1B and 3B Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 5

August 17, 2020

Mike Kurland's fantasy baseball first base and third base waiver wire pickups for Week 5 of the 2020 MLB season. Consider adding and streaming these free agent corner infield options at 1B or 3B.

Entering week five and it feels like the season is more chaotic than ever. We just need to grind it out a bit longer. This will help you do just that.

Before we dive in, we need to keep a few things in mind:

• We focus on players rostered in 5x5 Roto formats in Yahoo! leagues.
• Player eligibility will also be determined by the Yahoo! player pool.
• We aim at players rostered in 40% of leagues or less. This allows us to provide names to help leagues of all sizes.
• They will be in order of rostered percentage from highest to lowest.

There has been and will continue to be a ton of turnover. Be quick on the trigger and get your adds in before the next person. Staying a step ahead is key and the goal here is to keep you a step ahead. Now, let's get to those players to add for Week 5.

First Base Waiver Wire Options

Dominic Smith (1B/OF, NYM) - 36% Rostered

Dom Smith has been on an absolute tear of late. Over the last week he has amassed four home runs, eight RBI ND HIT .357 in the process. The batting average will not sustain, but the power is very real. He is at or above the 77th percentile in average exit velocity, hard hit rate, xwOBA and xSLG. He also pairs that with solid quality of contact. Smith's barrel rate is a robust 18.4%. This is top 8% ion the league. If you pair the hard hit data with the great quality of contact, big things can happen and we are seeing it now. Grab him while he is getting going and ride it out.

Jesus Aguilar (1B, MIA) - 28% Rostered

Jesus Aguilar's ownership is slowly climbing. He made a minor swing change entering this season.

The change has led to an increased launch angle. Since this post it has lowered a bit but at 16.1 degrees, it is in line with 2018. Which was the year he popped 35 home runs. Bringing the launch angle up has led to a career-nest ground ball rate of 32.7% and a career-best line drive rate of 38.8%.  With his approach currently playing to all fields, this will lend itself to providing a solid batting average and he can be a solid four-category producer.

Asdrubal Cabrera (1B/2B/3B) - 24% Rostered

This is another example of riding the hot hand. Cabrera has been amazing of late. Overall, he has four home runs on the year with 13 RBI but just batting .258. Howeveer, three of those home runs have come in the last week! He continues to bat in the middle of the order and with Juan Soto back in the lineup, all things have been clicking on the offensive side of the ball. He is also above average in just about every statcast metric as well. Ultimately, we know who Cabrera is and he is not breaking out at age 34. Things also look good in terms of matchups this week. He will face the decimated Braves rotation for three games and follow that up with the Marlins lackluster rotation as well. Not too shabby if you ask me.

Third Base Waiver Wire Options

Alec Bohm (3B, PHI) - 21% Rostered

Alec Bohm came up and made his major league debut for the Phillies this week. He has played every game since the call-up and has hit right around sixth. That trend should continue. In 2019, among three levels of the minors, Bohm hit 21 home runs while stealing a handful of bases (6). The power is what he is known for and is what should play at the Major League level. If he can throw some speed in there as well, it is just a bonus.

Tommy La Stella (2B/3B, LAA) - 12% Rostered

La Stella has quietly been turning it on lately. The power we saw last season prior to the injury is not back, but he has hit a home run over this past week. More importantly, he is playing every day and batting second. This leads to more at-bats than the average player. Not to mention he his batting .295 on the season, has multi-positional flexibility and is relatively available. This is a player who also offered the safe floor. Pair that with secure playing time and a high spot in the batting order and you have yourself a solid get off the waiver wire.

Yoshi Tsutsugo (3B/OF, TB)

Just when I thought I was done, he brings me back for more. After a slow start to 2020, Tsutsugo has put up two home runs, seven RBI and hit .333 over the last week of play. He will now get to travel to New York to take on the Yankees and that ballpark is at good as it gets. He finishes off the week against the Blue Jays who don't have the best pitching either. It is a favorable week for Tsutsugo and we could see him continue the hot run. With a hard hit rate of 50% (86th percentile) and an average exit velocity of 91.5 MPH (86th percentile) the power is not in doubt. As long as he continues to put contact on the ball, the ball should continue to fly out of ballparks.

Deeper-League Dart Throws

These are a few players to go after in your deeper leagues or if you're in a pinch in general. These players will be rostered in less than 10% of leagues.

Travis Shaw (3B, TOR)

Since returning, Travis Shaw has been hitting third in the lineup and hitting relatively well. With a couple of home runs over the last few games, and getting to call that launching pad in Buffalo "home" for the 2020 season, this could just be the beginning of things to come for Shaw.

Erik Gonzalez (3B/SS/OF, PIT)

Gonzalez is statcast darling at the moment. Increase in launch angle (10.7 degress) among other things leading to what could be more than just a hot start. Regardles, this is my favorite option of the players down here. I expect him to earn his way up that lineup sooner than later at this rate.

Derek Dietrich (1B/2B/OF, TEX)

This is pure upside play. We see Dietrich get hot and then become irrelevant plenty of times. We could be entering the said hot streak. Has started thre of the last four games and has a home run and a steal over said games. I am least confident in this player but you cannot ignore the recent playing time and production.

Ji-Man Choi (1B, TB)

I cannot get enough of Choi this season. The power is real and bats int he middle of the Rays lineup just about every day.

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