RADIO
Just a week left to go until the All-Star break. At this point, your situation has begun to take shape, but there's still a lot of baseball left to be played. While the deluge of middle infield injuries has thankfully slowed to a trickle, those of you in need of a boost at those positions have come to the right place.
Every Sunday until the end of the season, we'll look at the best middle infielders available in at least 50 percent of Yahoo leagues. These are based on standard 5x5 scoring; adjust accordingly for your specific setup.
Let’s get to it. Below are your second base and shortstop waiver wire targets for Week 15.
Week 15 Middle Infield (MI) Waiver Wire Targets
Rougned Odor, 2B, Texas Rangers (48% owned)
It took nearly half the season, but Odor has finally shown some signs of life. Over the past two weeks, the 24-year-old has hit .293/.383/.561 with three home runs, four stolen bases, and 16 R+BI in 11 games. Seeing as Odor had just two home runs and one steal (in six tries!) prior to this recent stretch, that’s obviously encouraging. He’s also drawing walks at a career best rate and has primarily been hitting fifth in the Rangers lineup since mid-June.
Addison Russell, SS, Chicago Cubs (43% owned)
Russell’s stumbles out of the gate weren’t as catastrophic as Odor’s, but he did hit just .250/.326/.333 with no homers and just four RBI in April. Since the calendar flipped to May, however, Russell has slashed .298/.370/.438 with five homers and three stolen bases. Those may not be eye-popping numbers – neither are his modest runs scored and RBI totals given his typical slot in the lower third of the Cubs lineup – but they do demonstrate that the 24-year-old is finally taking a step forward at the plate in his fourth MLB season.
Johan Camargo, 2B/3B/SS, Atlanta Braves (23% owned)
Pegged by talent evaluators as a utility man at best as he progressed through the minors, Camargo has now amassed 501 plate appearances since breaking into the big leagues last season and produced a .279/.343/.449 line. In 2018, he’s nearly tripled his walk rate and improved his exit velocity and hard-hit rate. He played sparingly early in the year, but since May 28, Camargo has hit .279/.329/.488 with seven homers and 45 R+BI in 34 games.
Niko Goodrum, 1B/2B/3B/SS/OF, Detroit Tigers (7% owned)
Goodrum went 4-for-4 on Saturday, giving him two such performances already in the month of July. Despite a forgettable June, the Tigers’ Swiss Army Knife (he’s eligible everywhere but catcher) has hit .251/.325/.461 with eight homers and seven steals in less than a half-season’s worth of plate appearances. Other rookies have been flashier or more productive, but Goodrum offers versatility that few can match, and he’s an afterthought in almost every league.
Wilmer Flores, 2B/3B/SS, New York Mets (5% owned)
Despite the Mets’ pathological unwillingness to hand him a starting job, Flores continues to produce when called upon. Since the start of the 2016 season, the 26-year-old has produced the following line (prorated to 600 PA): .269 AVG, 66 R, 27 HR, 85 RBI. Since the middle of June, when he took over for the released Adrian Gonzalez as the primary first baseman, Flores is hitting .304/.333/.565 with four homers and 22 R+BI in 20 games. Until the Mets staple him to the bench in favor of some jabroni for the millionth time, he’s worth owning in many fantasy formats.
