RADIO
Kyle Bishop recommends outfielders (OF) who can be valuable waiver wire targets or adds to help fantasy owners for Week 15 of the 2017 fantasy baseball season.
Welcome back to the Outfield Waiver Wire, where we look at the best outfielders available in at least 50 percent of Yahoo leagues. Consider this column your recommendations for Week 15 outfield waiver wire pickups.
We're past the halfway point of the season, but there are still plenty of guys who can help you floating around on the waiver wire. Not every move can be a blockbuster. Value is value, wherever you can find it. This column is designed to help you do just that.
Let's get down to business.
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Week 15 Outfield (OF) Waiver Wire Targets
Josh Harrison, 2B/3B/OF, Pittsburgh Pirates (49% owned)
Harrison followed his breakout 2014 season with a couple of middling performances, but has returned to fantasy relevance this year. A three-hit game on Sunday put him at a .280/.361/.436 line for the first half, with 10 home runs and 10 stolen bases. Despite hitting second in the Pirates lineup for most of the season, he hasn’t scored a ton of runs. Still, three-category assets with the positional flexibility that Harrison offers deserve a roster spot in most formats.
Hernan Perez, 2B/3B/SS/OF, Milwaukee Brewers (38%)
Perez isn’t running as often as he did a year ago, but he’s hitting for more power. He has also trimmed seven points off his strikeout rate, though his .270 batting average and .303 OBP are virtually identical to last season’s marks. Perez had never hit more than eight homers as a minor-leaguer, so it came as a surprise when he popped 13 last season – and the fact that he’s already got 10 at the break is even more unexpected. Being able to plug him in at any position besides catcher and first base certainly doesn’t hurt.
Carlos Gomez, OF, Texas Rangers (36%)
Gomez played poorly enough to both get cut by the Astros and be one of the fantasy’s biggest busts last season. He showed enough after catching on with the Rangers that they resigned him, and that faith has been rewarded so far. While Gomez is hitting a pedestrian .248, he’s tallied 12 homers, seven steals, and 66 R+RBI in just 58 games. Despite missing a month of action, he’s tracking toward a 20/15 season.
Mallex Smith, OF, Tampa Bay Rays (19%)
Let’s be clear about one thing – Smith isn’t this good of a hitter. There simply isn’t anything in his peripheral numbers to justify him hitting .333/.403/.425 after posting a .238/.316/.365 line as a rookie last year. His .433 BABIP is obviously due for a substantial correction. That said, he has 11 stolen bases in 15 attempts over just 35 games. Smith walks often enough to keep getting on base at a decent clip, so as long as he remains the starter in center field, he’s worth owning.
Eddie Rosario, OF, Minnesota Twins (4%)
Rosario had the game of his life on June 13, going 4-for-5 with three homers. Beginning with that gem of a performance, he’s hit a robust .386/.433/.627, with five homers, three steals, and 25 R+RBI. While he’s a flawed player, Rosario does have a good bit of raw talent. Prorate his career production to 600 plate appearances and you get a .274-80-18-58-11 line. Not sexy, but playable in more leagues than his ownership rate would indicate.
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