Outfield Waiver Wire Pickups For Week 2

Baseball is back, and with it came room for fantasy managers to gain edges in their leagues through the waiver wire. Playing the waiver wire well can take a poorly drafted team into championship contention or help shore up an already strong team, and waivers generally represent one of the best ways for fantasy managers […]

Catchers to Stream - Week 2 Waiver Wire

It's your resident catcher advocate here, preparing my defense for baseball's most maligned position. Instead of giving into easy narratives about the lack of talent at the catcher position and how they're the kickers of fantasy baseball, I'm here to create a place where catchers are celebrated for how they can help our teams. Each […]

Top Hitter Streamers and Starts for Week 2

Welcome to the top hitter streamers column for Week 2 of the MLB season (4/5 through 4/11). This weekly piece should be helpful for anyone looking to gain an edge in their league. If you need a fill-in for an injured player or want to exploit some plus matchups to gain an edge on your […]

Two-Start Pitcher Streamers: Week 2

This week, Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton said, "Opening Day should be a national holiday as far as I'm concerned," and let me just say I wholeheartedly agree. Man, isn't it great that meaningful baseball is back? On the Opening Day of the 2021 season, Shane Bieber had 12 strikeouts against Detroit, old man Miguel Cabrera […]

Brandon Nimmo (OF, NYM) - Week 2 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues ROSTERED IN: 26% of leagues ANALYSIS: The Mets have yet to take the field in 2021 due to COVID protocols, but once they finally do, Brandon Nimmo is expected to serve as their primary leadoff hitter. There's little wonder as to why, considering that the 28-year-old boasts a career .390 […]

Raimel Tapia (OF, COL) - Week 2 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues ROSTERED IN: 33% of leagues ANALYSIS: The Rockies' disdain for letting the players that most intrigue fantasy managers actually play is well-established at this point. After a couple of years as a part-timer, however, Raimel Tapia appears to have escaped that purgatory. Prior to sitting out on Sunday due to […]

Yusei Kikuchi (SP, SEA) - Week 2 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in All Leagues ROSTERED IN: 42% of leagues ANALYSIS: Yusei Kikuchi got some late-round love in drafts this spring after flashing huge velocity gains in the shortened 2020 season. What kept that increased speed from maximum effectiveness was a lack of command. Judging by his 2021 debut on Friday night, when he gave up […]

Yermin Mercedes (DH, CHW) - Week 2 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 6% of leagues ANALYSIS: Yermin Mercedes is getting all the hype right now after starting off the year with eight straight hits. The 28 year old journey man has bounced around three different clubs before finally sticking with the White Sox. He has always flashed good plate discipline […]

Trevor Rogers (SP, MIA) - Fantasy Baseball Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Draft target ~pick 390 CURRENT ADP: ~444 overall ANALYSIS: Rogers is being overlooked to some extent because of the company he keeps. Sandy Alcantara stepped forward in a big way with an All-Star nod in 2019 and 2020 was all about Sixto Sanchez. The Marlins are now knee-deep in young arms who could vie for a […]

Austin Riley (3B, ATL) - Fantasy Baseball Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Draft target ~pick 185 CURRENT ADP: ~206 overall ANALYSIS: With the power being the strength in his game it was encouraging to see him not selling out for power as much in 2020. He hit more line drives (30.7%) but unfortunately he saw a big jump in ground balls. Up to 42.1% from 25.6% […]

Christian Walker (1B, ARI) - Fantasy Baseball Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Draft target ~pick 175 CURRENT ADP: ~193 overall ANALYSIS: Walker put together a solid 2020 campaign hitting .271/.333/.459 with seven homers in 57 games, although that's hardly worth describing as a break out. Statcast emphasizes that Walker was unlucky in 2020 with regards to home runs as he had an expected home run (xHR) […]

Alex Dickerson (OF, SF) - Fantasy Baseball Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Draft target ~pick 295 CURRENT ADP: ~319 overall ANALYSIS: 2020 was the second season now for Dickerson in which he impressed, albeit in limited opportunities. His .298/.371/576 triple slash last year was the product of hitting the ball harder. He set new career-highs in average exit velocity, barrel rate, and hard-hit rate, all […]

Bobby Dalbec (1B, BOS) - Fantasy Baseball Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Draft target ~pick 250 CURRENT ADP: ~277 overall ANALYSIS: After coming up through Boston's farm system as a third baseman, Dalbec now projects to be the Opening Day first baseman for the Red Sox with Rafael Devers manning the hot corner. Dalbec slugged his way through the upper levels of the minors, hitting 32 home runs […]

Mark Canha (OF, OAK) - Fantasy Baseball Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Draft target ~pick 240 CURRENT ADP: ~255 overall ANALYSIS: In 2020, Oakland A’s outfielder/designated hitter Mark Canha posted a .246/.387/.408 slash line to go with five home runs and a very impressive 33 RBI in 243 plate appearances. While his RBI total, fifteenth in all of MLB, and OBP were among the league’s best […]

Devin Williams (RP, MIL) - Fantasy Baseball Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Draft target ~pick 150 CURRENT ADP: ~167 overall ANALYSIS: It's no surprise that Williams is one of the highest non-closer relievers being drafted now after his insane 2020 season that saw him win the NL Rookie of the Year Award and finish seventh in the Cy Young race. Obviously, the strikeouts were a big […]

Danny Jansen (C, TOR) - Fantasy Baseball Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Draft target ~pick 280 CURRENT ADP: ~310 overall ANALYSIS: Jansen was a fairly popular sleeper candidate at catcher heading into last season, but investments from fantasy managers failed to pay off with Jansen batting just .183 with a similarly poor .671 OPS. Jansen managed to post a career-best .352 xwOBA that ranked eighth […]

Carlos Santana (1B/DH, KC) - Fantasy Baseball Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Draft target ~pick 260 CURRENT ADP: ~292 overall ANALYSIS: Kansas City Royals first baseman/designated hitter Carlos Santana gets overlooked every single season. The reason is because of rotisserie bias (Roto is the more popular format), but Santana is always such a value in points leagues, where hitters lose points for strikeouts but are awarded points […]

Ryan Mountcastle (1B/OF, BAL) - Fantasy Baseball Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Draft target ~pick 130 CURRENT ADP: ~146 overall ANALYSIS: The frontrunner for 2021 AL Rookie of the Year may be a poor fielder but a full season at Camden Yards should yield profits. The 2020 small sample brought us a .333/.386/.492 slash with five homers over 140 PAs, but much of that was […]

Eduardo Escobar (3B, ARI) - Fantasy Baseball Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Draft target ~pick 260 CURRENT ADP: ~278 overall ANALYSIS: Eduardo Escobar was a player that was expected to regress from the big year he had in 2019. The juiced ball really assisted the power that year and it was a clear outlier. However, we saw Escobar regress a little too much in 2020. He […]

Colin Moran (1B, PIT) - Fantasy Baseball Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Draft target ~pick 375 CURRENT ADP: ~411 overall ANALYSIS: The departure of Josh Bell in a trade to the Washington Nationals has opened up a full-time spot at first base for Moran who put up his most impressive power numbers last year. Moran led the Pirates in 2020 with 10 homers in 52 games (having hit […]

James McCann (C, NYM) - Fantasy Baseball Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Draft target ~pick 180 CURRENT ADP: ~190 overall ANALYSIS: Despite being a career .249 hitter,  James McCann really came into his own at the plate once he left Detroit. Over the past two seasons with the White Sox, he owns the second-highest BA among catchers and the fifth-most runs scored, and that was […]

C.J. Cron (1B, COL) - Fantasy Baseball Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Draft target ~pick 235 CURRENT ADP: ~294 overall ANALYSIS:  Cron will enter his age-31 season having only logged more than 500 PAs once in his seven-year career. But he’s at the perfect price point where you shrug at the low floor while recognizing his stellar power potential. I realize power bats don’t mean […]

Marcus Semien (SS, TOR) - Fantasy Baseball Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Draft target ~pick 110 CURRENT ADP: ~131 overall ANALYSIS:  If you look at his expected batting average from 2020, Marcus Semien should have theoretically performed worse than he actually did (.223), which suggests he was somewhat lucky. But then you look at his .260 BABIP last year which was both a career-worst and […]

Yimi Garcia (RP, MIA) - 2021 Fantasy Baseball Draft Sleepers

2020 was an odd season for all of Major League Baseball but the Miami Marlins’ odyssey stands out as one of the most bizarre. Miami played their first series of the season before a full-blown COVID-19 outbreak postponed their next eight games. They ended up putting 17 players on the injured list and resumed play […]

Griffin Canning (SP, LAA) - Fantasy Baseball Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Draft target ~pick 275 CURRENT ADP: ~290 overall ANALYSIS: Canning had his struggles last year after getting a late start to the year after dealing with some elbow injuries. His 23.5%-9.7% K-BB ratio is far from encouraging, but I think that was attributable to the elbow discomfort and delayed season. What this Angels righty […]

Keegan Akin (SP, BAL) - 2021 Fantasy Baseball Draft Sleepers

Keegan Akin made his MLB debut for the Baltimore Orioles during the 2020 season and the former second-round draft pick didn't disgrace himself. Akin ended the season with a 4.56 ERA and 1.44 WHIP from his eight appearances (six starts) as well as striking out 35 batters in 25.2 IP. Akin is expected to start the […]

Tommy La Stella (1B/2B/3B, SF) - Fantasy Baseball Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Draft target ~pick 290 CURRENT ADP: ~306 overall ANALYSIS: Finally signing with the San Francisco Giants, La Stella should play just about every day and hit atop the Giants Lineup. Tommy La Stella is what I categorize as a roster stabilizer. His production is not flashy, but you can write it in pen. […]

Jared Walsh (1B, LAA) - 2021 Fantasy Baseball Draft Sleepers

Jared Walsh burst onto the Minor League scene in 2019 after hitting 36 homers in 98 games and received a call up to the Angels. Prior to that, Walsh had 49 homers in 361 Minor League games so his power outburst came as a surprise. Walsh didn't have a great start to his MLB career […]

Triston McKenzie (SP, CLE) - Fantasy Baseball Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Draft target ~pick 165 CURRENT ADP: ~185 overall ANALYSIS: Triston McKenzie was ranked as a top-100 prospect from 2017 through 2019. He missed the 2019 season due to strains of his lat and pectoral muscles, but his career 30.4 percent strikeout rate, 0.997 WHIP and 2.68 ERA over four seasons in the minors was […]