We're down to the last three weeks of the Fantasy Baseball season, with just two more waiver-wire runs left after this week. In H2H points leagues, if you're still alive, it probably means you're playing for it all right now. Either way, the future doesn't really matter for you anymore. You need production right now.
So, over the final few weeks here, we're going to go away from looking for more speculative, deep-league adds and just look for players who you can slot into your lineup right away in any format. If you're looking for more players to get into your lineup, make sure you check out Scott White's weekly planner column, including his top sleeper hitters and sleeper pitchers for Week 25, plus his rankings of the every projected two-start pitcher.
Let's get to the top targets ahead of Week 25:
Catchers
Joey Bart, Pirates (26%) – It took a while, but Bart has transformed into everything the Giants thought he would be when he was one of the top prospects in baseball a few years back. Bad news for the Giants, but it's worked out nicely for Pittsburgh, as he has emerged as their No. 1 option at the position. Bart went 2 for 8 with a homer and two RBI in three games after returning from a hamstring injury this week, and it's not unreasonable to view him as a top-12 option at the position the rest of the way.
First Base
Kyle Manzardo, Guardians (25%) – Manzardo still has a lot to prove at the MLB level, but the Guardians are finally giving him the chance. He's played basically everyday since returning from Triple-A at the beginning of September, hitting 6 for 18 with a couple of homers, a couple of doubles, and only five strikeouts in 20 PA so far. Manzardo is a career .878 OPS hitter at Triple-A and definitely has some upside here for the stretch run.
Second base
Spencer Horwitz, Blue Jays (27%) – Despite pretty strong minor-league production, Horwitz didn't come to the majors with much hype this season. And, with consistent playing time hard to come by at times Fantasy players have mostly been able to ignore him. However, he just hit .264/.355/.468 while playing pretty much everyday in August, and now he's off to an even better start in September, going 8 for 20 with three homers (all three coming Saturday and Sunday of this week) so far. Horwitz's underlying numbers have been pretty solid all-around, and he's clearly locked in right now, so I don't mind using him as a hot-hand play for the rest of the way.
Third base
Connor Norby, Marlins (53%) – Norby was one of those guys who always seemed to put up better numbers than his relatively middling prospect rankings would have made you think, and wouldn't you know it, he's doing the exact same thing now that he's getting the chance to play everyday for the Marlins. He has hit safely in 17 of 18 games since joining Miami, and he now has six homers in that span after hitting three between Saturday and Sunday's games. Norby doesn't exactly have huge raw power, and there are some swing-and-miss issues here, so I certainly don't think Norby is one of the best hitters in baseball all of a sudden. But with how locked in he is, I think he basically has to be rostered and started in all formats until he cools off. Which may not happen until 2025 at this point.
Shortstop
Trevor Story, Red Sox (21%) – Injuries have just completely derailed Story's career, and it's been years since he was a must-start Fantasy option at this point. But even with that being the case, we're still talking about a guy who has 19 homers and 24 steals in 146 games since joining the Red Sox, and he's back from surgery to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder back in April, and while I'm not necessarily expecting a ton from him at this point, the upside is worth chasing if you have a bench spot to play with.
Outfield
Pete Crow-Armstrong, Cubs (63%) – Crow-Armstrong is another one who put up much better numbers than you might have thought just from going off the scouting reports as a prospect, and early on in his MLB career, it looked like the skeptics were right. But he homered twice on the last day of the first half of the season and he's now hitting .284/.335/.514 with seven homers and 10 steals in 44 games since then – a 26-homer, 37-steam pace with 99 runs and 92 RBI for good measure. The defense and baserunning were always going to keep Crow-Armstrong in the lineup and give him a high floor as a player, but if the bat is legitimately this good, he's going to be a superstar.
Dylan Crews, Nationals (72%) – Crews hasn't quite been a superstar in his first taste of the majors, but you have to be pretty pleased with what he's done so far, especially as a baserunner – he has five steals in his first 12 games now after stealing three in his series against the Pirates this weekend. His .217 batting average isn't great, but he has struck out just 8 times in that stretch, too, so I'm pretty optimistic about how Crews is going to close out this season.
Jordan Walker, Cardinals (35%) – Walker is just 2 for 18 since his five-hit game last weekend, which isn't exactly what we wanted to see after his apparent breakout. But I'm still going to be optimistic about a player as young and talented as Walker, especially one who looked to be putting things together as the summer went on in Triple-A. He's still just 22, so if you're playing in a five-outfielder league, I'm willing to give Walker a look down the stretch.
Johnny DeLuca, Rays (4%) – DeLuca is starting to find himself of late, starting 13 of 14 games for the Rays with six multi-hit efforts in that stretch and a .370/.420/.587 line. There hasn't been a ton of power from DeLuca, but he does have a couple of homies in that stretch, to go along with three steals. It's a solid all-around skill set, and DeLuca brings plenty of speed to the table, making him a viable add in those deeper categories leagues.
Starting pitcher
Mackenzie Gore, Nationals (69%) – Gore really looked like he lost it during the summer, as he put up a 6.88 ERA between June and July after a hot start to the season. Fantasy players pretty much left him for dead at that point, but Gore just kept working to rediscover his mechanics, and now has 19 strikeouts to just two walks and four runs allowed over his past three starts, with his velocity getting back to his early-season range. We've seen stretches from Gore where he's pitched like an ace, and when he's locked in and sitting in the high-90s consistently, he can be a difference maker. That's what it looks like right now.
Reid Detmers, Angels (26%) – We've been fooled by Demers before, but coming off a 10-strikeout game, how could we not be at least a little bit excited? He went back down to Triple-A this summer and worked on his slider especially, and it paid off, generating eight of his 18 whiffs with that pitch. It's just one start, but it was one start against the Dodgers, which makes it easier to get excited about. I wouldn't say I feel great about starting Detmers right now, but you cannot deny the upside.
Landon Knack, Dodgers (11%) – With the Dodgers dealing with so many injuries to their rotation, Knack got a chance to start against the Guardians this weekend, and he put together a really solid, quality start. He limited the Guardians to just two runs over six innings, while giving up three boots and one walk, and he struck out eight and gave up very little hard contact. Knack has mostly pitched well when given the chance for the Dodgers, sporting a 3.00 ERA, albeit with mostly mediocre strikeout numbers, leading to a 4.55 FIP. However, his velocity was way up and he got more than a strikeout per inning against a lineup that doesn't strike out often. He's got a decent matchup coming this week against a Cubs team that is prone to the whiff, and could be a viable streamer with that offense backing him up.
Matthew Boyd, Guardians (33%) – Boyd's resurgence coming off Tommy John surgery has to be one of the most unlikely stories of this MLB season. But after he limited the Dodgers to just one earned run over the weekend in six innings, he now has a 2.20 ERA and 0.77 WHIP in five starts since coming back from the IL, with a 3.36 FIP, and while his 8.2 K/9 is nothing special, it comes with a 14% swinging strike rate that suggests there could even be some more upside there. You're skeptical, I can tell. But let me help: He gets the White Sox this week. At the very least, you can believe in Matthew Boyd against the White Sox, right?
Relief pitcher
Luke Weaver, Yankees (17%) – The Yankees only got one save opportunity this weekend, so we're still not 100% sure how they're going to handle the post-Clay Holmes-as-closer era. But Weaver did get that one opportunity Friday, walking one but striking out two for his first save. They've said they'll go with a committee, but Weaver looks to be the leader in the clubhouse after this weekend's series.
