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It's Week 24 of the fantasy baseball season and, at this point, all head-to-head leagues are into the playoffs. Heck, some leagues are wrapping up their championships this week as the last couple of weeks could see MLB teams sitting star players in advance of the postseason.
Those in roto leagues, we're down to the last two and a half weeks as we are almost out of time to make a run at a title. No matter what format you play, the lineup decisions we make now feel much more impactful than earlier in the season. If you need a middle infielder to help bring home the hardware, you've come to the right place.
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 fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups for Week 24 – September 19th through September 25th.
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Waiver Wire Pickups for Shallow Leagues
Gunnar Henderson, SS/3B, Baltimore Orioles (47% rostered)
The upstart Orioles have faded from the playoff race, but not for lack of production from top prospect Gunnar Henderson, who has been excellent to start his MLB career. The 21-year-old is slashing a cool .320/.370/.520 with a homer, a steal, and 14 runs-plus-RBI through 14 games.
More importantly, Henderson has flashed impressive underlying metrics implying his hot start is no fluke. He's made hard contact 50 percent of the time so far and that's come with a strikeout rate of only 21 percent. No, he can't be expected to average 92.6 MPH on batted balls over a full season, that's unsustainable. However, Henderson more than looks the part of an impressive hitter who has had no issue adjusting to MLB pitching. He's available in about half of all fantasy leagues and he should be added if he's out there in your league.
Elvis Andrus, SS, Chicago White Sox (49% rostered)
A week ago, we noted how Andrus had been scorching-hot and was promoted to the leadoff spot for the White Sox. Well, in the week since, the veteran shortstop added five more multi-hit games as he's now batting .307 in the second half, and .369 so far in September. Andrus isn't simply empty batting average, however. Since his promotion in the lineup, Andrus has scored 13 runs and collected 15 RBI as a key piece of a good Chicago lineup.
At this stage of the season, fantasy managers can stop caring if a player's performance is sustainable over the long haul. Andrus is on fire right now and getting prime at-bats for a team locked in a dog fight for a playoff spot. Ride the hot hand to a title.
Also Consider:
Kyle Farmer, SS/3B, Cincinnati Reds (30% rostered)
Waiver Wire Pickups for Deeper Leagues
Aledmys Diaz, 1B/2B/SS/3B/OF, Houston Astros (14% rostered)
Aledmys Diaz was one of the hottest hitters in baseball before a four-week stint on the injured list with a groin injury. That IL stint didn't appear to slow him down as Diaz is 4-for-9 since returning which includes a game-winning three-run homer versus the A's on Thursday, and another homer on Saturday. Diaz slugged a healthy .506 in the 20 games before going on the IL, and he's got eligibility all over the field. Now that he's healthy, he's an intriguing fantasy asset.
On the season, Diaz has a sturdy .738 OPS across 80 games. He's forcing his way into a good Houston lineup and should be getting plenty of ABs down the stretch.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa, SS, New York Yankees (26% rostered)
After drawing the ire of Yankee fans for most of the season, IKF has been hot in September when the team needed him most. In 13 September games, Kiner-Falefa has a .349 batting average with a whopping .940 OPS. Perhaps all the Yankees had to do was call up top prospects to threaten Kiner-Falefa's job? Whatever clicked, IKF has been indispensable for New York and is worth a look in fantasy leagues.
Where Kiner-Falefa makes the biggest impact is stolen bases. He's got 20 thefts on the season and is 5-for-5 in steal attempts in September. He's been running wild and is the best bet on waivers to make up ground in stolen bases this late in the season.
Also Consider:
Nick Gordon, 2B/SS/OF, Minnesota Twins (20% rostered)
Waiver Wire Watch List
Ezequiel Tovar, SS, Colorado Rockies (3% rostered)
This late in the season, there are not a ton of names to stash as there's no time left for them to make an impact. One name, though, does stand out as the Rockies have been aggressive in promoting top prospects since falling out of contention. Tovar tore up Double-A this season and there have been rumblings he could get a cup of coffee in the Bigs to close out 2022.
If that happens, Tovar could be worth a look in deep leagues, specifically if he gets called up before this upcoming week of home games in Coors Field. At the very least, Tovar is a name to add in dynasty or keeper leagues as well as someone to keep an eye on in Spring Training for the 2023 season.
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