Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Week 16

In weekly FAAB leagues, your waiver wire claims have likely already been processed. Our FAAB Insights articles are great sources for finding targets ahead of weekly waiver deadlines.

Here, you will find players you can pick up if you have daily waiver claims or if you are able to pick up players throughout the week.

These are players you should consider adding from the waiver wire for matchup number 16 who are available in 60% or fewer of ESPN leagues.

 

Catcher

 

Henry Davis (C/OF – PIT) 14% Rostered

Henry Davis has done well since receiving the call from Pittsburgh, tallying two homers, 12 runs, eight RBI, and two steals with a .269 AVG in 22 games as of writing. Here is his latest homer for your viewing pleasure:

Henry Davis goes deep! pic.twitter.com/LpdtuoQtWs

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) July 16, 2023

His offensive output has given him a 108 wRC+, which is slightly above league average for all positions, but 20% better than the 88 wRC+ that catchers have averaged this season.

Davis’ walk and strikeout rates of 9% and 21% respectively are also both better than what catchers have averaged this season. His batting average, while a small sample, is over 30 points higher than what catchers have done. Even with the small sample at the major league level, these totals are in line with his minor league stats. And with an 18% line drive rate and a 54% pull rate, his .333 BABIP could sustain, meaning he could outproduce his projections for a .230-.240 AVG over the rest of the season.

Davis has made solid contact so far, barreling the ball at a 6.6% clip, but has a more impressive 44% HardHit rate. He also makes more contact than the average catcher, posting a 29% chase rate and a 77% contact rate.

Making Davis more enticing as a fantasy asset is that he is outfield eligible as well, which keeps him in the lineup daily. Davis is a great waiver wire option if available in your league.

Honorable Mention: Francisco Alvarez (31%), Blake Sabol (2%), Yainer Diaz (7%), Ryan Jeffers (1%), Gabriel Moreno (6%), Danny Jansen (14%), Bo Naylor (2%), Travis d’Arnaud (14%)

 

Corner Infield

 

Mike Ford (1B – SEA) 1% Rostered

Mike Ford has logged most of his time at designated hitter for the Mariners, appearing there in 26 games, dating back to June 2. He ended June with a .204 AVG, but has hit .394 since July rolled around, taking his batting average for the season up to .276.

Ford has nine homers, 16 runs, and 18 RBI on the season, driven by a 16.7% barrel rate and a 48.3% HardHit rate. Those would rank second and sixth respectively among qualified first basemen if he had enough plate appearances. Here is his latest bomb:

Mike Ford – Seattle Mariners (9)
pic.twitter.com/ps5gUbHxFf

— MLB HR Videos (@MLBHRVideos) July 15, 2023

Many may point to Ford’s .294 BABIP this season as fluky when compared with his .231 career BABIP, but Ford has a career-high 25% LD rate and a 46% pull rate that should keep his BABIP and AVG from tanking.

Ford has shown decent judgment at the plate, chasing just 27% of the time. His contact on pitches in the zone is a disappointing 78% – a career-low – leading to a career-low 72% contact rate.

Despite some minor discipline issues, Ford may have found a home after playing for four teams last season. He should not be viewed as a typical journeyman-type player, as his performance could be sustainable for the rest of the season, especially as he continues to settle into his role.

Honorable Mention: Joey Meneses (22%), Joey Votto (16%), Corey Julks (5%), Jeimer Candelario (17%), Ryan O’Hearn (4%), Garrett Cooper (5%), Jake Burger (6%), Spencer Torkelson (13%), Willi Castro (2%), Tyler Soderstrom (4%), Jordan Walker (40%), Christian Encarnacion-Strand (5%)

 

Middle Infield

 

CJ Abrams (SS – WAS) 11% Rostered

CJ Abrams has been one of the hottest players in baseball over the last 30 days and arguably is among the best shortstops during that span.

Only Mookie Betts and Corey Seager have a better AVG than Abrams over the last 30 days among shortstops with at least 50 at-bats. During that span, Abrams has the fifth most runs and the second most steals at the position.

On the season, Abrams has eight homers, 40 runs, 36 RBI, and 16 steals with a .251 AVG. Those rank ninth, eighth, ninth, fourth, and seventh respectively among qualified shortstops.

While Abrams’ hard contact metrics are below league average, his 5.8% barrel rate and 36% HardHit rate are improvements over last season. He also added a few degrees to his launch angle, which along with the hard contact improvements, has helped him lower his groundball rate by 5% and raise his flyball rate by 4%. He also has a higher HR/FB rate than last season thanks to his adjustments.

Proof of Abrams’ improvements lies in our PLV Hitter Performance metric shown here:

Even though his Hitter Performance is just above league average, it is encouraging to see it trending up.

Abrams is likely to be a popular waiver wire add, so scoop him up as soon as possible wherever available.

Honorable Mention: Ha-Seong Kim (33%), Brendan Donovan (33%), Maikel Garcia (8%), Whit Merrifield (48%), Amed Rosario (48%), Adam Frazier (22%), Edouard Julien (2%), Anthony Volpe (40%), J.P. Crawford (11%), Trevor Story (10%)

 

Outfield

 

Kerry Carpenter (OF – DET) 1% Rostered

Kerry Carpenter has been heating up recently, hitting four homers and tallying eight runs, 11 RBI, and batting for a .276 AVG in July. He is up to 11 home runs, 21 runs, 27 RBI, and a .269 AVG on the season.

Carpenter missed May with a strained shoulder and is criminally under-rostered since coming back in early June.

The outfielder had very good hard contact metrics last season, but has improved his barrel rate to 13%, and added 10% to his HardHit rate from last season, taking it to 46%. For perspective, just eight qualified outfielders have both a higher barrel and HardHit rate than Carpenter.

Carpenter should be able to sustain his current average and outproduce his rest of season projections if he continues driving (21%) and pulling (41%) the ball well.

Carpenter has also shown positive trends when it comes to plate discipline, improving his chase, contact, and swinging strike rates from last season. Those improvements should help to keep his average up as well.

All of his improvements have led to his Hitter Performance being near elite for the season so far:

Carpenter is a great waiver wire add for the second half in nearly every format.

Honorable Mention: Luke Raley (17%), Jarren Duran (25%), Travis Jankowski (1%), Chas McCormick (2%), James Outman (22%), Mickey Moniak (9%), Jack Suwinski (16%), Lars Nootbaar (16%), Randal Grichuk (3%), Brent Rooker (17%), Jesús Sánchez (1%), Christopher Morel (46%), Will Benson (3%), Leody Taveras (26%), Jake Fraley (35%), Bryan De La Cruz (17%)

 

Starting Pitcher

 

Grayson Rodriguez (SP – BAL) 11% Rostered

Grayson Rodriguez struggled to a 7.35 ERA in his first stint with the Orioles this season. He was hurt mostly by the long ball, allowing 13 in 10 games at the major league level.

Since being demoted to AAA in June, Rodriguez seems to have figured something out. He has allowed three homers in seven starts while striking out 54 and allowing only 15 walks in 37.1 IP. He has a 12 K/9, an 84% LOB, and a 46.7% GB rate at AAA this season, with a 1.96 ERA.

His performance earned him a second call to the big league club, especially since Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells are the only Orioles pitchers with ERAs better than 4.50.

Grayson Rodriguez is headed back to The Show.

The #Orioles phenom is joining the big league rotation — maybe for keeps — and will start against the Dodgers on Monday night at Camden Yards.

Details from @JakeDRill: https://t.co/lK2xzBEqMj pic.twitter.com/6ExIfDqd6c

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) July 16, 2023

Rodriguez has the skills and the stuff to stick this time through, as long as he can keep the ball in the park. Check out his PLV data here:

Four of his five pitches grade as above league average. His slider and changeup are clearly his best pitches, with .227 and .226 batting averages against, 28.6% and 28.2% whiff rates, and 14.6% and 20.6% putaway rates respectively. His curveball should be better – it has a 31% whiff rate and an 18% putaway rate, but has been hit hard and hit a lot. If he can locate it better this time around, it could make the difference for him. It caught too much of the plate too often in April and May.

If he was dropped in your league, he should at the very least be on your radar, if not added to your roster from the waiver wire.

Honorable Mention: Aaron Civale (23%), Bryan Woo (19%), Kyle Bradish (30%), Miles Mikolas (26%), Michael Lorenzen (7%), Clarke Schmidt (8%), JP Sears (15%), Brandon Bielak (3%), Matt Manning (4%), Brayan Bello (40%), Tarik Skubal (26%), Domingo Germán (26%), Tanner Bibee (23%), Seth Lugo (20%), Tommy Henry (9%), Wade Miley (12%)

 

Relief Pitcher

 

Kyle Finnegan (RP – WAS) 7% Rostered

Hunter Harvey gained the edge over Kyle Finnegan as the preferred closer in Washington, but with Harvey injured, Finnegan looks to be the closer again.

Finnegan leads the Nationals with 11 saves and possesses a respectable 3.43 ERA. He has 78% LOB (career best), 3.2 BB/9 (career second-best), and 44.9% GB rates. His BABIP is nearly identical to his career average, while his HR/FB rate is an inflated 16%.

Finnegan should be able to do better than his 3.94 SIERA and 4.06 xFIP suggest, especially considering he has outproduced his xFIP and SIERA in two of his three prior seasons.

His biggest issue this season is that his slider has performed worse than ever before. He has thrown it exclusively to righties, and after 39 times throwing it, it has a .719 batting average against. His worst batting average against on his slider prior to this season was .280.

Finnegan has leaned mostly on his fastball and splitter, both of which have performed well. His splitter in particular has been electric:

Finnegan’s splitter grades as a borderline quality pitch. It has a .192 batting average against, with a 32% whiff rate and a 22% putaway rate. If he continues to lean on that as his out pitch, good things could be in store.

With the reliever market so thin, and saves so tough to come by, Finnegan should be a priority waiver add for the week ahead.

Honorable Mention: Craig Kimbrel (42%), A.J. Puk (18%), Will Smith (27%), Jhoan Duran (44%), Alex Lange (18%), Evan Phillips (29%), Clay Holmes (49%), Jason Adam (21%), Pete Fairbanks (24%), Kendall Graveman (10%), Joel Payamps (8%), Adbert Alzolay (7%), Aroldis Chapman (18%), Jordan Hicks (15%)