May 8, 2017

Kyle Bishop recommends outfielders (OF) who can be valuable waiver wire targets or adds to help fantasy owners for Week 6 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 6 outfield waiver wire pickups.

It’s still early, so you may want to avoid getting too carried away with making too many major changes to your roster at this stage of the game. Tinkering on the edges, though? That's perfectly fine, and that's what this column is designed to help you do.

Let's get down to business.

Week 6 Outfield (OF) Waiver Wire Targets

Carlos Gomez, OF, Texas Rangers (45% owned)

A season-opening slump is still dragging down his overall numbers, but more recently, Gomez has looked like the rejuvenated player we saw down the stretch last season. He’s hitting .327/.382/.510 with a home run and three stolen bases over the past two weeks, and has moved from the leadoff spot to the middle of the order in recent games. His hard-hit rate and batted ball profile are close to what they were during his prime, and he’s showing more of a willingness to take a walk than ever before. Gomez is still just 31, and it looks like he’s got something left in the tank.

Brett Gardner, OF, New York Yankees (44%)

Gardner is having a strange season. He opened the year running wild, with five steals in his first seven games – not exactly what you’d expect from a guy entering his age-34 season whose SB totals had dropped every season since 2011. While he hasn’t even attempted another theft since, he’s hit all five of his home runs in the past eight days. Both his walk and strikeout rates are career highs, as well. Gardner produced 15/20 seasons in 2014 and 2015 before a downturn last year, and it looks like he could replicate that feat in 2017.

Hernan Perez, 2B/3B/SS/OF, Milwaukee Brewers (41%)

Perez came out of nowhere to produce a poor man’s Starling Marte season in 2016 (.278, 13 HR, 34 SB). Despite not starting every day, he’s off to a strong start this season as well, slashing .262/.310/.524 with four homers and two steals so far, even after going 0-for-5 on Sunday. While nothing in his underlying numbers supports his current 20.0 HR/FB%, Perez has improved upon his contact and swinging strike rates from a year ago. He also just gained shortstop eligibility in Yahoo leagues, adding to his already great versatility.

Keon Broxton, OF, Milwaukee Brewers (36%)

Perez might have stood to siphon at-bats away from Broxton, but the Brewers’ center fielder has gotten on track in recent days. Since snapping an 0-for-19 skid on April 21, Broxton has hit .341/.420/.568 with a homer and five steals. And as of yesterday, his strikeout rate has finally dipped below 40 percent! Obviously, with so much swing-and-miss in his game, Broxton will always be a batting average anchor. However, he’s hitting well right now and swiping bags, and is a much easier player to own in OBP leagues.

Delino DeShields, OF, Texas Rangers (10%)

Longtime readers may remember that I predicted that DeShields would steal more bases than Billy Hamilton in 2016. DeShields didn’t hit, got demoted to the minors, and swiped only eight bags all season – or one fewer than Hamilton managed during a single three-game stretch in August. DeShields is back in the bigs now, serving as the starting left fielder and primary leadoff man for the Rangers the last couple of weeks. He still strikes out too much for someone with no pop, but the speedy outfielder has six steals in eight attempts, and has scored 10 runs in 11 games since being installed atop the order. Owners with a need for speed should grab him.

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