RADIO
Small sample sizes have now become reasonably big enough for us to make some informed decisions. It's unlikely you'll find any potential 30-HR bats still available on the waiver wire at this point, but streaming the right players each week can be extremely helpful even if you aren't in a head-to-head league.
The corner infield positions traditionally offer power with the potential for high averages, so you may want to target players that can offer an advantage in those categories to bolster your team. In this piece, I'll identify Week 9 waiver wire targets for first base and third base who should be able to contribute in multiple categories, either as replacements or bench depth. These players are owned in 50% or less of Yahoo! leagues.
We'll also look at the names mentioned in last week’s post, noting which players have graduated off of the waiver wire (ownership higher than 50%), which are still recommended pickups, and which we are dropping off the list entirely.
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Week 9 Corner Infield (CI) Waiver Wire Targets
Yonder Alonso (1B, OAK) 48% owned
What's he doing here? Alonso was up to nearly 70% ownership two weeks ago, but got dropped like a bad habit in many leagues after he was hit on the wrist by a pitch. He avoided a DL stint and is back in the lineup, so there's no reason not to deploy him as usual. On Sunday, he doubled and scored a run, bringing his season average to .274. It's understandable why people are skeptical of his sudden breakout at age 30, with a .367 ISO that's bound to regress. His 27.1% HR/FB is clearly unsustainable as well. Take a closer look, however, and his .264 BABIP is actually 36 points lower than his career average. He's making a concerted effort to hit the ball farther and harder, which has led to jumps in his fly ball and hard hit rate. I'm not saying he'll finish with 30 HR, but even if he stops clocking homers, his average should still be good enough to make him worth plugging into a CI spot.
Josh Harrison (2B/3B, PIT) 46% owned
Harrison is also a slight surprise to appear in this list in the sense that he hasn't really experienced any slumps this season. Harrison is actually batting .406 over the past week with a pair of steals. He's moved out of the leadoff spot in favor of Adam Frazier, but Frazier's hot bat and the return of Gregory Polanco should only help Harrison's production. You would think Harrison is the type of player who crosses the plate a lot, but he's scored exactly 57 runs each of the last two seasons. The good news is that across the board, he seems to be on pace to match the numbers from his All-Star season in 2014 when he hit .315 with 13 HR, 52 RBI, 77 R, and 18 SB. He won't win you any categories single-handedly, but he can help a bit in all of them and can be moved between MI and CI if you need.
Lucas Duda (1B, NYM) 8% owned
Hey Duda, welcome back! A week after my early season recommendation for him, Duda hit the DL and stayed on the shelf for three weeks. He's worked his way back into a reliable slugger for the Mets and might even be worth streaming. He's collected six hits, two homers and five RBI in the last three games. He's increased his walk rate to an impressive 17.9% this season while keeping his strikeout rate even with his career numbers at 23.4%. A monster OPS of 1.443 in the last seven days should tell you he's worth streaming, but bear in mind that once Duda slows down, he will likely hit a wall again. Consider him a short-term power boost.
Matt Davidson (3B, CHW) 5% owned
I've held off on recommending Davidson for a while to see if he's more than a one-trick pony in terms of power, but the average is starting to pick up lately as well. Davidson is batting .471 in the last week, raising his season average to .270. Unlike the suddenly hot Duda, Davidson's value has come at a slow burn. He doesn't have a multi-HR game this season, nor has he hit more than two in a single week. If you roll with Davidson, you're not going to be wowed by the results but by the end of the season you may be pleasantly surprised by his line if he keeps this up.
Hold For Now
Justin Smoak (1B, TOR) 48% owned - He's slowed his roll over the past week, with just a solo home run but Smoak has been about steady production this season, not extreme highs and lows. Stick with him for now if you've already got him on your roster.
Victor Martinez (1B, DET) 46% owned - V-Mart is putting together a four-game hitting streak and even reached base seven times in one day (two hits and five walks in Saturday's double-header). One of those hits was a solo homer, so perhaps the power is coming around. He's a solid play at the corner position in mixed leagues.
Mike Napoli (1B, TEX) 40% owned - He's still got it going on this week, hitting .350 with two homers. Don't look now, but Napoli is on the verge of passing the Mendoza line! This is another example where you have to ignore the season stats and focus on past couple of weeks.
Matt Adams (1B, ATL) 10% owned - Adams single-handedly owned the Pirates last week, hitting two homers in one game and following it up with a walk-off RBI single in the 10th inning. Unlike earlier in the season when he was relegated to the ninth spot in the lineup with St. Louis, he's being used fifth behind Matt Kemp. He's off to a good start in his new digs, so hold on and see what he can do, but only if you're in a 14-team league or deeper.
Cut Bait
N/A
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