan Abreu (HOU) has been pitching out of his mind, and I'll put him just ahead of Randy Rodriguez (SF) and Abner Uribe (MIL) as the top non-closer RPs. Matt Strahm (PHI) and Orion Kerkering (PHI) are both solid and splitting closer duties in Philadelphia.
(Photo of Romy González, Ceddanne Rafaela: Brian Fluharty / Getty Images)
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