September 18, 2017

Kyle Bishop recommends outfielders (OF) who can be valuable waiver wire targets or adds to help fantasy owners for Week 25 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 25 outfield waiver wire pickups.

We're nearing the finish line, 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.

Week 25 Outfield (OF) Waiver Wire Targets

Nicholas Castellanos, 3B/OF, Detroit Tigers (52% owned)

This is cheating a bit, but Castellanos didn’t climb above the 50 percent cutoff until Sunday, and also I do what I want. While it’s his sizzling performance over the past month (.356, seven homers, 24 RBI) that has attracted the attention of fantasy owners, you may not realize that he’s been crushing the ball for months now. Since the end of May, Castellanos has hit .298/.337/.552 with 19 home runs and 113 R+RBI in 93 games. If he’s still floating around your waiver wire, fix that immediately.

Shin-Soo Choo, OF, Texas Rangers (37%)

Choo has featured in this column regularly in 2017. Despite producing like a top-35 outfielder, I’m almost certain his ownership rate hasn’t landed above 50 percent at any point this season. Perhaps his age and injury history have kept owners from trusting him, but Choo’s managed to avoid the disabled list this season and has put up the solid across-the-board contributions he typically does when healthy. A .262-90-19-72-12 line is plenty useful, and he’s also been hitting for a higher average recently (.301 over the last 30 days).

Kevin Kiermaier, OF, Tampa Bay Rays (36%)

Kiermaier has been the fifth-best outfielder in standard leagues over the last month, yet his ownership rate hasn’t budged since he appeared in this space last week. There’s no logical reason that KK should be languishing on the wire in nearly two-thirds of leagues. Kiermaier’s gone hitless in only four of his last six 27 games, during which is slashing .324/.361/.577 with seven homers, four stolen bases, and 38 R+RBI. Every single owner could use that kind of stellar production right now.

Jose Martinez, 1B/OF, St. Louis Cardinals (30%)

The latest random non-prospect to be spun into gold by the Cardinals and their devil magic, Martinez has hit like a superstar in the second half. Since the break, the 29-year-old is slashing .348/.433/.609 with eight homers, 22 runs, and 23 RBI in 45 games. There are reasons to think this improvement is legitimate; Martinez has started lifting the ball more and ranks in the top 10 hitters in exit velocity (minimum 150 batted balls). Whether it sticks long-term isn’t of much import to us, of course. He’s hitting the crap out of the ball now, and odds are he’s available in your league.

Matt Joyce, OF, Oakland Athletics (8%)

Owners have wisely snapped up Matt Olson in too many leagues for him to appear in this space for the third consecutive week, but the other A’s outfielder named Matt is still free to add in basically every league. He’s worth considering, having hit seven homers and totaled 32 R+RBI over the last 30 days. You’ll want to keep a close eye on his matchups since he will either be benched or play poorly when a lefty is on the hill, but Joyce shouldn’t be this widely available.

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