Welcome back to the weekly piece that looks to shine a light on some names who appear to be underowned and worth an add given their recent performances. The next time we convene, there will be but one month remaining until fantasy baseball championships are decided. While this may seem like a rather uninspiring time to go digging into the waiver wire with most prospects already up who are going to be difference-makers, there’s plenty of excitement to be had. Of course, we like them as well, but you savvy folks deserve more than a reiteration of Prospects Weekly. Let’s dive in, shall we?
Ownership levels are taken from Yahoo leagues and, along with the stats, are accurate through August 21.
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Priority Pickups – <30% Owned
Rhys Hoskins (PHI – 1B/OF): 28% owned
More than half of Hoskins’ Major League hits have left the yard, as he has five homers while going 9-for-38 (.237.) While that may strike many as an iffy, power-reliant way to start his career, we should note that he’s drawn eight walks already against just seven strikeouts. His 48.4 percent hard-hit rate over his first 11 games fuels the hype and his line-drive rate that exceeds 25 percent should yield a BABIP higher than .154 moving forward. In other words, even as the power rate subsides, the average/contact tool should yield more fruit. He’s showing why he was considered such a strong prospect, and his flexibility to work in the infield and outfield will only help the at-bats flow.
Blake Snell (TB – SP): 21% owned
Snell — he of the usual high-upside and high walk totals — looks to have turned a corner in his last three outings. He’s gone at least six innings after racking up high pitch counts early due to some iffy control, and he’s won his last two starts. The latest of which was an eight-strikeout gem where he blanked the Mariners over seven innings. This is a highly-touted prospect who issued at least three free passes in nine of his first 11 big-league outings but hasn’t walked more than two in any of his last six starts. He’ll look to continue this upward trend on Aug. 26 in a road date with the Cardinals.
Luke Weaver (STL – SP): 10% owned
Originally called up to replace the ailing Trevor Rosenthal in the bullpen, Weaver is now stepping into the also-injured Adam Wainwright’s rotation slot. Waino is going to be done for a while and may not return this season, which should give Weaver a great shot at replicating his stellar stat line from his last start on Aug. 2 against Milwaukee (6 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 8 Ks) in a home start against the Padres on Wednesday. He’ll have his ups and downs as a youngster, but his 2.55 ERA/1.06 WHIP and 10-2 record from 15 Triple-A starts can’t be ignored.
Kolten Wong (STL – 2B/OF): 19% owned
Through 18 August games, Wong has scored 14 runs and knocked in another 15 with one homer while batting at a .385 clip. His .185 ISO this month is shrouded by the low amount of balls that have cleared the fence, but his hard-hit rate skyrocketing from 15.4 percent to 41.1 percent this month alongside a healthy 30.4 percent fly-ball rate should yield an HR/FB rate higher than 5.9 percent. This is not an exact science, but the power should continue to rise and even if it doesn’t, you get yourself a bat that our rest-of-season projections have hitting .322 the rest of the way with middle-infield and outfield eligibility.
Lucas Giolito (CWS – SP): 21% owned
Giolito could learn a thing or two from Snell, as Mr. Lucas has struggled with a 4.13 BB/9 through 128 2/3 Triple-A innings this season. He walked more batters (12) than he struck out (11) in 21 1/3 Major League frames last season for the Nationals and, well, this just isn’t all that promising. However, there is little denying that he has game-breaking stuff if he could only get his control, err, under control. It’d be ideal if he was still in the NL East rather than the AL Central, but he’ll look to make a good first impression for the Pale Hose today (Aug. 22) at home against the Twins.
Max Kepler (MIN – OF): 23% owned
Hitting .278 with five homers and 12 RBIs over the last two weeks, Kepler is once again showing a power spike just like the one that gave fantasy owners an eight-homer, 23-RBI July last season. Still only 24 years old, the lefty-swinger has the tools to generate serious pop when locked in at the dish and has put up a 42.9 percent hard-hit rate this month after that mark sat at 29 percent last month. Seven of his last 16 batted balls have registered an exit velocity exceeding 100 mph, which further illustrates how well he’s seeing the ball.
Edwin Jackson (WSH – SP): 16% owned
Jackson climbs the waiver-wire ranks yet again after dominating the Padres with seven innings of one-run ball in a victory. Now 4-2 with a 2.92 ERA over six starts with the Nationals, the 33-year-old has taken advantage of some easier matchups (@SD, SF) lately, but will be tested in earnest on Wednesday against the Astros in Houston. If he passes, he’ll have earned a must-start moniker down the stretch.
Chad Bettis (COL – SP): 12% owned
More than just an incredible story, Bettis has gone seven innings in each of his first two starts after returning from a battle with cancer. He’s only struck out eight in those 14 innings and hasn’t been able to capture a win, but there’s no denying he looks strong and confident in attacking the zone. With Colorado’s big offense backing him, he’ll look to log that first victory in a road rematch on Aug. 25 with the Braves — the team that he shut out in his 2017 debut.
Nicky Delmonico (CWS – OF): 14% owned
Aside from the fact that this guy has an 80-grade name, he’s also logged a .343/.443/.642 slash line with six homers, two steals, and 11 walks against just 13 strikeouts over his first 79 plate appearances in the bigs. He hasn’t stolen a significant amount of bases at any point in the Minors so don’t get too carried away with projecting those, but the 25-year-old had smacked 12 round-trippers in 99 Triple-A games this season before being promoted. He’s worked on improving against left-handed pitching to become a more well-rounded bat and while his .354 BABIP should settle down a bit, he has solid momentum and should be of service as a hot bat right now. Just don’t get overly attached.
Juan Minaya (CWS – RP): 11% owned
The White Sox bullpen used to boast some serious arms, but they’ve wisely unloaded many of them to boost their rebuilding efforts in 2017. That has left the South Siders with Minaya picking up three saves across the last four days. Even though he has an uninspiring 4.50 ERA, his 40 Ks in 32 innings profiles well for a guy with “closing stuff” — just be aware that he’s given up one run in three of his last six appearances. It likely won’t be pretty, but he’s Rick Renteria’s closer right now and that has value.
Neil Walker (MIL – 2B): 23% owned
Now on a nine-game hit streak during which he’s hit .500 (16-for-32,) Walker has really taken well to his new surroundings in Milwaukee. His Mets tenure ended with two stellar games, and he’s only kept that rolling in a Brewers uniform, regularly hitting second for a team whose park ranks out as a top-10 run-scoring environment per ESPN’s Park Factors. He’ll eventually go hitless, but fantasy owners shouldn’t turn their nose up at his hot streak just because veterans aren’t that exciting.
Deep League Targets – <10% owned
Delino DeShields (TEX – OF): 9% owned
DeShields went 0-5 with two strikeouts on Monday night, and he still scored two runs and stole a base. That was his 25th bag of the season and gives him five swipes in his last five games. He’s started in each of Texas’ last nine games (going 12-for-37, .324) with Carlos Gomez on the shelf and is worth keeping tabs on with how the Rangers choose to utilize him moving forward with Joey Gallo also dealing with concussion symptoms. He’ll run whenever he gets the chance and hasn’t been caught in over a month, making him a nice snag in most formats.
Erasmo Ramirez (SEA – SP/RP): 5% owned
Ramirez has ripped off two consecutive quality starts now and draws a favorable matchup against the Braves on Wednesday. While no one should be propping up Erasmo as a steady option, he’s clearly got a good feel for his pitches right now to the tune of a 0.99 WHIP over the last 30 days. You won’t get big Ks out of him, but healthy ratios and the win look probable here.
Chris Stratton (SF – SP/RP): 4% owned
Coming off of a victorious 10-strikeout showing against the Nationals on Aug. 13, Stratton once again did not yield a run in his latest start on Monday vs. the Brewers over six innings. While he only struck out one rather than one-zero, the 27-year-old (it’s his birthday today!) is likely to stick around in the rotation of a team that plays at an extremely pitcher-friendly park. Unfortunately, he’s lined up to face the D-backs in Arizona next, but a home start vs. the Cardinals would follow.
Chris Rowley (TOR – SP): 4% owned
Rowley looks to have ousted the ineffective Nick Tepesch from the starting rotation with two solid starts to kick off his Major League career. While they haven’t been stunning stat lines, Toronto is desperate for arms, and he gets to square off against the coldest bats in baseball right now — the Rays. Expectations need to be tempered since the rookie just faced Tampa Bay five days ago and allowed nine baserunners in five frames, but the Rays’ team wOBA is a whopping .261 over the last two weeks. The Phillies are next worst at .291, which should illustrate how poorly Tampa’s bats are performing. Those looking for a deep-league gamble should target teams such as them.
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Nick Mariano is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Nick, check out his archive and follow him @NMariano53.
