Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Report - 6/17/19

Hello baseball fans and welcome to my new article series covering season-long baseball. To start, I will be looking at players who are widely available across fantasy leagues(60% or less owned). While the draft process is very important at the start of the season, being active on the waiver wire is the key to the six-month grind that is fantasy baseball.

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Starting Pitchers

Lance Lynn
(SP-TEX)
54% owned

Lynn has been solid in his first season with the Rangers and is on pace for a seventh straight season with double-digit win totals. The ERA(4.40) is nothing to write home about but is a bit skewed by three terrible starts where he allowed five or more earned runs. He goes into this week having held opponents to three or fewer earned runs in seven straight starts and recorded seven or more strikeouts in six of those. While he is not known for his strikeout upside, he still sits with a slightly above average 25.4% K rate and it is also very promising that his expected stats(xwOBA, xSLG) are .047and .023 lower than his wOBA and SLG given up.

Lynn may not be a permanent option for the rest of the season unless you are in a deeper league, he is an excellent streamer this week as he gets two above average starts against the Indians and White Sox, both of which who rank in the bottom 10 in overall offense and strike out 23% and 25% of the time against right-handed pitching.

Mike Fiers (SP-OAK) - 30% owned

After a rough start to the season(5+ earned runs in four of his first six starts), Mike Fiers has found some consistency. He has held opponents to three or fewer earned runs in nine straight starts going 4-1 with a 3.02 ERA while averaging 6.3 innings per start. This includes his eye-popping second no-hitter of his career. If you are chasing strikeouts, Fiers is not the pitcher for you as he has low 16.7% K rate. What he can help you with is win upside going forward if you have lost some starters to injury or down seasons. What stands out the most to me is that he is also another two-start option that begins with a plus matchup against the Orioles bottom 10 offense(.30 wOBA, 86 wRC+, 34% K rate) and ends with a matchup against the Rays.

Relief Pitchers

Daniel Hudson/Joe Biagini(RP-TOR) - 4%/11% owned

The Blue Jays put closer Ken Giles on the 10-day IL last week and while he shouldn't be on there long, it opens up some save opportunities for others in the interim. Daniel Hudson got the first save in Giles absence last Wednesday against the Orioles and that has been the only save opportunity so far. There has also been talk of getting Joe Biagini some chances to close games as well so if either is available and you desperately need saves, take a shot on one of these guys and hold until more news comes about Giles return.

Infield

Scott Kingery
(3B,SS,OF-PHI)
53% Owned

Since I first put Kingery on my watch list mid-week, he has shot up 10% so get ahold of him while you can. After struggling in his rookie season(.226/.267/.338), he has been tremendous in 2019 slashing .330/.369/.652 and while there is definitely regression on the way, he should settle closer to the player we see this year over last. What helps keep him in the lineup more often are the even splits vs. both lefties(.324 avg, .377 wOBA) and righties(.333 avg, .437 wOBA) and the fact he can play multiple positions and for fantasy, is eligible at three positions.

Yandy Diaz
(1B,3B-TB)
38% Owned

Diaz is in the midst of a breakout season as he is finally getting a chance for regular playing time with the Rays. He has shown strong splits vs. lefties with a .435 wOBA, 181 wRC+, 1.054 OPS but has still managed to maintain regular playing time in the middle of the lineup with a .22 average overall. He has big power potential with an already career-high 11 home runs and isn't going to hurt you in the strikeout department(16%). On top of that, he is also multi-position eligible and a great pickup in all formats.

Garrett Cooper
(1B,OF-MIA)
25% Owned

Heading to another Florida club, we have another player in Garrett Cooper getting a shot to play every day. He was up and down to the minors early in the year but since returning in mid-May has been moved up to the two-spot in the order and has delivered in a big way. He went into Sunday's action with hits in eight straight, 15 of his last 17 games, and has a .353/.427/.559 slash line with six home runs and 20 RBI since May 15. The Marlins offense isn't very intriguing as a whole but Cooper provides value if you need to fill a first base or outfield position and are looking for a player solid in multiple categories.

Outfield

Jorge Soler
(OF-KC)
41% Owned

The Royals have struggled in the power department this season(26th) with just three players with a double-digit total. Soler isn't going to help you in the average or on-base percentage department but with five home runs over the last 14 days, he now leads the team with 17 and also leads the team with 47 RBI. That power appears to be sustainable as well when looking at the advanced stats as he has an average exit velocity of 90.5 mph with a 43% hard contact rate and both his xwOBA(.349) and xSLG(.518) are higher than his wOBA and SLG. The most important thing here is that he is getting opportunity as the regular cleanup hitter for the Royals so if you need power help, go get him before he is gone.

Ian Desmond
(1B, OF-COL)
42% Owned

Hard to ignore the sub 50% ownership for Desmond who gets half his games in the best hitters park in the league. I get it, however, as he has had a slow start to the season as he entered June with a .250/.326/.470 slash line. The good news is that he is heating up with the weather and has hit over .300 since the start of June with a .341 on-base percentage with two home runs. It is also positive to see that he ranks 47th among all hitters with an average exit velocity of 91.6 mph with a 48.3% hard contact rate. The ownership should stay down below 60% a bit longer considering the Rockies are going on the road for nine games but don't wait too long as they open the second half(July 12) with seven straight at home.

Jeff McNeil
(2B, 3B, OF-NYM)
44% Owned

Here is a clip from my write-up on McNeil in last week's report:

That is great news for a couple of reasons with the first of which being that McNeil has multi-position eligibility boosting his value. He was a second-half call-up for the Mets last year and he impressed with a .329 average and .381 on-base percentage over 63 games. He has picked up right where he left off in 2019 as he enters Friday with a .337 average and .417 on-base percentage. If you are in a league that counts K's against you, more good news as he only strikes out 11% of the time. While he doesn't provide much power(2 HR) or speed(0 SB), he does help you in every other area.

In four games since that write-up, he has recorded hits in all four with multi-hit efforts in three with two extra-base hits(2B, HR) as well.

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