June 5, 2017

Pierre Camus recommends first basemen (1B) and third basemen (3B) who are valuable waiver wire targets or adds for Week 10 of the 2017 fantasy baseball season.

Finding the right player to fill your roster at first base or third base can make all the difference in deeper leagues. Likewise, streaming the right players each week can be extremely helpful in both rotisserie and head-to-head leagues.

The corner infield positions traditionally offer power with the potential for high averages, so you may want to target players that can offer an advantage in those categories to bolster your team. In this piece, I'll identify waiver wire targets for first base and third base in week 10 who should be able to contribute in multiple categories, either as replacements or bench depth. These players are owned in 50% or less of Yahoo! leagues.

We'll also look at the names mentioned in last week’s post, noting which players have graduated off of the waiver wire (ownership higher than 50%), which are still recommended pickups, and which we are dropping off the list entirely.

Week 10 Corner Infield (CI) Waiver Wire Targets

Joe Mauer (1B, MIN) 6% owned

Mauer has quietly been hitting well for a month now, slashing .359/.438/.526 with 11 runs and 12 RBI in 19 games. If anyone has the track record to back up averages like that, it's Mauer. Unfortunately, the power upside remains very limited. You'll be lucky to get double-digit HR or more than 60 RBI over a full season, so if you're fine on power but need a boost in averages in a roto league, you could consider streaming him for a while.

Danny Valencia (1B/3B, SEA) 16% owned

Valencia continues to be red-hot at the plate since temporarily losing his job at first base. Last week, Valencia hit .484 with 10 RBI, making him one of the top performers among all corner infielders, much less those freely available on waivers. Valencia can slot in at either corner and produces across multiple categories. The power hasn't been abundant, with just five homers so far, but an uptick in his suppressed 7.6% HR/FB rate could boost that. Even so, Valencia is on pace for a 15-HR, 80-RBI season with a .276 average, so don't sleep on him as a long-term solution if you're in a 14-team or 16-team league with enough roster spots.

Paul DeJong (2B/3B, STL) 1% owned

DeJong made quite the debut, cracking a homer in his first Major League at-bat. So how will he follow it up? He's held his own so far, hitting .296 with three RBI in the past week. More importantly, he has been playing every day at second base while Kolten Wong (elbow) remains out. It would be nice to see him hit higher than seventh in the lineup, but that could come in time. DeJong popped 22 homers in Double-A last season and was already up to 11 in Triple-A this year, so there's good power potential here. He might slot better at second base if you're looking to boost the overall power profile of your roster, but he qualifies at third too, hence his placement in this space.

Wilmer Flores (1B/2B/3B, NYM) 4% owned

Flores isn't tearing it up, but there's enough value here to interest deep-league owners. Flores is hitting .313 on the season, qualifies at three different positions, and could play his way into more regular action soon. He bopped a couple of homers this week, although they were both solo shots. Ideally, you could match him up against lefties; he is batting .400 against LHP this season and hits 22 points higher versus them for his career. He isn't walking much at all (3.5% BB%) but he's making good contact, and his hard contact rate is up to 36.8%. He makes for a better utility player than a regular starter.

Graduated

Yonder Alonso (1B, OAK) 56% owned

He could still be available in your league, believe it or not, but Alonso's ownership is starting to climb again after a week that saw him bat .393 with three homers and nine runs scored. Alonso is the 12th-ranked fantasy player among all corner infielders, ahead of Kris Bryant, Anthony Rendon, and Wil Myers. Whether or not that holds up all season remains to be seen, but if there's a chance to grab him, I certainly wouldn't wait around to find out.

Hold For Now

Lucas Duda (1B, NYM) 21% owned

There must be a lot of skepticism surrounding Duda for him to be less than a quarter owned in leagues after last week's tear. Duda went deep four times last week, making it six jacks in the last 11 games. Even if he doesn't keep up that pace, he has shown that he's healthy (for now) and capable of helping fantasy teams in need of power.

Josh Harrison (2B/3B, PIT) 49% owned

Harrison is slashing .351/.413/.474 over his last 14 games, raising his season line to .303/.366/.468 with seven home runs and five stolen bases. He did exit early on Sunday after being hit for a MLB-high 10th time, but he'll have Monday off to rest and recover. The Pirates are on fire lately, so take advantage of Harrison's position near the top of the lineup.

Matt Davidson (3B, CHW) 7% owned

It wasn't the best week for Davidson, as he suffered a five-strikeout game against the Red Sox five days ago (is that a Platinum Sombrero?) Still, it doesn't change his long-term prognosis. He'll strike out a bunch (37.6% K%), but is also on pace for a 30-homer season. At .259, he's not hurting you with his averages, so hold firm unless one of the other options mentioned here, such as Duda or Alonso, is available and you need a little more bop.

Cut Bait

N/A

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