Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups of the Week (Week of August 29, 2022): Best Players Available Under 50%, 40%, 30%, 20%, and 10% on Yahoo

by Mickey Bell

*Stats and Roster % as of the morning of August 31

GRADUATED

  • Batters
    • Lars Nootbaar, OF, STL (30% to 53%)
  • Starters
    • Ross Stripling, SP/RP, TOR (38% to 57%)

Please check out last week’s article here if you missed it.

50% OR UNDER

Corbin Carroll, OF, ARZ (14% to 46%)

Honorable Mentions: 

  • Batters
    • Mark Canha, OF, NYM (50%: returning)
    • Nico Hoerner, 2B/SS, CHC (49%: returning)
    • Franmil Reyes, OF, CHC (46%: returning)
    • Albert Pujols, 1B, STL (35% to 43%)
    • Joc Pederson, OF, SFG (43% to 42%): His Avg Exit Velo, HardHit%, xwOBA, xSLG, and Barrel % all rank in the top 4% of the league! Even his xBA and Max EV are in the top 12%. After an abysmal July (0.421 OPS), he has turned it around with a 0.953 OPS with 2 HR in August.
    • Andrew McCutchen, OF, MIL (44% to 41%)
  • Starters
    • Eduardo Rodriguez, SP, DET (43% to 48%)
    • Reid Detmers, SP, LAA (47%: returning)
    • Mike Soroka, SP, ATL (41%: no change): Working his way back from an Achilles injury.
  • Relievers
    • Jason Adam, RP, TBR (50%: returning)
    • Tanner Scott, RP, MIA (46% to 48%)
    • Kyle Finnegan, RP, WAS (35% to 46%)
    • Alexis Diaz, RP, CIN (39% to 44%)

40% OR UNDER

Nick Martinez, SP/RP, SDP (31%: returning)

Martinez seems to have taken the closer role from Josh Hader, at least for the time being. He saved three games last week.

Honorable Mentions: 

  • Batters
    • Harold Ramirez, 1B/OF, TBR (28% to 39%): Ramirez’s surface numbers are impressive: a 0.331/0.370/0.444 slash line, a 14.7% K rate, and a 139 wRC+. Although he has just 5 HR, his combination of hitting the ball hard (top 8% or better Max EV last two seasons) and not striking out ensure his average should stay high. According to Pitcher List (https://www.pitcherlist.com/player/harold-ramirez/), his HC% is 40th in the MLB. He hits the ball into the ground too much (54.3 GB rate). The Rays tried to help Yandy Diaz raise his launch angle without much success. I’m sure they will try to help Harold as well.
    • Kolten Wong, 2B, MIL (36% to 37%)
    • Josh Naylor, 1B/OF, CLE (39% to 36%)
    • Luis Rengifo, 2B/3B/SS/OF, LAA (38% to 36%)
    • Nolan Gorman, 2B/3B, STL (35% to 34%)
    • Jake McCarthy, OF, ARZ (13% to 32%)
  • Starters
    • Alex Cobb, SP, SFG (39%: no change)
    • Justin Steele, SP/RP, CHC (34% to 35%): 1.47 ERA (2.46 FIP) and 59 K in 49 IP since June 29 (yes, 
    • Jose Quintana, SP/RP, STL (44% to 35%)
    • Aaron Civale, SP, CLE (26% to 32%)
    • Nick Lodolo, SP, CIN (28% to 31%)
  • Relievers
    • Jhoan Duran, SP/RP, MIN (39% to 40%): Jorge Lopez is the closer.
    • Peter Fairbanks, RP, TBR (28% to 40%)
    • John Schreiber, RP, BOS (29% to 31%)

30% OR UNDER

Drew Smyly, SP/RP, CHC (20% to 23%)

Quietly has a 3.24 ERA and 1.20 WHIP on the year.

Honorable Mentions: 

  • Batters
    • Joey Meneses, 1B/OF, WAS (26%: new)
    • Jake Fraley, OF, CIN (18% to 23%): It surprised me to see how consistently above average Fraley has been across levels. Other than struggling in the majors across 19 games in 2019 and 2020, his lowest wRC+ is 102 since 2017. Last year, Fraley had a 109 wRC+ in Seattle and now plays his home games at the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati. Fraley has dropped his K% by eight points and has a 111 wRC+ with 7 HR and 3 SB in 42 games this year. 
    • Isaac Paredes, 1B/2B/3B, TBR (22%: returning): Paredes has 4 HR in his last 6 games but was scratched from the lineup today so keep an eye on that.
    • Brett Baty, 3B, NYM (38% to 22%)
  • Starters
    • Tyler Glasnow, SP, TBR (24 to 25%): Add him if you have a free IL spot. He’s ramping up his rehab from Tommy John surgery. He might not end up being fantasy-relevant, but if things go well, you could be getting an ace pitcher for September and beyond.
    • David Peterson, SP, NYM (25%: new)
  • Relievers
    • Andres Munoz, RP, SEA (21% to 26%) 
    • Brandon Hughes, RP, CHC (25%: new)
    • Ian Kennedy, RP, ARZ (25% to 23%)
    • Jonathan Hernandez, RP, TEX (22% to 21%): Has Leclerc taken over the role?

20% OR UNDER

Manuel Margot, OF, TBR (16% to 20%)

Honorable Mentions: 

  • Batters
    • Bryson Stott, 2B/SS, PHI (12% to 19%)
    • Leody Taveras, OF, TEX (19% to 16%)
    • Eddie Rosario, OF, ATL (18% to 16%)
  • Starters
    • Roansy Contreras, SP, PIT (14% to 17%)
    • Jakob Junis, SP/RP, SFG (15% to 16%)
    • Dean Kremer, SP, BAL (15%: new)
    • JP Sears, SP/RP, OAK (14%: no change)
  • Relievers
    • AJ Puk, RP, OAK (17%: no change)
    • Colin Poche, RP, TBR (15%: no change)
    • Wil Crowe, RP, PIT (12% to 11%)

10% OR UNDER

Garrett Mitchell, OF, MIL (4%: new)

Honorable Mentions: 

  • Batters
    • Daniel Vogelbach, 1B, NYM (9% to 8%)
    • Elehuris Montero, 1B/3B, COL (10% to 7%)
    • Oscar Gonzalez, OF, CLE (7%: returning)
    • Josh Jung, 3B, TEX (7%: new)
    • Keston Hiura, 1B/2B, MIL (4% to 5%)
    • Ezequiel Duran, 2B/3B/SS, TEX (3%: no change)
    • Kerry Carpenter, UTIL, DET (2% to 1%)
  • Starters
    • Bailey Falter, SP/RP, PHI (10%: new)
    • Hunter Brown, RP, HOU (9%: new)
    • Mitch White, SP/RP, TOR (5% to 7%)
    • Ken Waldichuk, SP, OAK (4%: new)
  • Relievers
    • Ryan Tepera, RP, LAA (8% to 6%)
    • Jose Quijada, RP, LAA (4% to 3%)
    • Jose Leclerc, RP, TEX (2%: new)

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