Whether you're looking for power or speed, catching or pitching help, today's Waiver Wire has you covered. Here are the Wednesday standouts deserving of consideration.
Possible waiver wire pickups
The roster rate is already pretty high here, but you may remember the 2021 version Jesse Winker was the kind of player who deserved to be rostered everywhere. And there are early indications he's back to that form after an injury-plagued year in Seattle. His average exit velocity is back up to 91.3 mph after plummeting to 87.7 last year. He's swinging the bat well enough that the Brewers even kept him in the lineup against a lefty Wednesday, and he responded by going 2 for 4, hitting a double off said lefty. Of course, the sample is too small to draw definite conclusions, but that goes for every player this time of year. What we've seen from Winker so far is exactly what we hoped to see.
| |||||||||||||
A last-minute IL move for Max Stassi opened a spot on the Opening Day roster for Logan O'Hoppe, and he's quickly settled in as the primary catcher for the Angels, starting five of their first six games. He connected for his second home run Wednesday and has made consistently hard contact so far. His best trait we haven't even seen yet. He reached base at a .416 clip at Double-A last year but has yet to draw his first walk in the majors. That plate discipline should make him a viable Fantasy contributor even when he's scuffling at the plate, putting him in the top-12 discussion at catcher.
| |||||||||||||
Word is Francisco Alvarez will get the call Friday with Omar Narvaez suffering a calf injury Wednesday. Narvaez is expected to miss a couple months. Fortunately, Alvarez is already catcher-eligible in CBS Sports leagues. On most other platforms, he's DH-only. True, he could pick up catcher eligibility in short order, but it's unclear how much catching he'll actually do. Are the Mets willing to accept some growing pains behind the plate, or will he make only occasional starts there while getting most of his at-bats at DH? Speaking to just the CBS crowd, Alvarez's upside, particular with regard to power, means that somebody could probably use him in your league. I'm currently slotting him 13th at catcher, but he has the upside for more.
| |||||||||||||
Jorge Soler has always made some of the loudest contact of any hitter, but it hasn't always translated to big production. There was the 48-homer 2019, though, as well as that stint with Atlanta in 2021 when he homered 14 times in 55 games for an .882 OPS. The latter stretch was recent enough that I was among those buying in last season, but the whole thing went belly-up because of back issues. The way he's impacting the ball now, though, suggests he's feeling good. He has averaged 98.8 mph on batted balls so far, which would of course lead the league if he somehow continued it, and of course, there were the two home runs Wednesday, including one hit 114 mph. If you need power, he's worth a shot.
| |||||||||||||
Mitch Keller has long teased us with his potential and finally delivered the gem we were hoping for Wednesday. He looked like a changed pitcher in spring training, leaning heavily on a new cutter, but interestingly, he threw it only 21 percent of the time in this one after making it his primary pitch in his first start. I do think there's more bat-missing potential with it in his repertoire, and he's now thrown 68.1 percent of his pitches for strikes this year compared to 62.8 percent last year. Of course, pitching for the Pirates isn't ideal, but with the offensive assault happening in baseball right now, it's a beggars-can't-be-choosers situation at starting pitcher.
| |||||||||||||
Myles Straw isn't the sexiest pickup, particularly with stolen bases shaping up to be far more common this year. But if he's the best version of himself, he's still likely to place among the league leaders in that category, actually taking the lead with his fifth swiped bag Wednesday. He worked with the Guardians coaching staff this offseason to clean up a swing that produced just a .221 batting average last year, and so far this year, he's hitting line drives more at the rate that produced a .271 mark two years ago, this after a big spring in which he also hit .364. He doesn't need to be rostered everywhere, but in deeper leagues with five outfield spots, he deserves your attention again.
| |||||||||||||
