Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Jesús Sánchez, Randy Rodríguez and Michael Conforto

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15 hours ago

FANTASY BASEBALL WAIVER WIRE PICKUPS
Jesús Sánchez (OF Marlins): Rostered in 7% of Yahoo leagues
The Marlins' recent run has been fueled more by the pitching than by the offense, but things have gotten enough better that it seems worth grabbing Sánchez ahead of a likely trade to a contender this month. He's hit .275/.322/.507 with six homers and five steals in his last 38 games, which has been enough to produce 21 RBI and 23 runs scored.
Prior to this stretch, Sánchez had just eight RBI and seven runs scored over his first 27 games. Last year, with the Marlins finishing 27th in the majors in runs per game, Sánchez had only 64 RBI and 60 runs scored in 149 games as a league-average hitter. The lack of help around him made him look like someone with little fantasy upside even with a modest breakthrough. However, that breakthrough does seem to be materializing lately, as Sánchez has a .428 xwOBA over his last 50 plate appearances. He's making more contact while hitting the ball just as hard as he always has; Statcast has him in the 95th percentile for bat speed, the 89th percentile for average exit velocity and the 82nd percentile in xSLG. His chase rate has improved from the 9th percentile last year to the 37th percentile this season.
Adding the stolen base to his arsenal is another thing that's made Sánchez more interesting for fantasy purposes. He has nine steals this season and is 25-for-29 since the beginning of last year. He'd been just 4-for-6 in 297 major league games through 2023.
As the Marlins' second-most expensive player at $4.5 million, Sánchez is expected to be very much available in trade talks this month. He doesn't hit lefties and he's only a middling defender, so he's probably not part of the team's foundation. Still, Sánchez has yet to peak offensively, and there are several contenders who could use a power-hitting corner outfielder for the middle of their lineup. Sánchez is only a modest fantasy contributor now, but in the right situation, he could take off.
Randy Rodríguez (RP Giants): Rostered in 30% of Yahoo leagues
Camilo Doval recovered from his ninth-inning blown save Wednesday to pitch a scoreless 10th and get a win, delaying the possibility of another closer switch in San Francisco. Still, Doval has given up 10 earned runs and walked nine in 15 1/3 innings since replacing Ryan Walker in the ninth at the end of May. Randy Rodríguez has given up three earned runs and walked eight in 37 2/3 innings all season.
The 25-year-old Rodríguez has demonstrated one of the game's most potent fastball-slider combinations this season and should be an NL All-Star as a result. He's 37.9% strikeout rate places him seventh in the majors among everyone to throw at least 20 innings, and it comes with just a 5.7% walk rate and just one homer allowed to the 140 batters he's faced. He's been scored upon only twice in 37 outings.
Doval isn't a bad bet going forward, either, but his strikeout rate is down for a second straight year, making his mediocre walk rate more of a concern. It'd be best for the Giants if Doval could hold on the ninth, allowing the team to employ Rodríguez in big situations earlier in games. Still, they haven't been shy about making changes. Doval lost the job last summer even though his shaky outings rarely led to losses. Walker was pulled from the role in May even though he had blown only two saves. Rodríguez is clearly the No. 2 option now, and Doval's next poor outing could result in a permanent change.
Michael Conforto (OF Dodgers): Rostered in 5% of Yahoo leagues
It's hardly showing up in his actual numbers, but Conforto is swinging the bat better of late, finishing with xwOBAs of .373 in May and .361 in June. Statcast gave him an xBA of .265 and an xSLG of .476 between the two months. If he'd actually done that or at least somewhere close to it, he'd have been well worth using in mixed leagues. It's worth seeing if maybe he'll start to now.
While it's a stinging blow for the Dodgers, Max Muncy's absence will probably help Conforto's numbers some. The outfielder moved up to sixth in the lineup Thursday. It's the first time he's hit higher than seventh in a month. He could also get more starts against lefties. He's already played against three of the last six the Dodgers have faced, and while he's typically been far better versus righties in his career, he has no platoon split this year. Most of his offensive improvement, should it materialize, figures to come against righties, but the extra at-bats versus lefties, even if they're not particularly good ones, will still add to his value.
So, no, it's not an exciting pickup. But Conforto has generally been an above average hitter in his career, and that he hasn't been one this year is mostly a product of a .215 BABIP that is 80 points lower than his career mark. His strikeout rate is unchanged. His 45% hard-hit rate is considerably better than his career mark of 40%. He's playing his home games in the best offensive ballpark of his three-stop career, and while I don't put much stock in it, his career second-half OPS is about 60 points better than his first-half mark (actually, it's about 80 now, but it hardly seems fair to include the current first half). He should prove helpful.
Waiver Wire Quick Hits
- Ronny Henriquez seems to be running away with the closer's role in Miami, but he's only 18% rostered right now. Maybe it won't last and maybe he'll even get traded this month, but he's been impressive in striking out 57 over 41 innings.
- Ke'Bryan Hayes isn't someone I'd pick up right now, but his contact numbers have been better of late, and he could be interesting if moved to a contender this month. Put him in a better ballpark and situation that would still allow him to do some basestealing, and he wouldn't need to match other third basemen homer for homer in order to be of use.