NL-Only and AL-Only Waiver Wire for Week 19

August 4, 2021

Matt Wallach outlines his favorite week 19 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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Tyrone Taylor - OF, MIL

9% rostered
Recommended move: Add for this week

Taylor has been sneakily solid all season long with a .254/.340/.464 slash line (115 wRC+). He has a nice power-speed combo with his .210 ISO and five stolen bases on the back of 88th-percentile sprint speed. He's made some gains in terms of the Statcast metrics, as set a new career-high in maximum exit velocity at 110.8 miles-per-hour, which is up over five ticks from his previous best, while posting solid barrel and hard-hit rates at 8% and 4.6%, respectively.

So, Taylor has been pretty decent all-around this season, but still, the playing time hasn't always been super consistent. He's bounced around between the starting lineup, the bench, the minor leagues, while also spending some time on the injured list. Finding consistent playing time hasn't been easy for him, but it is still good to see him playing well when he's actually been in the lineup.

With that being said, why the recommendation this week then? Well, Christian Yelich is still on the COVID IL, which has opened up more consistent paying time for Taylor. It may not last for much longer though, with Yelich likely due back soon, but Taylor can still fill a role for deep-leaguers for this week, as the Brewers get a date with the lowly Pirates pitching staff this week, followed up with a series against the Giants, but notably projected to miss their top starters. What happens to Taylor when Yelich gets back remains to be seen, but for at least the rest of the week, Taylor should be a solid option.

Gregory Polanco - OF, PIT

5% rostered
Recommended move: Add for a few weeks

It seems like a throwback to be discussing Polanco as a relevant fantasy option after he's dealt with injuries and poor performance the last couple of years. While his overall slash line of .206/.288/.375 leaves much to be desired, Polanco has actually been playing pretty well as of late with a .255/.368/.447 slash line since the start of July, which is good enough for a 122 wRC+.

He's done this off the back of a 55.6% hard-hit rate, and importantly, keeping balls off the ground, with a groundball rate of just 27.8%. He also tapped more to the pull-side during this stretch as well, with a whopping 58.3% pull-rate, which outpaces his 48.1% mark for the season, and is bigger than any single-season mark for his career. Polanco also stole three bases in that span, which gives him additional fantasy appeal. Similar to Taylor, it looks like could be a decent power-speed option down the stretch. He has also cut his strikeout rate dramatically, with a 21.1% rate since the start of July, which is definitely an improvement over the 29.7% rate he posted from the beginning of the season through June, as well as where he was in 2019 and 2020.

It does remain to be seen just how long Polanco can make this last, but right now, it looks like he has plenty of ingredients to make him a valuable fantasy option. He's hitting the ball hard, keeping it off the ground, hitting for power, and stealing bases. With the Pirates not having much to play for either for the final two months of the season, Polanco will likely keep plugging away in the top-half of their order as well, so he should accumulate some good counting stats, making him an even more intriguing option.

Ji-Man Choi - 1B, Rays

4% rostered
Recommended move: Add for the long haul 

Choi was recommended last week, and while he didn't for much average last week on the back of a 44% strikeout rate, he did hit two home runs, as he continues to show excellent power. His slash line for the season is a solid .251/.362/.443, and while he doesn't wow you with anyone one excellent standout ability, he is reliable pretty much everywhere, as he shouldn't sink a fantasy team in any one particular category (except steals), while he should drive in plenty of runs considering he hits in the middle of the order. Additionally, with a 13.8% walk rate, he has extra value for those in OBP leagues.

It is also important that it seems like he has a lock on the starting first base position for the Rays. The Rays are typically a team that loves to mix and match and platoon wherever they can, but it does seem like a vote of confidence in Choi that they are leaving him in there to face lefties and letting him be an everyday hitter. For fantasy purposes though, maybe bench him against lefties, as his platoon splits have been pretty drastic this year (148 wRC+ against righties compared to just 83 wRC+ against lefties). But still, as he'll get favorable handedness matchups most of the time, managers should still feel okay plugging into their lineups every day. Overall, Choi seems to be a good cheap and reliable power bat, and one that is perhaps being a bit underlooked right now.

Carter Kieboom - 3B/SS, Nationals

2% rostered
Recommended move: Add for a few weeks 

Following the Nationals' selloff at the trade deadline, the team looks a lot different than it once did. It's clear the team is going a different way for the time being, and that means that the former top-prospect Kieboom is now getting another shot with the team after a brief two-game cameo earlier this year and two other short-stints in previous years which did not go all that well.

Kieboom struggled big-time against non-fastballs in his prior two trips to the Majors, with whiff rates over 40% against them last season. Hopefully, he'll be able to make it work now in his third opportunity, and the Nationals will likely give him every opportunity to show what he can do for the remainder of the season, and perhaps the extended playing time will allow him to find his footing.

He hit well in Triple-A this season, but that's not exactly anything new for him, and rather should be expected for a player his prospect status, but former top prospects with Kieboom's history will continue to get looks and have peoples' attention, so he should at least be on the radar and could be a good speculative dual-eligible add for the remainder of the season to see if he can get hot or start to figure things out. Thus far in a small sample, he's been roughly league-average, so perhaps he can maintain that for the rest of the year. We'll have to wait and see though.

Brent Rooker - OF, Twins

1% rostered
Recommended move: Add for a few weeks 

With the Twins being sellers at the deadline, they have some new everyday players in their lineup now. One of those is Rooker, who has been the team's starting left fielder for a bit now, and figures to stick in their lineup on an everyday basis going forward. The results have been a bit mixed for him as a whole this season, with an underwhelming .200/.257/.431 slash line, and with a high 28.6% strikeout rate, but he has shown impressive pop with a .231 ISO.

Additionally, Rooker has been much better since being called up on July 23rd. He's hit .278/.350/.583 (153 wRC+), which has, importantly, come with a drastic decline in strikeouts, with just a 17.5% rate in that span. In his first tour with the Twins earlier this season back in April, he struck out 43.3% of the time, so this is definitely a dramatic improvement. While we will need to see more from Rooker before declaring his current strikeout rate as legitimate or not, it still does look good to see it looking better right now.

What is most impressive about Rooker though are his Statcast metrics. He absolutely crushes the ball, with a 42.2% hard-hit rate and an impressive 13.3% barrel rate. Also key is that he keeps the ball off the ground, with just a 31% groundball rate for the year. It seems like Rooker has a good foundation to be a strong power hitter, and if the strikeout rates can stick or not stray too to being absurdly high, he can be a hot fantasy option. For right now though, don't expect his current hot streak to last, but he should still be a good power-hitting option in a prime lineup spot, who has the playing time in hand going forward. For some cheap, reliable power in the outfield, Rooker could be one of the better options.

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.

Jose Iglesias (SS, LAA) 

Last week: 7% rostered. This week: 7% rostered. 

Iglesias didn't have a good week last week with just five hits in 29 at-bats, and none of them even being of the extra-base hit variety, and he got caught stealing once in his only attempt. Shortstop is a pretty deep position, and while Iglesias is still the everyday option for the Angels, there are likely better options available. He can be useful again, but after the bad week, it's probably not worth it to hold on.

Current recommendation: Drop. 

John Nogowski (1B, PIT)

Last week: 5% rostered. This week: 3% rostered. 

Nogowski has cooled off at the plate after an impressive start during his time as a Pirate. It was inevitable, but a .172/.226/.241 line in the last week is pretty hard to stomach for fantasy purposes. He still projects to be a league-average type bat for the remainder of the year, but again, first base is pretty deep with better options. Depending on what else is available, it seems reasonable to drop Nogowski.

Current recommendation: Drop. 

Adam Engel (OF, CHW) 

Last week: 2% rostered. This week: 1% rostered. 

Engel was recommended last week as a short-term fill-in for the White Sox before they got healthy. He did well in his playing time last week with a .353/.476/.706 slash line, with a home run and a stolen base thrown in there as well, so he definitely did his job for those who rostered and started him last week. The playing time will be scaled back though now. While he figures to still play a good bit, it's hard to roster a part-time player.

Current recommendation: Drop. 

Luis Guillorme (2B/3B/SS, NYM) 

Last week: 1% rostered. This week: 1% rostered. 

Guillorme was recommended last week as another one-week option as the Mets had some favorable matchups that he could potentially do well in. It didn't quite work out that way, with just one hit, and then he got hurt and ended up on the injured list with a hamstring injury that will keep him out for a while. Playing time was likely to decrease too, with the Mets acquiring Javier Baez at the deadline. This is an obvious drop.

Current recommendation: Drop. 

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