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With the All-Star break in the rearview mirror and the trade deadline looming, many fantasy owners will be turning over every rock in search of players who can help them get back in the hunt or put a championship on ice. Those of you who need help in the outfield are in luck, as these five players are ready and waiting to provide it in the majority of Yahoo leagues.
Editor’s Note: To read about even more waiver wire options for the outfield, be sure to check out our famous waiver wire pickups list which is a running list that is updated daily.
Week 17 Waiver Wire Adds in the Outfield
Dexter Fowler, Chicago Cubs (46 percent owned)
Fowler slumped badly after an excellent start to the season. He’s still managed to accrue enough counting stats to be relevant in many leagues with eight homers, 15 steals, and 58 runs scored. That .239 batting average isn’t doing owners any favors, but there’s reason to expect improvement there, as his current BABIP is 50 points below his career mark with not much in the data supporting that kind of drop. I’ve touted Fowler quite a bit in this space over the course of the year, and he’s shown signs of life since the break.
Marlon Byrd, Cincinnati Reds (42 percent)
Since the end of April, Byrd has posted a .278/.340/.541 line with 14 HR in just under 200 at-bats. That’s a 35 homer pace over a full season. Despite those early struggles and a stint on the disabled list, Byrd should easily notch his third straight 20 HR season. Whether he’s still in a Reds uniform by that point is unclear, but given his nearly-idential home/road splits this year, leaving Great American Ball Park shouldn’t impact his value too much going forward. If anything, moving to a better team might increase his runs scored and RBI totals.
Nori Aoki, San Francisco Giants (38 percent)
Aoki will be returning from his leg injury on Monday. Before suffering the small fibula fracture, he was having an excellent first season in the Bay Area with a .317/.383/.386 slash line. With just three homers over his last 750 at-bats, Aoki won’t help you in the power cats, but he’s an asset in average, runs, and stolen bases. He should slide back into the leadoff spot in the Giants lineup before long.
Randal Grichuk, St. Louis Cardinals (33 percent)
According to StatCast, Grichuk’s exit velocity (the average speed of the ball off his bat) is second in all of baseball, behind some guy named Giancarlo Stanton. Put another way, this kid hits the crap out of the ball. The former first-round pick has muscled his way into the starting center field gig in St. Louis, posting an excellent .877 OPS with 10 homers and 23 more extra-base hits in just 216 at-bats. Somehow, he’s freely available in two-thirds of Yahoo leagues. Grichuk has been snapped up in all four of mine, so please – let me live vicariously through you. Pick this dude up now.
Michael Conforto, New York Mets (9 percent)
The 22-year-old Conforto was just called up from Double-A, and he’d only been there since May. So expectations probably should be on the modest side. On the other hand, he was the 10th overall pick in last year’s draft and hit .312/.396/.503 in that brief time with Binghamton. There’s clearly talent here, and seeing as so many other prospects have already been called up, the list of high-upside youngsters on the wire who could give your fantasy team a spark is probably rather short. Given how awful he Mets’ lineup is, there’s a non-zero chance he’s already their best hitter.
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