FANTASY BASEBALL WAIVER WIRE PICKUPS
Noelvi Marte (3B Reds) – Rostered in 14% of Yahoo leagues
Reds manager Terry Francona didn’t seem very interested in giving Marte a shot the first time around when the 23-year-old infielder was called up as a result of Matt McLain’s injury; Marte sat on the bench for three games, started two and then was sent back to Triple-A. Fortunately for Marte, it ended up being a very brief return to Louisville, and he was recalled again after Christian Encarnacion-Strand landed on the IL. He was on the bench for two of the first three games afterwards, but he’s started four in a row since, and he’s hit .310/.375/.621 overall in 32 plate appearances.
Alas, that line doesn’t tell the whole story. Six of the eight runs batted in Marte has collected in the majors this season came off Orioles position players in Sunday’s 24-2 rout; he had a grand slam off Jorge Mateo and a two-run double against Gary Sánchez. Exclude those two at-bats and Marte is slugging .444. Exclude the entire game and he’s slugging .364. Still, it’s noteworthy that Marte has struck out just four times so far. He also hit .316/.386/.474 with a 16% strikeout rate in his 10 Triple-A games. On Thursday, he crushed an Edward Cabrera fastball 431 feet. At 116.7 mph off the bat, it was one of the hardest-hit homers in the league this season. This Marte certainly seems more like the player from his 2023 major league audition (.316/.366/.456) than the one who hit .210/.248/.301 after a PED suspension last year.
Marte isn’t locked in as a regular yet, so there are no guarantees here. Still, if he does establish himself as the Reds’ third baseman, he’ll almost surely offer mixed-league value. It’s a great ballpark for hitters in Cincinnati, and Marte will contribute in steals, having gone 17-for-22 in 110 major league games to date. There’s too much upside here to leave him unrostered.
Will Vest (RP Tigers) – Rostered in 8% of Yahoo leagues
Using a 35-year-old Tommy Kahnle, who last reached 50 innings pitched in 2019, as a closer isn’t in the Tigers’ best interests, even if he can do the job just fine while healthy. Beau Brieske was my choice to run away with the role, but he was a victim of one of the season’s unluckiest outings on Mar. 28, burying him with a 27.00 ERA, and now he’s on the shelf with ankle inflammation. That’s opened the door for Will Vest, who seems to have busted out at age 29.
Detroit’s 12th-round pick in the 2017 draft, Vest made his major league debut as a Rule 5 pick with the Mariners in 2021. He posted a 6.17 ERA in 35 innings that year, and the Mariners gave up on him, sending him back to Detroit. He returned to the majors in 2022, and he’s gotten stronger in every season since. Vest averaged 93.6 mph with his fastball as a rookie in 2021. He was up to 95.2 mph the following season, and he’s currently at 96.6 mph, which has helped him to strike out 32% of the batters he’s faced.
Also a strong groundball pitcher, Vest has yet to allow a barrel this season. He might not be treated as a true closer by the Tigers, but he has the team’s last two saves, and there just wouldn’t seem to be any reason to stop feeding him the ball in the ninth.
Jo Adell (OF Angels) – Rostered in 4% of Yahoo leagues
Look beyond the poor .209/.264/.358 line in 72 plate appearances to date. Everything else is trending up for Adell this year. His 14% barrel rate is in the 81st percentile of big leaguers. His .279 xBA and .490 xSLG are 79th and 75th percentile, respectively. His contact numbers are the best of his career, and his 23.6% strikeout rate is a big improvement on his career mark of 32.2% and only a little worse than the league average. That’s especially impressive given that he’s also pulling the ball more than ever before; of the 243 players with 60 plate appearances, his 52% pull rate is 23rd highest in the league.
Of course, everyone who has ever bet on this being the time Adell puts it all together has come away disappointed. But it’s not like he truly needs to put it all together. He managed 20 homers and 15 steals in 130 games last year, and he pretty clearly seems like a better player now. He still possesses absolute top-of-the-line bat speed. Only six players (Junior Caminero, Oneil Cruz, Jordan Walker, Yordan Alvarez and Shohei Ohtani) have bested his swing speed average of 76.6 mph this season. Combining that with something close to an average strikeout rate, an average flyball rate and an above average pull rate pretty much has to lead to good things. Maybe it won’t be an average that matches his .279 xBA, but .240-.250 with 25 homers and a few steals is well within reach.
Waiver Wire Quick Hits
– I’m not going to give Tigers starter Reese Olson another full writeup after just doing so three weeks ago, but he needs to be rostered in way more than 25% of Yahoo leagues.
– The Reds’ Tyler Stephenson should return from his strained oblique next week, and he’s a solid bet to be a top-10 catcher the rest of the way after ranking eighth at the position last year. He’s available in 59% of Yahoo leagues at the moment.
– Tony Gonsolin is also about to come off the injured list after allowing two runs over five innings in his fourth start for Triple-A Oklahoma City on Wednesday. He wasn’t great last year, and he’ll probably miss more time due to injury at some point, but pretty much everyone starting games for the Dodgers is at least a streaming option in mixed leagues, and Gonsolin is available in 94% of Yahoo leagues.
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