Welcome to Week 20 of the fantasy baseball season!
We are only a couple of weeks away from the postseason in most deep leagues, and for some leagues you only have a couple of weeks left to scoop players from the waiver wire to aid your postseason push, or to keep in dynasty leagues for next season.
Before we get into our Week 20 waiver wire pickups, let’s take a quick look back and check out the early returns on our suggestions from Week 19.
SP – Anthony DeSclafani (CIN)
When we suggested DeSclafani to help your starting pitching last week, he was coming off his best start of the season which included seven shutout innings with nine strikeouts while grabbing the win against the Diamondbacks.
Well, in his lone start since that suggestion, DeSclafani hurled 7.2 frames of one-run ball to go along with five strikeouts against the Giants. Unfortunately, he received a no decision with this effort, but it’s clear the right-hander has turned things around. Owners have noticed as he is now over 20% owned in ESPN leagues after sitting at just 5.8% last Monday.
SP – Sean Reid-Foley (TOR)
We suggested adding Reid-Foley prior to his MLB debut against the Royals, and while he was decent in that outing, he’s back in Triple-A after getting thumped by the Yankees in an obviously tough road start on Saturday at Yankee Stadium.
Reid-Foley allowed three earned runs across five innings with three strikeouts against the Royals in his debut, but allowed six earned runs in just 4.1 innings, albeit with a nice six strikeouts against the Yanks. He remains a nice dynasty league addition, but his contributions down the stretch of the 2018 season will likely be minimal.
OF – Cedric Mullins (BAL)
Mullins was suggested as an add due to hitting atop the Orioles lineup while see nearly every day reps in center field for Buck Showalter’s rebuilding club.
Mulls has fared well since last week’s piece and clubbed his first big league homer on Saturday against the Indians. He’s notched three two-hit games over his last five and is hitting .343 so far in the bigs. He’s also started every game since last week’s piece, and his ownership has almost reached 10% as a result compared to last week’s 3.7% ownership level.
Let’s get into Week 20 and see who can help our squads out now and/or for the future!
*Ownership percentages courtesy of ESPN
**All stats are as of before play on 8/21/18
***Waiver wire pickups suggestions are for deep leagues only
Rafael Ortega (MIA)
Eligible Positions: OF | %OWN: 3.4%
Ortega is cut from a similar cloth to Mullins in the sense that he has been called up from the minors and assumed leadoff duties on a rebuilding club. His game isn’t a big power game, but he provides plenty of stolen base upside while his run scoring upside is increased greatly by his spot at the top of the lineup, albeit on a poor Marlins offense.
Ortega has appeared in 10 games since his promotion from Triple-A, and has hit .317 with two doubles, seven runs scored, three RBI and four stolen bases. Ortega hit seventh in his season debut, but has hit in the leadoff spot in his nine starts since. What I also like about Ortega is his tiny 8.9% strikeout rate. This has a trickledown effect in the sense he doesn’t give many empty at-bats and is putting the ball in play at an impressive rate. He can log more infield hits and increase his stolen base and runs upside as a result.
Again, he’s not going to hit for much home run power, but he is getting everyday reps in the Marlins’ leadoff spot and already has four steals in 10 games after maxing out at 39 steals in a single minor league stop. Add in the seven runs in 10 games and we have a depth outfielder who can provide sneaky production in at least two fantasy categories, and three if you add the batting average/OBP category as well.
Brett Anderson (OAK)
Eligible Positions: SP, RP | %OWN 12.4%
Anderson is a little bit higher owned than a lot of the players that we usually list in these pieces, but he is certainly still worth a mention in case he is hanging around on your waiver wire.
The oft-injured veteran has actually been a real productive part of the A’s rotation, especially as of late. In three August starts, the southpaw has pitched to 0.92 ERA across 19.2 innings with two of those starts coming in the form of seven or more innings and zero runs allowed.
Anderson isn’t going to provide much of anything in the strikeout department with a tiny 11.7% strikeout clip on the season, and usually I shy away from pitchers who don’t give you anything here. But in Anderson’s case, he is pitching for the best team in the AL since the first of June, and that should translate into wins, although for whatever reason it hasn’t yet.
Anderson has just two wins in 11 starts this season, but if he can pitch around his 3.90 ERA for the season down the stretch, he should certainly be able to pick up some wins with that powerful A’s lineup and a nice bullpen backing him up.
If you can swallow the tiny strikeout upside, Anderson is certainly worth a look on the wire if you are in need of some short-term starting pitching.
Danny Jansen (TOR)
Eligible Positions: C | %OWN: 7.5%
If you are in need of catching help or want to lock down a catcher for the future, take a good look at Jansen who has produced some quality early results for the Blue Jays after his promotion from Triple-A.
Jansen has logged at least one hit in all six of his big league games so far, producing a .381/.391/.667 slash line with a homer, two runs and three RBI in the process.
At Triple-A, Jansen hit for a solid .275/.309/.473 slash line with 12 homers and even five stolen bases in 88 games and 290 at-bats. You don’t receive many stolen bases from the catching position, so you can think of that as a cherry on top of a promising catching prospect.
His home run potential certainly appears to be there, and his home park at the Rogers Centre in Toronto is a hitter-friendly venue. Incumbent Blue Jays catcher Russel Martin has actually played third base in six of his last seven games as the Blue Jays look to get an extended look at Jansen down the stretch during a lost season.
The tools appear there, and he’s going to get a good chunk of playing time down the stretch. At a very thin position, Jansen is certainly worth an add for now and for the future.
