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Injuries have been a plague upon Major League Baseball from the jump this year; middle infielders haven't been spared, so things are looking a bit thin out there on the ol' waiver wire. You can still find help, though, and that's the goal of this exercise.
Most of the players who will be written up in this feature won't be the next breakout star. Some may only be useful for a brief period. A few might not provide any value at all. It's the nature of the beast; if these players were slam dunks, they wouldn't be widely available for free. We're looking for plausible upside with naught but opportunity cost. By considering a wide swath of factors including but not limited to evidence of a change in approach, favorable upcoming schedules, and plain ol' potential, the goal is simply to find as much marginal value as possible.
As a reminder, we'll be looking at pickups for shallow leagues (30-49% rostered) and deeper formats (10-29%), as well as highlighting players in the single-digits who deserve a spot on your watch list at the very least. These are your second base and shortstop waiver wire pickups for Week 10 - May 31 through June 6.
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Pickups for Shallow Leagues
Jurickson Profar, 2B/OF, San Diego Padres (40% rostered)
Profar has stolen four bases in his last 10 games, giving him nine on the season already. He's also scored 27 runs in 46 games. That's despite having driven himself in just once after consistently hitting at a 20 HR full-season pace over the last few years. Even if the power doesn't come around, Profar's willingness to run gives him fantasy value.
Brad Miller, 2B/3B/OF, Philadelphia Phillies (35% rostered)
Miller has been getting a lot of run in the lineup lately with Bryce Harper (wrist) and Didi Gregorius (elbow) both on the IL. He hit 30 homers back in 2016, the only time he's reached the 600 plate appearance mark in his career. As a part-time player, he's produced an .857 OPS, 25 HR, and 6 SB in 445 PA. Having three eligible positions makes him a great bench option in these injury-riddled times.
Pickups for Deeper Leagues
Danny Santana, 1B/2B/3B/SS/OF, Boston Red Sox (27% rostered)
Santana came out of nowhere to produce a five-category season in 2019 (.283 AVG, 81 R, 28 HR, 81 RBI, 21 SB), and though I didn't buy that breakout at all, it did happen. He didn't play much in 2020 and was terrible when he did, but Santana already has two homers and a stolen base in his first six games with the Red Sox, however. And while he remains a flawed player (N.B. the hideous 42.1% strikeout rate and 21.3% whiff rate), he's eligible all over the diamond and offers both pop and speed.
Ty France, 1B/2B/3B, Seattle Mariners (25% rostered)
France came flying out of the gate before falling back to earth after suffering a wrist injury. That malady eventually led to a stint on the injured list, from which he returned last week. Entering Saturday night's action, he's collected seven hits in five games since. The 28-year-old hit 27 homers in 76 games at Triple-A in 2019, so we know there's some pop in the bat, and he owns both a walk rate north of 10 percent and an in-zone contact rate above 90 percent. The ingredients for success are there.
Willy Adames, SS, Milwaukee Brewers (17% rostered)
Adames went 4-for-5 with a homer and four RBI on Thursday and has hit safely in six of his first seven games with the Brewers. It's a comically small sample, but the 25-year-old has shown a great approach in Milwaukee thus far, drastically cutting his chase rate with whiffs plummeting as a result. Even if that doesn't hold, his performance away from Tropicana Field bodes well. Even playing half of his games there, he produced a 20 HR season in 2019 and an .813 OPS last year.
Freddy Galvis, 2B/SS, Baltimore Orioles (14% rostered)
Galvis went deep twice on Saturday, which brought his overall slash line on the season to .255/.316/.497. He now has nine homers, five of which have come in the past 10 days, and his run production (25 R, 20 RBI) has been good. We probably shouldn't expect him to run much - his last double-digit SB season came back in 2017 - but Galvis does have multiple 20 HR seasons to his credit. And though his Statcast data suggests he's overachieved, he has literally never not outperformed his xStats, usually by significant margins.
The Watch List
Jonathan Schoop, 1B/2B, Detroit Tigers (7% rostered)
Schoop's homer on Saturday was his second in three days and third in 12 games. The full-season numbers are still rough, but the veteran has an under-appreciated track record of success. From 2016 to 2020, he ranked third in homers, fifth in RBI, and ninth in runs scored amongst second basemen, while hitting a respectable .266.
Brendan Rodgers, 2B/SS, Colorado Rockies (7% rostered)
Well-regarded prospect, still just 24, playing half of his games in Coors. No need to overthink this one. Injuries and organizational incompetence have conspired to keep Rodgers from logging much MLB time in the past, but he's healthy and the Rockies finally seem willing to give him an honest shot. Only six games so far, but he's chasing and whiffing a lot less than his previous, brief big league stints. The team will need him in the lineup more often than not with Trevor Story (elbow) on the IL.
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