Week 4 of the Waiver Wire for the 2018 MLB Season. Each week we will feature players that you should familiarize yourself with that have potential to help you with your fantasy baseball team.
OF Jose Pirela SD
11 for his last 30 at-bats, Pirela will likely be at or near the top of the order with injuries to Will Myers and Manuel Margot. Pirela leads the Padres in hits with 21.
OF Mallex Smith TB
Smith is proving to be worthy of a regular spot in Tampa Bay’s lineup. A .343 average along with 2 steals has him as one the few bright spots on the Rays as they have struggled mightily early on.
2B/3B/SS Asdrubal Cabrera NYM
The owner of an 11 game hit streak is bound to regress and have the batting average drop some. We can still expect around .260 with double-digit homers.
1B/OF Jose Martinez STL
One of the leagues hottest hitters early on will force the Cardinals to play him pretty much every game. This is without a doubt a great value if he was drafted late and if he wasn’t, rush to grab him now.
3B Todd Frazier NYM
The Mets are scorching hot to start the season and it isn’t just the pitching that has them off to such a great start. Todd Frazier has a new-found approach at the plate where he is being much more selective at the plate. Always good for over 25 homers, Frazier would be worth owning if he can sustain the new approach and give us a more respectable batting average.
1B Albert Pujols LAA
Almost an afterthought for the Angels, Pujols has produced well with the Angels in the early going. Last years .241 clip surely needs to be improved to be worth an addition. Pujols is an almost a lock to drive in close to 100 RBI when hitting in the middle of the Angels lineups.
OF Mitch Haniger SEA
Haniger is finally showing signs of being a valuable player. Injury concerns have plagued the outfielder early on in his career. If he can remain a constant in the lineup we may finally be able to access his true value, but there is still lots of upside.
SS Dansby Swanson ATL
It certainly has been much better for Swanson after a trying 2017 for the highly touted prospect. We will need to see more, but as of right now Swanson is providing very good contact skills with the average hovering around .350.
SP Joey Lucchesi SD
It seems like the Padres have found a viable option in replacing top prospect Danielson Lamet. We shouldn’t sleep on Lucchesi who has looked good early on. This may be only worth the addition in deeper leagues.
SP Hyun Jin-Ryu LAD
Injuries had really plagued the 31-year-old southpaw. This year is off to a much better start. 2013 and 2014 were really good seasons, 14 wins in each plus an ERA under 3.40. If he avoids injuries he can be a nice addition to the back-end of your starting pitchers.
SP Nick Pivetta PHI
This one should be monitored closely, perhaps wait for another start against a strong offensive team. Having said this it is hard to ignore the good control Pivetta has shown. In 3 starts(16 2/3 innings) he has 19 strikeouts against only 2 walks. Last year was a completely different story, a 6.02 ERA in 26 starts. This might be a nice stash if you have room on your roster.
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SP Reynaldo Lopez CHW
A sparkling 1.42 ERA in 3 starts for Lopez, but no wins yet. Playing for the White Sox won’t help in that category but lots of strikeouts and very few earned runs makes him worthy to either add or at least track going forward.
SP Steven Matz NYM
Matz has shown to be good and not so good in his three starts to date for the Mets. He makes our list based on his potential/talent level. If he can limit the walks and stay healthy this could be a very good player to have.
As the season goes on we will try to highlight players that are worthy of possible additions to your roster. These players aren’t necessarily locked but at the very least good enough for consideration. Keep checking every week for players that are trending upwards to make changes to your fantasy baseball team.
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