RADIO
It's August which means we're officially in the dog days of summer. Now is usually the time casual fantasy baseball players check out for the season as NFL training camps being open means there's something newer and shinier to chase. Not us though, we started this journey four months ago, and now is the time to finish strong with a fantasy championship.
As always, we've got a fresh mix of names below, some of whom have been featured in this space often, and other new names who could heat up down the stretch. If you're in the market for a new middle infielder, you've come to the right place! Let's dive into the crop of options we have for Week 20 of the fantasy season.
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 19 -- August 5 through August 11.
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Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups for Shallow Leagues
Brandon Lowe, 2B, Tampa Bay Rays (38% rostered)
Brandon Lowe remains one of the most under-rostered players in fantasy, even after he just posted a massive July. In 23 July games, Lowe batted .325 with six homers, 13 runs scored, 12 RBI, and 12 walks. He ranked first, second, or third among all qualified second basemen in virtually all relevant hitting categories for the month.
| Lowe | Stat | 2B Rank |
| SLG | .638 | 2nd |
| OBP | .407 | 3rd |
| wRC+ | 195 | 1st |
| wOBA | .441 | 2nd |
| HR | 6 | 3rd |
Now, even after a hot July, Lowe is still only batting .261 on the season thanks to an elevated strikeout rate, but that's always been part of the deal for Lowe. The guy sometimes whiffs too often, but he also possesses massive power, especially for the position he plays. Lowe's season-long slugging percentage of .518 ranks second at the position and his batted-ball metrics are off the chart. Lowe will sit versus the occasional lefty -- it's just what the Rays do -- but when Lowe is on the field, he also needs to be in fantasy lineups.
Max Schuemann, 2B/SS, Oakland Athletics (33% rostered)
We flip from one side of second base to the other to highlight another player who raked in July, Athletics shortstop Max Schuemann. For the month, Schuemann's .400 on-base percentage ranked third among all shortstops. Spending that much time on base led to six stolen bases and 19 runs scored, as the Oakland offense exploded, in part thanks to the contributions of Schuemann.
Expecting the A's to be that good moving forward is a tall order, but Schuemann himself could stay productive as he showed some impressive batted ball metrics to this point in the season. His hard-hit rate is better than the league average and his 89.6 MPH average exit velocity is better than the league average by a full mile-per-hour. He's also got fantastic plate discipline as evidenced by his 11% walk rate, hence the elevated OBP. Schuemann should be rostered in any fantasy league that uses OBP, and his multi-positional eligibility means he could be of use to plenty of fantasy managers in leagues where he's on waivers.
Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups for Deeper Leagues
Brendan Rodgers, 2B, Colorado Rockies (7% rostered)
Sometimes fantasy baseball is complicated. Sometimes you get the choice to play Brendan Rodgers during a full week of home games in the hitter's paradise known as Coors Field. Almost every Rockies player has large splits between their home vs road production, but Rodgers takes things to the extreme as his road OPS of .563 is putrid, but his home OPS of .846 is elite. This extreme shift is reflected across his counting stats as well, as he's got much better numbers at home, despite fewer plate appearances.
|
Rodgers
|
PA | BA | OPS | HR | R | RBI |
| Away | 189 | .208 | .563 | 3 | 16 | 13 |
| Home | 174 | .329 | .846 | 5 | 26 | 21 |
Even stats that aren't affected by the thin Denver air or Coors Field's spacious outfield are significantly better for Rodgers at home. His K-rate is over eight percentage points better at home; his line-drive rate and walk rate are also better in Colorado. Perhaps he sees the ball out of the pitcher's hand better at home, maybe he just likes sleeping in his own bed. Regardless, Rodgers is hot right now, playing six games at home next week, and widely available in fantasy. Fire him up in any type of league.
Whit Merrifield, 2B/OF, Atlanta Braves (7% rostered) & Orlando Arcia, SS, Atlanta Braves (12% Rostered)
This spot was originally Whit Merrifield's alone, but that would only leave one shortstop in the whole column, so let's lump in Orlando Arcia as well. The appeal here is simple, offense was up across the league in July thanks to the hot, humid weather. August should produce more of the same, and the Braves lineup has to be better than it's been to this point in the season.
To be fair, Atlanta has dealt with a ton of injuries, but that's where the next man has to step up. In this case, that's Whit Merrifield, who was cast aside by the Phillies. He should get everyday at-bats at second base, and he was an All-Star once upon a time when he played every day for the Royals. His past two seasons were derailed, in part, because he was on the bench quite often, and his contact-ability plus speed could be intriguing batting in Atlanta.
As for Arcia, we know what he is at this point -- a low batting average, high power bat who should score lots of runs batting in front of the big bats in the Braves' lineup. Arcia has 11 homers on the season with 32 runs and 33 RBI, useful numbers in their own right, but he's been even hotter lately, posting a .356 BA and .644 SLG since the All-Star break, which coincides with his 13-game hit-streak.
Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Watch List
Connor Norby, 2B, Miami Marlins (6% rostered)
The waiting game has begun for Connor Norby. Once one of many prospects in a loaded Orioles farm system, Norby simply had no path to everyday playing time at the big league level. Then, his path was freed. He was dealt to the hapless Miami Marlins at the trade deadline and the collective fantasy baseball community got excited at the idea of Norby being in the lineup almost every day as the Marlins play out the remainder of the schedule.
Then Miami optioned him to Triple-A. It's a frustrating situation -- and it's possible there's some service time manipulation happening here -- but for now we wait for the Marlins to call up their newly-acquired top prospect. The 24-year-old has pretty much done all he can do to prove he's too good for minor-league baseball. This season in Triple-A, Norby slashed a mighty .297/.389/.519 while displaying both power and speed to the tune of 16 homers and 13 steals. It's a tantalizing profile for fantasy; he's worth stashing in deeper leagues and should be added in all formats when he does, inevitably, get the call to the bigs.
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