NL-Only and AL-Only Waiver Wire for Week 9

May 27, 2021

Matt Wallach outlines his favorite week 9 waiver wire pickups and adds for deep leagues, and AL-only or NL-only fantasy baseball leagues for the 2021 MLB season.

With the Major League season moving right along to the last week of May, it seems that we are past the early part of the season and we can start to take how players have performed to this point more seriously. With two full months pretty much in the books, a lot of those with slow starts have had time to rebound and those who had hot starts have cooled off and now it's time to decide what was real and what was not.

For deep-league fantasy managers churning through the waiver wire, most of the players available are flawed in some way, but they still have things that are encouraging and may give managers something to be excited about after all. It may require some diligent managing, but there is some good talent sitting available on waivers right now.

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. Now, without further ado, let's get into it.

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Josh Naylor - 1B/OF, Cleveland

6% rostered
Recommended move: Add for the long haul

Naylor is one of those players that definitely did start out slow, as he had a 61 wRC+ in April, which led to him getting taken off many fantasy managers' radars. While he hasn't come roaring back in May, he has absolutely played better, with a 109 wRC+ and four home runs after not having any in April.

He's also played well in the past week or so with a 112 wRC+ in his last six games on the back of a .263/.333/.421 slash line. He's not going to set the world on fire, but Naylor is the type of player that will probably contribute in every category (except stolen bases), and not hurt anywhere. His biggest issue as a hitter looks to be the elevated rate of groundballs, as he is running a 50%+ groundball rate now for the third year, but it at least seems that his non-grounders are playing better, with an average exit velocity of 94.2 miles-per-hour. Nobody that's being picked up in deep formats like this are going to be without warts, and his groundball issues are big, but at least there is solace in that he should do damage with his air balls.

Naylor should also be more of a focal point in a weak Cleveland lineup now with Franmil Reyes (abdomen) out for a long time. There's no playing time issue to be concerned with, and the dual eligibility is a nice plus. Naylor should probably be rostered at a higher rate, but his slow start affected that, and now there's a chance for deep-leaguers to get in on his rebound.

Jose Iglesias - SS, Angels

5% rostered
Recommended move: Add for a few weeks

Iglesias was one of the big surprises of the shortened 2020 season, in which he came out of nowhere to post a .373/.400/.556 slash line with the Orioles. Now, he was definitely not going to play like that again in a new season, but he is still playing well and can be a useful player for fantasy purposes.

He's not posting the power numbers like last year, but he is still a positive in terms of batting average--which is his main calling card in fantasy. It's currently at .278, and it looks to be trending up, as he also got off to a slow start but has been playing much better lately. He had a .269 batting average and a 79 wRC+ in April, but in May he has marks of .292 and 116, respectively. If he can maintain similar marks in the future, Iglesias will pay off quite nicely for fantasy managers who decide to pick him up now.

Additionally, he's currently the Angels' leadoff hitter. While Mike Trout (calf) is out of the lineup, there are still a few potent bats in the form of Shohei Ohtani, Anthony Rendon, and Jared Walsh that he's hitting in front of. With those big bats to drive Iglesias in, he should score plenty of runs, making for more than just a one-category player. If you're in need of a shortstop replacement, Iglesias should be a good option that looks a little undervalued right now.

Brad Miller - 2B, 3B, OF, Phillies

4% rostered
Recommended move: Add for the long haul

The Phillies are pretty banged up right now, and in an ideal world, Miller would not be in the lineup for them everyday, but those injury circumstances have forced that to happen, and so far, it appears to be paying off for them, as he has surpassed all expectations with a whopping 141 wRC+ for the season.

Miller has straight up been one of their best and most consistent hitters this season, so he should remain in the lineup on a daily basis going forward. He's even been getting most of the starts against left-handed pitching too, which has been his biggest area of weakness in his career (75 wRC+ against lefties compared to 112 against righties). To be fair, he has hit lefties exceptionally well this season, with a 162 wRC+--better than his mark against righties--but he probably isn't that good against them, and that should regress closer to his career norms as the season goes on.

For fantasy purposes though, a manager can choose to ride the hot streak and keep him in there for the matchups against lefties, but those in daily leagues can really optimize things and play him only against righty starters and enjoy what should be good results. The triple eligibility is a plus too, as he can be plugged and played where necessary in case of injury or a day off for a starter elsewhere in lineups.

Harold Castro - 1B/2B/3B/OF, Tigers

2% rostered
Recommended move: Add for a few weeks

Castro is pretty one-dimensional in fantasy, as he is pretty much only going to contribute in the batting average category, but he should do so in a big way. He's currently hitting a whopping .351, and yes, it is paired with an equally whopping.441 BABIP that is in no way sustainable, but Castro is the high-contact type of player that should have a higher BABIP than most, it just probably won't be this good going forward.

What's helping him out this season looks to be an elevated line-drive rate (48.3% this year, 28.8% for his career). Line-drives will definitely fall in for hits, so if he can keep that up, more good things should be on the horizon in terms of batting average. While he has yet to record a single barrel, his hard-hit rate is up to 40%, which would be a career-high for him. More hard-hit balls will also help the batting average play up some. Those two factors certainly help support his high batting average to this point, at least to the point where it doesn't look like such a fluke.

Now, Castro is doing all of this while only playing against right-handed pitchers. He's only had nine total plate appearances against southpaws this year, and for good reason, as he's struggled mightily against them in his career (.218 batting average, 22 wRC+), so don't expect him to be in there all that much against a lefty starter. That does hurt his fantasy value some, as he's a platoon player, but he is on the stronger side of it at least, and his quadruple-eligibility helps make up for it.

He definitely has more value in daily leagues, but could still be a good option in weekly leagues too. He's also been on fire the last week or so, with a .423 batting average, albeit with not much else. If you have the ability to roster a platoon player, Castro should be a good option for those needing some help in the batting average department.

Guillermo Heredia - OF, Braves

2% rostered
Recommended move: Add for a few weeks 

Heredia has been one of the early season standouts, and after a brief stint on the injured list, he's back in the lineup for the Braves and their starting center fielder almost by default due to injuries, but also due to him simply playing well. Heredia has a .308/.400/.538 slash line, and while he may be playing well over his head, he's playing too well to ignore for fantasy purposes. Heredia has also been playing well since coming off the injured list with a .320/.346/.480 line.

That's not to say that Heredia hasn't been deserving of his strong number thus far. While Statcast doesn't suggest that he's been this good, his expected stats are still strong with a .343 xwOBA and a .448 xSLG, due to a spike in barrel rate (11.1%) and hard-hit rate (37.8%).

Heredia probably won't provide much else in terms of power or speed, but just like a few of the other names mentioned here, he shouldn't be a drag in any one particular category in general, and could even have good batting average upside as well. So, while Heredia probably isn't this good, it's hard to complain about the numbers that Heredia is putting up right now, especially considering the rough-hitting landscape league-wide.

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.

Jonathan Schoop (2B/1B, DET)

Last week: 6% rostered. This week: 7% rostered. 

Schoop had started to heat up in the last few weeks which inserted him back into the fantasy discussion. It wasn't the most exciting week for Schoop, as he had just a 96 wRC+ in his last seven games, with a 29% strikeout rate. He did at least have a home run, but not much else from the counting stats side, but I would hold Schoop for now. His dual eligibility makes him attractive and he figures to be league-average for the rest of the season after a slow start, which does have value.

Current recommendation: Hold. 

Austin Slater (OF/1B, SFG)

Last week: 6% rostered. This week: 4% rostered. 

Such is the life of a player on the short end of the platoon. Slater started just twice in the last week, and while he did homer in one of those games, he didn't exactly do well overall, with just a .167 batting average in that span. With the playing time situation in San Francisco starting to sort itself out with players coming back from injury, Slater is firmly locked into that platoon role, and not worth rostering right now.

Current recommendation: Drop. 

Odubel Herrera (OF, PHI)

Last week: 5% rostered. This week: 15% rostered. 

Just like this week's recommendation in Miller, Herrera has been a beneficiary of the Phillies' injury situation. He doesn't look to be letting go of a starting spot anytime soon, as he continues to play well, this time with a 136 wRC+ and a .308 batting average in the last week. It hasn't come with much power, with just two homers and a .129 ISO this season, but those rostering Herrera should definitely be happy with what Herrera has provided thus far.

Current recommendation: Hold. 

Charlie Culberson (1B/3B/SS/OF, TEX)

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

Culberson's ride looks to be over. He's not playing as much as he was earlier in the season, and when he is playing, he's not playing too well. He received just three starts last week and failed to record a hit. Brock Holt is off the injured list now and the team seems to prefer him over Culberson right now. This is an easy drop.

Current recommendation: Drop. 

Michael Chavis (1B/2B/OF, BOS) 

Last week: 3% rostered. This week: 0% rostered. 

In what I thought was a surprising move, the Red Sox sent Chavis back down to Triple-A with Christian Arroyo coming off the injured list. The team also called up Danny Santana, which maybe made Chavis a bit redundant. The writing was probably on the wall as he only started two of four possible games last week. He'll probably come back up to the big league club at some point, but there's not really a point in keeping him on your fantasy roster right now. Clear drop.

Current recommendation: Drop. 

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