Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Week 14

It’s a little early, due to the upcoming pre-holiday weekend. But looking toward a new week, here are five players to add off the waiver wire in your fantasy baseball league.

5. Alex Avila, C, Detroit Tigers

Avila has had a resurgent 2017, hitting .315/.431/.586 (1.017 OPS) with 11 home runs over 162 at-bats. His injury history needs to be noted to some degree, along with trade rumors tying him to the Blue Jays and Cubs, but fantasy owners can’t be too picky when looking for a suitable catcher.

Avila is must-add in AL-only leagues, and he has some traction as an option in deeper mixed leagues too.
ESPN Ownership: 53.8%

4. Sean Newcomb, SP, Atlanta Braves

Over his first four major league starts, Newcomb has a 1.48 ERA with 21 strikeouts, eight walks and 18 hits allowed over 24.1 innings. He has gone at least six innings in all four outings too, while allowing one run or less three times.

Newcomb finally got his first career win in his last start, and pitching for the Braves wins will generally be hard to come by. But everything else points to a solid fantasy starter, with a 11:2 K/BB ratio over his last two outings.

Newcomb should be on rosters in most NL-leagues by now, but mixed leagues owners have to be starting to pay attention. Consistency has value, and even in a small sample so far Newcomb has shown it.
ESPN Ownership: 30.2%

3. Ryon Healy, 3B/1B, Oakland Athletics

After a promising stint with Oakland last year (.305, 13 home runs, 37 RBI over 269 at-bats), Healy has stepped up with 19 home runs and 50 RBI entering Friday’s action with a six-game hitting streak going.

The spike in home runs around baseball has created a lot of power options for fantasy owners, and I’m finally including Healy here. 85 strikeouts and just 11 walks this far points to a batting average correction (.272), but otherwise Healy is a solid mixed league add while he’s still fairly widely available.
ESPN Ownership: 59.9%

2. Martin Prado, 3B, Miami Marlins

Prado came back from a hamstring injury on June 23, and he has a five-game hitting streak (6-for-19 with four RBI)rolling entering this Friday’s action. The Marlins may be moving into sell-mode, but that’s good news for Prado’s fantasy value if reported interest from the Yankees and Red Sox bears fruit.

Over the last eight full seasons, Prado has hit at least .28o seven times with at least 57 RBI and over 60 runs scored seven times as well. Those statistical thresholds have overlapped completely in a season five times over that span, so Prado has been an underrated fantasy asset.

Fantasy owners have been slow to add Prado after he was out for six weeks. But his arrow is pointing up, particularly if he lands in a more favorable home park before the trade deadline.
ESPN Ownership 4.6%

1. Carlos Rodon, SP, Chicago White Sox

Rodon missed nearly the first three months of the season with a bicep tendinitis, and he made his season debut Wednesday night against the New York Yankees. He was clearly rusty and erratic, walking six and throwing just 41 of 94 pitches for strikes, but Rodon also allowed just two hits (and three unearned runs) over five innings.

During the 2015 and 2016 seasons, Rodon had a 3.91 ERA, a 9.1 K/9 rate and a 3.7 BB/9 rate over 54 appearances (51 starts). That’s enough of a resume to capture the attention of fantasy owners, even if some more bumps come over his next few starts.

Rodon gets a favorable matchup against Oakland in his next start (July 3), but it will be hard to plug him in. That said, now is the time to add him with an eye on a contribution after the All-Star break.
ESPN Ownership: 24.1%

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