As we are now past the Labor Day Weekend, there’s a fair chance you are bracing for the fantasy baseball playoffs. And as you should! If you’ve made it this far and are in contention for a fantasy baseball championship, then congratulations! As MLB rosters expand, we’ll see more prospects called up. And that was certainly the case with the weekend Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire article published on Saturday. Jasson Dominguez and Ronny Mauricio made their presence felt almost immediately upon their debuts, so all players mentioned in that article (save for Darius Vines) are still worth considering for your fantasy baseball lineups. But let’s add a few more names to the mix and dive into some mid-week fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups!

 

Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups – Hitters

J.P. Crawford, SS, Seattle Mariners

Crawford has been on quite the hot streak the last week-and-a-half especially over the holiday weekend where he put up a pair of home runs. The batting average has been climbing the last couple months which has coincided with the Mariners going on an incredible run to ascend to the top of the American League West. The shortstop position has taken its beating of late so Crawford makes for a good replacement especially as the team takes on the Reds in Cincinnati to begin the week.

Davis Schneider, 2B, Toronto Blue Jays

Davis Schneider was included in this article roughly a month ago and my concerns initially were that he wouldn’t be able to maintain his streaky start to his big-league debut. He started his tenure in August going 9-for-15 with a pair of home runs. Then he went 2-for-21 and seemingly cooled off. However, since August 26th (over a week’s worth of games in this sample size), he has 11 runs scored and just as many RBI with five doubles, a triple, and three home runs. He’s even hitting more in the heart of the lineup which is likely due to Bo Bichette being out of the lineup, but he’s still a player worth taking advantage of.

DJ Stewart, OF, New York Mets

DJ Stewart has been one of the hottest hitters in Major League Baseball dating back to August 15th. In that span, Stewart is slashing .333/.387/.860 with NINE home runs, ten runs scored, and 18 RBI. He has eight multi-hit games in that span, so this is certainly a “strike while the iron is hot” kind of waiver wire acquisition. The Mets won’t be winning many games and he is far from a rookie at 29 years old. But maybe he’s a guy that can ride this streak to the end of the season. If he doesn’t, you can cut bait when he cools off.

Mitch Garver, C/DH, Texas Rangers

Garver has been seeing the ball incredibly well since the start of August. Entering Monday’s game against Houston, he’s slashing .316/.409/.674 with TEN home runs, 17 runs scored, and 20 RBI. He’s been fortunate to be locked in hitting fifth in this loaded lineup over the last several games so that has certainly helped his numbers. 

Luis Rengifo, 2B/3B/SS/OF, Los Angeles Angels

Rengifo survived the surprising waiver wire move by the Angels at the end of August. But his rostership in fantasy baseball has been slowly on the rise because he’s emerged as a reliable hitter. Since July 29th he’s hitting .344 with a .972 OPS entering Monday’s game against the Baltimore Orioles. Rengifo has six home runs, 16 runs scored, and 17 RBI in this span and he offers a ton of position flexibility. The one knock on him is that he hits all over the lineup for the Halos. His fantasy value does fluctuate depending on where he’s slotted in the lineup.

 

Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups – Pitchers

I highly suggest looking at the Waiver Wire article from over the weekend. There are four starting pitchers listed in that article that I still recommend adding to your rosters. I didn’t want to be redundant and mention the same players so give those weekend waiver wire adds consideration in addition to the players listed below.

Grayson Rodriguez, SP, Baltimore Orioles

Grayson Rodriguez has been pitching very well since being brought back up to the big leagues. He’s recorded a quality start in five of his last seven starts and in the two starts he didn’t complete the quality start, he came up short by one out. But in this seven-start sample size he has a 2.32 ERA, with 37 strikeouts to just 12 walks. He is falling short of averaging a strikeout per inning, but his WHIP is under 1.00 in this span and he’s allowed just two home runs as well. Now this article is being written ahead of his Labor Day start against the Los Angeles Angels, but Rodriguez gets a very tempting start at home against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Javier Assad, SP/RP, Chicago Cubs

Assad isn’t a great source of strikeouts, so the ceiling is limited in points leagues. However, in his last five starts he has a 1.62 ERA with 24 strikeouts to just eight walks. He’s still somewhat susceptible to the long ball but he does have four quality starts in five appearances since August 11th. His next couple of starts are a little risky. He gets a home start against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday but then has the unfortunate honor of getting a start in Coors. Obviously, there are several better venues to go to work in. But it is what it is and if you believe what he’s done is legitimate then he may exceed my expectations. Assad’s teammate, Jordan Wicks, is also worth an add as well as he has two wins through two starts. But he hasn’t pitched as deep as Assad so factor that in when determining who to pick up.

Tanner Scott, RP, Miami Marlins

I mentioned Tanner Scott a week ago and it looks as if he’s officially become the ninth inning pitcher for Miami. He came in during extra innings on Friday, working two innings in a winning effort. Then on Sunday he recorded the save. Entering Monday, the Marlins were on a four-game winning streak and they’re firmly alive in the NL Wild Card race. David Robertson built up a 7.50 ERA and four losses after being traded to the Marlins and he was recently relegated to working the sixth inning Friday night. So with Scott locked in as the ninth inning arm he’s worth grabbing if he’s available in your league(s).

Matt Manning, SP, Detroit Tigers

Manning has not been good this year. The season-long numbers are downright bad. Sure, he has a 3.62 ERA but a 5.41 xERA, 4.82 FIP, and 5.35 xFIP. He also boasts a K/9 of 5.73 so by all accounts, he has minimal appeal for fantasy baseball. He has done fairly well over his last 23.2 innings of work across four starts. What’s hilarious is that he only has ten strikeouts in this sample size while allowing just ten hits and six walks. There’s a reason he’s at the bottom of the article and it’s because he’s not my favorite waiver wire add of the week. But the last four starts have at least been okay by his standards, even if there’s been luck on his side. He does have a road matchup against the New York Yankees on Wednesday. Tread carefully with this one.

 

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