Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Breakdown: Top Additions, Including Adolis García, Raimel Tapia (Week 6)
Christian Petersen/Getty Images. Pictured: Raimel Tapia
- Raimel Tapia is amid his most productive season as a pro and is making contact at the best rate of his career.
- Yet, the Rockies outfielder still isn't owned in a good chunk of leagues on both Yahoo and ESPN.
- Find out why you should add Tapia and who else you should target in this week's waiver wire report.
The national opinion on the new (old) White Sox manager has been (not) fun to monitor as a Pale Hose lifer. The adversity the team faces may seem insurmountable to some, but remember that the White Sox have three hitters who have either won an MVP (José Abreu) or have received MVP votes (Tim Anderson and YoánMocanda).
Stick with your White Sox bats in fantasy and feel confident knowing the production will maintain.
Onward with our top waiver wire pickups of the week. Have other questions regarding roster construction? Find me on Twitter at @_jeff_hicks_.
Pick Them Up
Raimel Tapia – OF, Colorado Rockies
Yahoo: 57%, ESPN: 76%
My hands hurt from banging on the table for Raimel Tapia. He is amid his most productive season as a pro and is making contact at the best rate of his career. He also has a respectable .326 BABIP. The power numbers may not last, but a .400 slugging percentage from a traditional contact hitter is acceptable. The average and stolen bases are real, too.
Adolis García – OF, Texas Rangers
Yahoo: 41%, ESPN: 44%
He strikes out a lot, he does not hit for a high average, and he rarely walks, but Adolis García can hit a ball hard. García also has a track record of stealing bases in the minors that can still translate as he continues to see regular plate appearances.
Josh Rojas – 2B/SS/OF, Arizona Diamondbacks
Yahoo: 48%, ESPN: 32%
It’s been a tale of two seasons over Rojas’ first month. He had four hits in his first nine starts (35 total at-bats) and has since had a three-game home run streak to end April and open May. Rojas was sprinkling walks into his hitless games, so he was having a difficult time getting going with batted balls. If the former Rainbow Warrior had enough qualifying at-bats, he would have the third-best OPS among second basemen.
Josh Harrison – 2B/3B, Washington Nationals
Yahoo: 13%, ESPN: 27%
Josh Harrison has had approximately the same number of at-bats for the Nationals as he did with the Tigers in 2019 when he fell off an offensive cliff. In D.C., Harrison doubled his runs scored and walks, and has dwarfed his home run and RBI totals while striking out fewer times. He also has slashed over 100 points higher as a National (.877 OPS to .770 in Detroit). The Josh Harrison resurgence has been fun and unexpected.
Worth A Look
Randal Grichuk – OF, Toronto Blue Jays
Yahoo: 63%, Yahoo: 82%
I have been anti-Grichuk for a majority of his career in large part because he had little production attached to his power and could not be trusted as a consistent fantasy producer. Now that the Blue Jays have offensive depth, Grichuk can be trusted as a secondary source for fantasy. I also did not realize that his strikeout percentage has dropped each of the past four seasons.
Brandon Crawford – SS, San Francisco Giants
Yahoo: 6%, ESPN: 5%
The Giants might be good, folks! And if not players such as Brandon Crawford are good for the next stretch going forward. His .500 slugging percentage is bound to dip but I like that he is 250-plus at-bats from his .228 batting average in 2019 and is drawing walks. I do not know if Crawford breaks his career-best for stolen bases in a season, but he is on pace to crush it. If he is to keep at least a similar pace, this will be his best Offensive WAR season since 2016.
Avisaíl García – OF, Milwaukee Brewers
Yahoo: 10%, ESPN: 21%
He has more playing time coming his way with Christian Yelich on the shelf until his back is right. I like that García is stealing bases even if he is only 3-for-5 in steal attempts. As long as the walks stick around, Garcia will be a good fill-in outfielder.
Tyler O’Neill – OF, St. Louis Cardinals
Yahoo: 47%, ESPN: 41%
O’Neill is averaging a home run every 14 at-bats and is a sound enough baserunner to collect three steals despite being built like a rectangle. The Cardinals are starving for any production after a tough series against the Mets.
Jeimer Candelario – 1B/3B, Detroit Tigers
Yahoo: 19%, ESPN: 30%
Jeimer Candelario is one of the only constants worth monitoring in Detroit. He has three three-hit games over his past two series against the Yankees and Red Sox and went 6-for-13 with a homer, four RBI, and five runs in Boston against one of the best teams in baseball.
Short-Term Solutions
Brandon Belt – 1B, San Francisco Giants
Yahoo: 22%, ESPN: 10%
I am less bullish on Belt’s recent power surge and long-term value compared to Crawford’s. Belt’s injury history is the first thing I think of when I hear his name, and he has three fewer strikeouts than 2020 in 65 fewer at-bats. He is the perfect corner infielder play where you pick and choose when to play him.
Niko Goodrum – 1B/2B/SS/OF, Detroit Tigers
Yahoo: 5%, ESPN: 3%
I am here for the hot streak and position availability. Goodrum has an eye-popping 42.7% strikeout percentage and .372 BABIP. It is encouraging that seven of his 20 hits have gone for extra bases.
Freddy Galvis – 2B/SS, Baltimore Orioles
Yahoo: 6%, ESPN: 10%
Freddy Galvis is always lurking on the waiver wire. He has 10 extra base hits and an inflated .804 OPS, but this is what he does before he gets traded to a contender.
I Am Skeptical
Sam Haggerty – OF, Seattle Mariners
Yahoo: 2%, ESPN: 2%
The 26-year old is getting ABs because he has speed to burn and steals a base a little more than once every four times he reaches base. He cannot hit for average or hit for power. He is keeping the seat warm for Jared Kelenic, who homered twice in his Triple-A season debut.
Enrique Hernández – 2B/SS/OF, Boston Red Sox
Yahoo: 33%, ESPN: 41%
The Bales Model darling continues to hit atop the Red Sox order but is showing why he never was a full-time player when he had success with the Dodgers. If Hernández can add 10 or more points to his batting average and maintain his recent walk rate, then we are cooking.
Adam Eaton – OF, Chicago White Sox
Yahoo: 34%, ESPN: 51%
Opportunity does not always benefit players. Adam Eaton is the last man standing in the White Sox outfield with Eloy Jiménez, Luis Robert, and Adam Engel out for the foreseeable future. He also has as many hits the past week as Jiménez and Engel have all season (zero). Eaton also has next to no stolen base upside.
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