Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Week 22

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 22 who are available in 60% or fewer of ESPN leagues.

 

Catcher

 

Logan O’Hoppe (C – LAA) 7% Rostered

Logan O’Hoppe returned to the Angels’ lineup on August 18 after being sidelined with a torn labrum since April. Since returning, he has a solo homer and a .118 AVG. Here is that homer:

Welcome back to the bigs, Logan O'Hoppe!

The top @Angels prospect goes deep for his first hit since returning from the IL. pic.twitter.com/Zo51OUO42d

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) August 23, 2023

On the season, he has five home runs, six runs, and 14 RBI with a .243 AVG.

O’Hoppe makes for an interesting waiver add for this week. He was one of the hottest hitters in baseball prior to injuring his shoulder. Much of his success comes from his elite hard contact. He has a 13% barrel rate and a 47% HardHit rate. Those would both rank second among qualified catchers if he had enough plate appearances to qualify.

Of course, he has some flaws to his game. O’Hoppe is a strikeout risk – he has a 26% K rate, a 36% chase rate, and a 65% contact rate. On the other hand, those issues are balanced out by his ability to drive and pull the ball well.

Currently, O’Hoppe’s 9% LD rate is extremely low and his 60% pull rate are extremely high. As those both adjust to normal levels like the 20%-ish and 45%-ish rates he posted throughout the minors, his BABIP and AVG should experience some positive regression.

For O’Hoppe, the power is legit, and the batting average should hover around .250 the rest of the season. Fantasy managers looking for consistency at catcher should consider adding him from the waiver wire.

Honorable Mention: Yainer Diaz (21%), Cal Raleigh (33%), Connor Wong (1%), Gabriel Moreno (6%), Mitch Garver (7%), Andrew Knizner (0%), Christian Bethancourt (2%)

 

Corner Infield

 

Jake Burger (3B – MIA) 14% Rostered

Jake Burger has been hot for the Marlins over the last 15 days, batting .435 with one home run, six runs, and 9 RBI. He has 27 home runs, 53 runs, 63 RBI, one steal, and a .241 AVG on the season.

Burger has proven to be streaky this season, unsurprising for a player with a 29% strikeout rate. Now is the time to add him, though, as he has improved his strikezone judgment throughout the season and is trending in the right direction according to our PLV data:

Burger possesses other important traits that should help balance out the strikeout woes and keep his batting average from plummeting. He is an insanely hard hitter – his 17.8% barrel rate ties Matt Olson for second highest among qualified hitters. And his 49% HardHit rate ranks 16th among all qualified hitters.

That hard contact, combined with an 18% line drive rate and a 51% pull rate should allow Burger to match or exceed his .235-.245 rest of season projections for AVG.

This is the right time to jump on the Burger train, so add him from waivers if you can.

Honorable Mention: Josh Rojas (7%), Spencer Torkelson (27%), Brandon Belt (3%), Carlos Santana (22%), Osleivis Basabe (3%), Ezequiel Duran (19%), Harold Ramírez (16%), Ke’Bryan Hayes (18%), Joey Meneses (37%), Ryan McMahon (29%), Brandon Drury (28%)

 

Middle Infield

 

Noelvi Marte (SS – CIN) 4% Rostered

Noelvi Marte became the latest Reds prospect to debut this season. So far, he has two runs, an RBI, four steals, and a .227 AVG in 25 PAs.

Marte has already delivered on part of the promise of his minor league talent, swiping four bags in his first seven games. Here is one of them:

The Reds lost but Noelvi Marte stealing third as the front end of a double steal down one in the ninth in his first MLB action ever was insane pic.twitter.com/cbkpddTJSP

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) August 20, 2023

Picking up steals has been a calling card for Marte in the minors, never finishing a season with fewer than 17 steals.

Marte also has some pop, finishing 2021 with 17 homers across low and high-A. He ended 2022 with 19 homers at high-A, and had 11 across AA and AAA this season before his call-up. While he has yet to hit a homer due to a 78% GB rate and a 7% FB rate, he already has a barreled ball and a 50% HardHit rate. As he starts to figure things out and elevate the ball more, that hard contact should help him send a couple of balls out of the park before the season’s end.

Fantasy managers who are considering Marte but are worried about his current AVG should not panic. His worst AVG in the minors was .222 in three games in the Complex League. Aside from that, he finished with at least a .270 AVG in every minor league stint.

Now is the time to add Marte before he starts to really heat up. Be ahead of the game and add him from the waiver wire now.

Honorable Mention: Nicky Lopez (2%), Wilmer Flores (31%), Royce Lewis (9%), Zack Gelof (27%), Pablo Reyes (4%), CJ Abrams (27%), Ezequiel Tovar (13%), Elvis Andrus (4%), José Caballero (1%), Maikel Garcia (7%), Masyn Winn (5%),

 

Outfield

 

Eddie Rosario (OF – ATL) 17% Rostered

Eddie Rosario is among the hottest hitters in baseball over the last 15 days. During that span, he has four homers, nine runs, 13 RBI, two steals, and a .390 AVG. On the season, he has 20 homers, 54 runs, 64 RBI, three steals, and a .262 AVG. The runs, home runs, RBI, and AVG are his best marks since his career year in 2019.

What has led Rosario to such a resurgence this season? He has nearly a 23% line drive rate, a career-high. He improved his pull rate to 44%. Both the LD and pull rates are improvements over last season and are better than his career averages. Those improvements have led to a higher BABIP and in turn a higher AVG for the veteran.

It also helps that Rosario has ticked up his HR/FB rate to 19%. That is 6% more than his career norm, but considering his career-best 10% barrel rate and near career-best 35% HardHit rate, the uptick in HR/FB rate should not come as a surprise.

Rosario also improved his overall contact rate from last season, along with his strikeout rate. Those adjustments to plate discipline have added to somewhat of a comeback season. His Hitter Performance PLV metric reveals just how well he has done this season:

If he is available in your league, he is a must-add from the waiver wire right now.

Honorable Mention: Nolan Jones (10%), Kole Calhoun (1%), Connor Joe (3%), Mauricio Dubón (10%), Kerry Carpenter (34%), Tommy Pham (9%), Chas McCormick (30%), Adam Duval (24%), DJ Stewart (1%), Brent Rooker (13%), Andrew Benintendi (15%), TJ Friedl (23%), Michael Conforto (8%), Jake Cave (0%), Austin Hays (26%), Will Benson (3%)

 

Starting Pitcher

 

Cole Ragans (SP – DET) 14% Rostered

Cole Ragans has been incredible since his move from Texas to Kansas City. In 34.2 IP across six starts as a Royal, Ragans has given up eight runs for a 2.08 ERA. That is the third-best ERA among pitchers with at least 30 IP since July 15, the date of Ragans’ first start.

Ragans also has the fourth-highest K/9 rate during that span, using the same parameters, at 12.2 strikeouts per nine innings. He has a 10.8 K/9 rate on the season, which would rank him seventh if he had enough innings to qualify.

For Ragans, his success at striking out batters is thanks to some nasty stuff. His changeup has a .188 batting average against, a 34% whiff rate, and a 20% putaway rate. Ragans’ fastball averages 96 MPH but has hit triple digits. His best pitch, though, is his slider. It has a .185 BAA, a 45% whiff rate, and a 38% putaway rate. Out of every pitcher who has thrown a slider in at least 25 PAs, only Josh Hader can claim that he has a lower BAA and higher whiff and putaway rates than Ragans. Here is a look at it:

Another comment about Cole Ragans.

He introduced the slider on July 15, his 1st start with the Royals.

The Royals rank 4th in the percentage of sliders thrown (24.1%) in 2023, similar to the 2022 rate of 24.5% (No. 4). It seems the team encourages Ragans to add the slider. https://t.co/epbf4UtmBZ pic.twitter.com/GKR1QPdAoA

— Corbin (@corbin_young21) August 23, 2023

And just to drive the point home, here is how his slider grades according to our PLV data, along with his other pitches:

All of his pitches grade above league average, but his slider is far and away the best, grading as a Quality Pitch.

Ragans’ other peripherals look solid. He has a 71% LOB rate and a 43% GB rate. His 3.66 ERA on the season nearly matches his 3.62 xFIP and 3.71 SIERA, and he could easily outperform those metrics the rest of the way.

Ragans is a must-add from the waiver wire wherever available.

Honorable Mention: Dean Kremer (20%), Seth Lugo (22%), Paul Blackburn (8%), Logan Allen (19%), Grayson Rodriguez (23%), Brandon Williamson (9%), Graham Ashcraft (25%), MacKenzie Gore (14%), Eury Pérez (39%), Cristopher Sánchez (14%), Kyle Hendricks (16%), Brayan Bello (24%), Hyun Jin Ryu (19%), Mike Clevinger (13%), Ryan Pepiot (6%), Braxton Garrett (33%), Kyle Harrison (5%)

 

Relief Pitcher

 

Alex Lange (RP – DET) 16% Rostered

Alex Lange has had some rough skids throughout this season, but picked up back-to-back saves last week and has not allowed an earned run since August 7.

He has split time lately with Jason Foley, but with 19 saves on the season, Lange seems to have the most trust in the bullpen, and rightly so. All four of his pitches have a batting average against between .100-.188. His curveball and changeup have 49% and 46% whiff rates respectively. And his curveball, sinker, and changeup each have a putaway rate between 21% and 28%.

Those dominating pitches have led to an 11 K/9 rate for Lange. He also has a 74% LOB rate and a 51% GB rate, well above league average for relievers. His biggest issue is his walk rate – he has a 7.1 BB/9 rate on the season. He has allowed at least one earned run in twelve games, and in all but two of them, he has allowed at least one walk. If Lange can get that issue under control the rest of the way, he could be a sneaky good closing option for fantasy managers.

Aside from his issues with walks, Lange possesses excellent stuff and has the ability to notch a handful of saves in the last few weeks of the season. Consider him as a waiver wire option if you need some cheap saves.

Honorable Mention: Kyle Finnegan (24%), Adbert Alzolay (27%), Alex Lange (16%), Trevor May (4%), Jason Foley (3%), Brusdar Graterol (6%), Matt Brash (8%), JoJo Romero (1%)