As the early season dust has settled and more of the obvious breakout players and impact rookies are unavailable, we need to look a bit deeper to find gems on the waiver wire.
Fear not, because there are still a handful of gems that are widely available and have the chance to be difference-makers in both the short and long term.
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Here are three players that are under 40% rostered on Yahoo leagues that you should strongly consider adding.
If you want a larger list, Eric Samulski wrote his extended waiver wire piece on Sunday.
Jonathan Aranda, 1B Rays
(19% Rostered on Yahoo)
The Rays’ offense erupted for a whopping 16 runs on Tuesday and Aranda was directly in the middle of that onslaught. He went 2-for-5 with a double, two runs scored, two RBI, and three batted balls hit harder than 104 mph.
Games like this have become the norm for Aranda this season, who leads all qualified hitters with a .395 batting average and trails only Aaron Judge with a 1.158 OPS.
It’s great to see him succeeding in what’s finally been his first real chance to play regularly. Still fresh off his ‘prospect’ status, Aranda is 26 years old and has taken over 1,000 plate appearances at Triple-A with a .959 OPS down there.
He was also a borderline league-average hitter through his first handful of times up with the Rays that came over the last three years.
The best of which was last season, when he cut down his strikeout rate, had one of the best barrel rates in the league over a nearly 100 batted ball sample, improved his max exit velocity from 108.0 mph to 110.4 mph, and began to pull the bulk of his fly balls.
Now, practically no one in the league is hitting the ball as hard and as consistently as Aranda. He’s in the 95th percentile or better in hard-hit rate, barrel rate, and average exit velocity. Again, he’s improved upon his max exit velocity, up to 111.4 mph, and pulling a greater share of his fly balls than last season in what’s still a small sample.
A key reason for this additional step forward is improved pitch selection. Aranda has always been able to take his walks, but sometimes was caught in between which pitches he should be swinging at. That often made him too passive on pitches in the strike zone.
So far this season, he’s swinging more often at pitches in the zone overall and more at pitches in the heart of the zone while offering at fewer in the shadow of the zone or on the edges. It feels like something has clicked in a big way with his pitch selections.
The only thing holding Aranda’s fantasy value back is the Rays’ strict platoon plan for him. He is yet to play a game against a left-handed pitcher this season and likely won’t get many opportunities to do so.
That makes it a bit annoying to manage him in weekly leagues, knowing he will miss a game or two every week. Still, his breakout feels real and he’s quickly moving himself up the ranks of first basemen.
Shane Smith, SP White Sox
(15% Rostered on Yahoo)
An early-season surprise with a 2.04 ERA through three starts in his first taste of major league action, Smith has a few big things going for him right now.
First off, his changeup may be one of the nastiest pitches in the league. It’s averaging a cool 90 mph with plus-plus drop. So much so that sometimes Statcast mismarks the pitch as a curveball.
And visually, it’s stunning.
That pitch alone is enough for Smith to stifle any left-handed batter, and it has so far with a 3.1 Run Value per 100 pitches, third-highest in the league for a righty starter’s changeup.
Past that pitch, the White Sox have shown that they trust Smith to work relatively deep into games. He completed six innings in two of his three starts and worked 5 2/3 innings in his other, which is great for his fantasy value.
That being said, he’s clearly paid a third-time-through-the-order-tax. Of the 14 total batters he’s faced for a third time in a particular game, seven have reached base and four have come around to score.
While that’s cause for mild concern, the White Sox seem willing to throw him in the pool and see if he can actually swim. Mostly because they took him in the Rule 5 draft this offseason, so either he stays on the 26-man roster for all 162 games or must be returned to the Brewers.
Also, what else do they have to lose? They are dreadful with no end in sight. May as well give your new pitcher – who has a true outpitch and roster mandate – the chance to see if he can figure things out himself on the fly. It’s not like they have a better option to start anyway.
Still, Smith has some more things to prove before he’s a slam-dunk type of starter. Besides his changeup, the rest of his repertoire leaves a bit to be desired.
His fastball has some natural cut – which also helps him against left-handed batters – but just average velocity. He has a tight slider that’s totally fine, and flashes a curveball with plus-drop. He also showed a sinker for the first time in his most recent start.
His strikeout rate sits at just 17.6% through his three starts and tells us he’s a huge candidate for ERA regression.
Overall, it’s just OK stuff that plays up because of one fantastic pitch and what’s been very good command so far. He gets a bump in fantasy value as the White Sox allow him to pitch relatively deeply into games and is worth a roster spot in certain leagues on the chance he can build on this early season success.
Hyseong Kim, 2B LAD
(10% Rostered on Yahoo)
For as hot as the Dodgers started the season, they’ve been nearly as cold over the past week and a half. As of Tuesday morning, they’re 4-6 over their past 10 games while scoring just 3.4 runs per contest.
A key reason for this blip has been the total lack of production from the bottom of their lineup.
Max Muncy is stuck in a 1-for-15 stretch and has struck out in more than 40% of his PA this season. Andy Pages went through a 1-for-25 stretch, had a two-hit game, and is now 1-for-14 since. Enrique Hernández is struggling too and has only been a better than league-average hitter one time in the last seven seasons.
Not to mention, the Dodgers are both one of the slowest and worst defensive teams in the league in the early going. They rank fourth-worst in average sprint speed and second-worst in Outs Above Average as a team so far.
So, it would make sense for them to promote the surging Kim from Triple-A to give their roster a much needed infusion of athleticism and challenge that struggling trio for playing time.
Kim has already hit three home runs with Oklahoma City – including a 462 ft monster shot – along with seven doubles, a triple, and four stolen bases. He’s also spent time at shortstop, second base, and center field: two positions of need for the Dodgers and one where Mookie Betts could use an occasional day off without Miguel Rojas needing to take an at-bat.
It would make a lot of sense for them to demote Pages so he can get himself right in Triple-A and call Kim up to take his spot. If so, he would be a must-add player as a member of the Dodgers’ lineup with serious stolen base upside and enough power to not be a zero there.
For now, he’s worth a short term stash if you can afford the roster spot for a few days in preparation.
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