NL-Only and AL-Only Waiver Wire for Week 12

June 17, 2021

Matt Wallach outlines his favorite week 12 waiver wire pickups and adds for deep leagues, and AL-only or NL-only fantasy baseball leagues for the 2021 MLB season.

Welcome back to the NL-only and AL-only pickups column. Each week, I'll look at five players who are under 15% rostered in Yahoo! leagues and who can be considered as options to add in deep-league formats, such as 15-teamers or AL or NL-only leagues.

I'll also include a recommendation for what to do with each player on your roster. And lastly, I'll take a look at some of my picks from the previous week to see how they're performing.

Without further ado, let's get into it.

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Luis Urias - 2B/3B/SS, Brewers

9% rostered
Recommended move: Add for the long haul

Urias has seen his roster rate spike in recent weeks, and for good reason. He's been playing well as of late, with a .270/.372/.541 slash line in the month of June. This hot stretch is helping to erase the slow start that he got off to when he had just a .221/.320/.379 triple slash from the start of the season through the end of May.

Urias looks a bit different at the plate this season, which is helping him go on this hot stretch. It starts first with him hitting the ball with more authority, as his hard-hit and barrel rates are both career-highs and easily trumping where they were previously. Additionally, Urias has set a new high in terms of maximum exit velocity, which at 111.5 miles-per-hour is a sharp increase from his previous high of 107.4 miles-per-hour and places him in the 81st percentile in the game, which is maybe not quite what would be expected from a hitter with Urias' profile. To go along with that, Urias has hit more fly balls this season (38.1%), which again, easily beats what he did last season (18.4). All these factors combined lead to the improved power output that Urias has displayed this year, with seven home runs and a healthy ISO of .181, with a new career-high in home run per fly ball rate.

Urias is doing a lot of things right at the plate right now, which is making him look more like the player that his prospect profile would have suggested that he is. It's been a welcome sight for a Brewers team that needed an offensive spark. For fantasy purposes, this new hard-hitting version of Urias should continue to provide some decent pop, although perhaps at the expense of batting average. There's also some potential stolen base upside, as he has swiped two bags this year, but probably won't contribute a crazy amount of them. All in all, Urias should remain a solid fantasy contributor while hitting at the top of the lineup and with his triple position eligibility.

Taylor Trammell - OF, Mariners

5% rostered
Recommended move: Add for a few weeks

Trammell opened the season with the Mariners, but was sent down in early May after posting a 71 wRC+ with a 43% strikeout rate. He stayed in Triple-A for about a month before being recalled. He initially did well upon returning, with a 137 wRC+ in his first seven games, but has struggled a bit since.

It is one of the downsides of being a rookie, as things tend to ebb and flow. It's still early in his career, and as a former top prospect, Trammell should have a bright future. For right now in fantasy, there are some bright spots. He has, to his credit, shown some good power, as he already has five home runs in just 38 games, with a solid 20.8% home run per fly ball rate and slightly above-average barrel and hard-hit rates. To go along with that, he has shown the speed that he was known for, as he has netted two steals in a small sample--of which more should come with playing time, which looks to be plentiful for now. Trammell has started five of the last six games, including a start against a left-handed pitcher, so the Mariners look likely to keep him in the lineup for the foreseeable future.

It's not a perfect profile, but at the least, Trammell has already shown flashes of a power-speed combo, all while playing pretty much every day. This is maybe more of a speculative pick rather than one you can pick up and throw into your starting lineup right away, but the hope should be that he gets better as the season goes on, in which, he would be a nice option to start every day in fantasy. Pick him up and keep him on your bench for a few weeks and re-assess.

Nick Gordon - 2B/SS, Twins

3% rostered
Recommended move: Add for a few weeks

Another speculative-type pick, Gordon is similar to Trammell in that he has shown glimpses of a viable fantasy profile, albeit in a smaller sample. In his first 33 plate appearances, he has a .344/.364/.438 slash line, with the kicker being that he already has five stolen bases. Don't expect much power from him, but it has so far been the batting average-speed combo that made him a top-five draft pick by the Twins back in 2014.

It's a more speculative pick however because the playing time just hasn't been there consistently for Gordon just yet. He started just two of the last six games for the Twins. One of those starts came in center field, which could mean he'll soon be triple-eligible, which is a plus, it maybe just isn't enough playing time to make him super fantasy-relevant just yet. Also, Byron Buxton (hip) is due back this week, and others will likely follow, so Gordon may not be long for the Major League roster. I do think he is still worthy of a pickup in deep formats like this just to see what might happen, as the steals are very juicy, but not everyone can likely afford to roster a part-time player. If you can though, Gordon could be a good option in the short term.

LaMonte Wade Jr. - 1B/OF, Giants

2% rostered
Recommended move: Add for this week. 

Wade looks to be in a straight platoon in left field for the Giants right now. That does limit his ultimate fantasy upside, but there is potential here for a savvy manager to look and take advantage of the matchups. The Giants are only scheduled to face one left-handed starter this week, which means that Wade should be in the lineup pretty much every day this week for the team, and they have a favorable matchup against the weak Diamondbacks.

That does bode well for Wade, as he looks like yet another player the Giants have pulled out of nowhere with his impressive .268/.359/.446 slash line, on the back of hitting the ball harder (91.3 average exit velocity, 43.9% hard-hit rate), and a good helping of fly balls and line drives (32.5% groundball rate), which has helped him pop three home runs in just nineteen games. This production maybe won't last for the long haul, but again, in a week-long spurt where the team is going to face a heavy dose of righties, he can be a good hitter to stream and see if he can net some good production. As another plus, he's been hitting leadoff for the team when he does start, thanks to his good on-base skills and plate discipline, which should help him get more opportunities and plate appearances.

Rowdy Tellez - 1B, Blue Jays

2% rostered
Recommended move: Add for this week. 

After coming into this season with quite a bit of fantasy hype, Tellez made a bad first impression this year when he had just a 33 wRC+ in April, as he was dropped, for good reason, from many fantasy teams. The rest of the Jays offense has had little issue picking up the slack, but Tellez has quietly rebounded in the weeks since, with a 108 wRC+ since the start of May, and he has been playing even better recently, with a .333/.375/.600 slash line in the last week.

He was taken off a lot of people's fantasy radars after a bad start, but he's probably under rostered right now, as he is now living more up to the type of player he was in the shortened 2020 season. His hard-hit rate (49.5%) is better than last year and in the 84th percentile. The same goes for his barrel rate (13.9%, 87th percentile), along with a maximum exit velocity market that ranks him in the 92nd percentile, along with a fine 21% strikeout rate and a low 38.6% groundball rate. Tellez is doing some good work at the plate, and while he had quite the hole to dig himself out of, he is doing a good job at that right now, and his overall batted-ball profile looks encouraging.

The downside is though that Tellez is a platoon player, which means he's not likely to face left-handed starters. Additionally, George Springer (quadriceps) is embarking on a rehab assignment this week and should be back soon, which could limit how much playing time there is for Tellez going forward. That's probably a week or so from happening though, so Tellez could still be a good option for this week. The Jays get matchups in hitter-friendly Buffalo and then Baltimore, where they are only projected to face two lefties, so Tellez should be in there most of the time, in which he can hopefully use his hard-hit ability to put up some solid counting stats before he maybe heads to the bench.

Reviewing Last Week's Picks

At the end of each week's post, I'll review what happened with last week's picks and offer a suggestion for them in the future.

Yonathan Daza (OF, COL)

Last week: 5% rostered. This week: 5% rostered. 

Daza is a hitter who is supposed to hit for a high batting average, with little else. He didn't exactly do that last week, with just a .238 batting average. It seems like a clear drop, but Colorado has nothing but home games this week, so it could be worth it to hold him through the end of the week to see if he can provide a positive in the batting average category.

Current recommendation: Hold. 

Steven Duggar (OF, SFG) 

Last week: 4% rostered. This week: 4% rostered. 

Duggar didn't play all that well last week, with a wRC+ of just 11, and a 57.8% strikeout rate, but he still could've been recommended again this week. It's a similar circumstance to this week's recommendation in Wade in that he's a lefty on the Giants, who have a favorable schedule this week, so he should be in there most of the time. I would hold for this week to see if he can do better in favorable matchups.

Current recommendation: Hold. 

Harold Ramirez (OF, CLE) 

Last week: 4% rostered. This week: 5% rostered. 

Ramirez received just 20 plate appearances last week, and had just four hits with few counting stats. However, the profile here remains strong, with his superb hard-hit ability and Statcast metrics. He should still provide a good batting average while hitting for decent power as well. Hold him for now.

Current recommendation: Hold. 

Josh Reddick (OF, ARI)  

Last week: 4% rostered. This week: 2% rostered. 

Reddick went just 1-for-13 last week and has seen his playing start to get scaled back, partly due to the team seeing three left-handed pitchers last week, and due to his play. He got off to a good start, but he's been trending down for a while, and has just an 82 wRC+ on the season. This is a clear drop.

Current recommendation: Drop. 

Tony Kemp (2B/OF, OAK) 

Last week: 4% rostered. This week: 3% rostered. 

It was a good week for Kemp, albeit not quite in the way it would be expected, as instead of a high batting average, he walked 23.8% of the time, while hitting just .250. He's still pretty much in a straight platoon, but if you're rostering him, you're happy with his production. Keep him around for the time being.

Current recommendation: Hold. 

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