Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Adds: Week 12
It's waiver time. One of the keys to any fantasy success is not only nailing your draft, but scouring that waiver wire for players who can give your team a boost. Even though fantasy baseball can be a really long season, it's key to scour those waivers and take it week-by-week to cement your fantasy status.
The four players below are all owned in fewer than 50% of Yahooleagues and could give your team a lift as you start off the season. It's never too early to consider some adds and drops for your team.
Yordan Alvarez - Houston Astros (OF)
Continuing to add home runs every day, it seems, Yordan Alvarez of the Houston Astros will be the crème de la crème of fantasy baseball waiver wire additions this week.
On a blazing hot tear following his call-up, Alvarez is said hot pickup for good reason. In his first game, Alvarez did this:
Yordan Alvarez had 23 homers in Triple-A.
This is homer 1 of ___ in the bigs this year. pic.twitter.com/7LKc15RElc
— MLB (@MLB) June 9, 2019
After blasting 23 bombs in Triple-A, Alvarez has three dingers to his name to go with a cool .385 on-base percentage (OBP) and 1.656 OPS.
Clearly, that pace isn't likely to continue, but the dude has some serious pop. He's also batting cleanup against right-handed pitchers as the 'Stros have folks like George Springer and Jose Altuve missing time.
Race to your waiver wires immediately, and see if the young slugger is available.
Scott Kingery - Philadelphia Phillies (SS/3B/OF)
It's time to get back on the Scott Kingery hype train. The multi-positional stud, who has seen time all over the field for the Philadelphia Phillies, has been thrust into an everyday outfield role with Andrew McCutchen out for the season.
With only 122 plate appearances to his name, Kingery's underwhelming counting stats might fool you, but he's got a 47.6% hard-hit rate with eight homers and 11 doubles to his name this year. This .420 wOBA hitter has also logged at least double-digit steals in every professional stop, and he's nabbed two steals already this year.
Kingery's has four home runs to his name in the last week, and while that pace is certainly going to slow down, he's a valuable fantasy commodity.
Anibal Sanchez - Washington Nationals (SP)
Yahoo Ownership: 29%
After a brutal start to the season, the Washington Nationals have slowly climbed their way up the NL East standings, and the resurgence is largely due to their excellent starting pitching.
Since May 24th, the Nats are 13-6, and while folks are obviously aware of Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg, who headline the rotation, Anibal Sanchez has been very strong, too.
In his last three starts, Sanchez has allowed just two total earned runs, striking out 15 hitters over 17 1/3 innings. The veteran right-hander has never posted gaudy strikeout rates, and his 21.3% mark so far in 2019 falls in line. But a 29.6% hard-hit rate and 9.5% swinging-strike rate do show that this strong run of form could stick. If you are looking for some back-end of the rotation help, peep Sanchez, who is safe to be deployed in solid matchups.
Jackie Bradley Jr. - Boston Red Sox (OF)
Jackie Bradley owners couldn't have been more miserable to start the 2019 season. Through the end of May, Bradley sported a .190 batting average, .294 OBP, and 26.8% strikeout rate. He was virtually killing you in all formats, and he was dropped by many.
Apparently, a flip of the calendar page was all the Boston Red Sox's outfielder needed. In June, the defensive wizard has turned the heat up with the bat, notching a .282 batting average, .410 wOBA, and a 52.0% hard-hit rate. With seven extra-base hits in the last two weeks, he's nearly matched his extra-base output from the first two months of the season combined.
Perhaps the outfielder just needed some time to get going -- post All-Star break last year, Bradley also broke out with a .352 wOBA, compared to a .283 mark in the first half. If your outfield needs some help, Bradley is widely available and could give your team a boost hitting in one of baseball's top lineups.
