Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups: Miguel Amaya, Ryan O’Hearn, Connor Wong

Another week, another edition of the weekly waiver wire. This coming week, there are a ton of guys I like. We’re still at the point of the season where you can find viable choices in even deep leagues. Admittedly, catcher has been a bit thin on the waiver wire as of late. Outside of that, you shouldn’t have much of an issue finding at least serviceable performance on the wire. With that in mind, let’s cut this intro short and get right into it. Here are our top fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups to target for Week 5.

Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Targets (Week 5)

Connor Wong (C – BOS)

CBS: 12%, Yahoo: 4%, ESPN: 2%

Has catcher been thin? Yes. Has Connor Wong had himself a good enough stretch of games to prove he can be serviceable? Also, yes. Multiple hits in four of his last five games including a pair of home runs and four RBI will do that. He’s not making the highest quality of contact, but he’s got an 86% zone contact rate and is hitting more line drives. It would be nice if he could maybe take a walk at some point. For now, he’s doing everything necessary to find success and he makes for a great second catcher.

Miguel Amaya (C – CHC)

CBS: 4%, Yahoo: 1%, ESPN: 0%

Miguel Amaya has a few things going for him. First is the fact he’s younger than his platoon-mate Yan Gomes. Although he may not have the big league experience, he’s showing that doesn’t matter. The second is he’s just been flat-out better than Gomes. Amaya has already driven in eight runs in just 13 games, is batting .282 and has a career-best 48.3% hard-hit rate. He’s swinging at 80% of pitches in the zone and making contact almost 90% of the time. All of these are things you look for in a potential “I was a platoon but now I’m too good for a platoon to be necessary” type of player. Gomes is struggling to even make it back to the Mendoza line. Amaya will take the job over full time sooner than later, so get in now while you can as he’s heating up.

Ryan O’Hearn (1B, DH, OF – BAL)

CBS: 35%, Yahoo: 44%, ESPN: 18%

Do you wanna see something crazy?

That is the Baseball Savant page for Ryan O’Hearn. He must have gotten the memo before the season the Orioles are chock-full of young talent they need to make room for. He’s doing his damndest to ensure his job stays safe. In turn, he’s making sure he’s relevant for your fantasy roster. It’s hard to overlook this high-level production. The Orioles are in line for a fairly easy schedule coming up. With that in mind, O’Hearn should continue to feast.