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It's crunch time in fantasy baseball and the decisions we make now will be the ones that determine our success or failure for the 2023 season. Playoff matchups are in full swing and fantasy managers everywhere are making huge lineup decisions that could make or break everything that happened over the past six months. Sure, every game matters. In a rotisserie-league setting, that's even more true. However, it's now or never to make that last push for a title. Even in that season-long format, everything still feels more important.
If you need a middle-infield replacement, you're in luck. There are tons of intriguing options rostered in under 50% of leagues thanks to an influx of top prospects getting the call to the major leagues. So who should be priority additions among the slew of September call-ups? Let's find out!
As a reminder, we'll be looking at pickups for shallow leagues (30-49% rostered) and deeper formats (10-29%), as well as highlighting prospects in the single digits who may get the call and deserve a spot on your watch list at the very least. These are your second base and shortstop fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups for Week 25 -- September 11 through September 17.
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Waiver Wire Pickups for Shallow Leagues
Ronny Mauricio, 2B/SS, New York Mets (26% rostered)
Upon breaking into the major leagues, some rookies struggle, some hit the ground running, and some are Ronny Mauricio, who has absolutely crushed baseballs since getting promoted to the bigs. In his first game with the Mets, Mauricio scalded a double that had a 117.3 mph exit velocity, which was the hardest ball hit by any Met all season. It immediately put Mauricio in the top percentile in max exit velocity. The 117.3 mph hit was not a one-off incident, however. Quite the opposite; check out Mauricio's demolition of MLB pitching, per Mathew Brownstein of The NY Times:
By the way, this is after he tore up Triple-A to the tune of a .292/.346/.506 slash line with 23 homers, 30 doubles, 24 stolen bases, 76 runs, and 71 RBI across 116 games. Mauricio is a true difference-maker in fantasy and is a viable pickup in all formats.
Zack Gelof, 2B, Oakland Athletics (44% rostered)
The A's called up Zack Gelof for the first series after the All-Star break, thus making him a de facto veteran compared to some of the other rookies called up recently. Through 48 games, Gelof is batting .278 with an impressive .541 slugging percentage. He's got 11 homers and 10 steals, thus proving to be an across-the-board contributor in fantasy.
What's better, Gelof's batted-ball metrics fully back up his torrid start. He's rocking a 41.8% hard-hit rate, a 91 mph average exit velocity, and an 11.9% barrel percentage. Mix in 93rd-percentile sprint speed and Gelof is the perfect blend of speed and power that is so desirable in fantasy baseball. How he's available in this many leagues remains a mystery.
Waiver Wire Pickups for Deeper Leagues
Jordan Lawlar, SS, Arizona Diamondbacks (23% rostered)
The Diamondbacks are at it again. Last season, they promoted top prospect Corbin Carroll in September to help prepare him for his true rookie season in 2023. That worked wonderfully. This year, it's Jordan Lawlar getting a similar opportunity. The 21-year-old spent most of the season at Double-A but now finds himself manning shortstop for a team in the thick of the postseason picture.
Lawlar had good-not-great numbers in the minors this season. But that didn't hurt his prospect standing, as he remains a top-10 prospect in all of baseball. Manager Torey Lovullo already committed to starting Lawlar vs. all LHP, and lo-and-behold Arizona is tentatively slated to face four lefties this week. It may be risky betting your season on an unproven rookie, but Lawlar has massive upside and is worth a look in deeper formats.
Edouard Julien, 2B, Minnesota Twins (15% rostered)
This time of year, it's important to play the matchups. That makes Edouard Julien a sneaky starter ahead of a seven-game week for the Twins. Julien's numbers overall are fairly meh; he's batting .275 with 11 homers and three steals in 89 games, ho-hum. However, Julien crushes right-handed pitching. As of right now, Minnesota is scheduled to face seven righties this week.
Julien's on-base percentage vs. RHP (.400) is almost double his OBP vs. LHP (.214). All of his other numbers also paint a picture of an RHP masher. If you're playing the week-to-week streaming game, Julien is a solid starter for Week 25 of the fantasy season.
Other Options to Consider:
- J.P. Crawford, SS, Seattle Mariners (45% rostered)
- Ezequiel Tovar, SS, Colorado Rockies (42% rostered)
Prospect Watch
Jackson Holliday, SS, Baltimore Orioles (13% rostered)
Jackson Holliday found himself in this space last week. At this point, the 19-year-old is the last high-end prospect left in the minors who has a chance to make an impact in fantasy this season. Holliday was recently promoted to Triple-A, and Baltimore has been hyper-aggressive with advancing Holliday since selecting him first overall in last year's draft.
Advancing Holliday so quickly is not without merit, however. Across three levels this season, Holliday batted .325 with a whopping .950 OPS and has generally looked way too good to be playing in the low minors. Will the Orioles want to promote a 19-year-old who started this season in A-Ball? That's anyone's guess. But Holliday needs to be on the radar of every fantasy manager in case the O's see him as a contributor in their playoff pursuit and call him up before his 20th birthday.
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