Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Jorge Soler, Jarred Kelenic, highlight Adam Duvall replacement options
There are interesting options to replace Duvall's sidelined production
By
Chris Towers
•
2 min read
One of the early season's biggest bright spots will be out of commission for a while, as we learned Monday that Red Sox outfielder Adam Duvall has a fractured left wrist. Duvall, who had surgery on the wrist to repair a torn tendon sheath last July, will not need surgery to repair this injury, and while the team didn't give a timetable, MLB.com reports that by avoiding surgery, Duvall could be back in 6-8 weeks.
Hopefully that optimistic timetable comes to pass, though even if it does, this injury still threatens to derail what looked like a really strong season for the 34-year-old. Duvall has been a perfect fit for Fenway Park's short left field fence, hitting four homers in his first eight games. He was hitting .455/.514/1.030 and will likely be replaced by some combination of Raimel Tapia and Rob Refsnyder, two players Fantasy Baseball managers probably don't need to worry about.
Here are some outfielders to consider picking up to help replace Duvall:
- Jorge Soler (49% rostered) – Soler is the obvious choice if you need a Duvall replacement. He's a streaky, all-or-nothing kind of power hitter, and like Duvall, he's off to a pretty good start to the season – though nothing like what Duvall has done. There's probably some bad luck inherent to that, as Soler is hitting just .189 despite an expected batting average of.285. Those two numbers will likely converge around .250, but he's crushing the ball right now, sporting a 95.8 mph average exit velocity, and is the best bet for power you'll find who likely won't kill you in batting average.
- Austin Hays (54%) – I'd be more interested in Hays if not for the outrageously deep left-center field dimensions in Camden Yards, but he's off to a fine start, including four batted balls over 101 mph exit velocity Monday. He's a bit more of a well-rounded hitter than Soler but doesn't offer as much upside.
- Jarred Kelenic (63%) – Kelenic might offer more upside than either if he ever figures it out. He's sitting against most lefties, but still came off the bench Monday to crush his first homer of the season, and his underlying numbers look great – he has a 92.8 mph average exit velocity and 60% hard-hit rate. Of course, he's also still striking out 31.3% of the time despite being shielded against lefties, so there are certainly still holes here. But this is the best Kelenic has looked in the majors, and there's 20-20 upside here.
- Trevor Larnach (44%) – Larnach seems a bit over-rostered to me at this point, but I know there are plenty in the Fantasy industry who think there's some untapped potential here. Me, I see a guy who hasn't done much in the majors (and has been pretty awful in a small-sample in Triple-A, too), but he's off to a good start in the early going, hitting .308/.413/.436, so maybe he's figuring something out.
- Mauricio Dubon (2%) – Once upon a time, Dubon carried a bit of prospect hype, and his Triple-A numbers (.307/.356/.480 with a 20-homer, 15-steal pace) suggest there still might be something there. Maybe the Astros are helping him unlock it, because Dubon has multiple hits in three straight games. He's struck out just once so far this season with career-best quality-of-contact metrics, and if you're in a deep, five-outfielder league, he does have eligibility there.
Here are the rest of the waiver-wire targets from Monday's action:
Tuesday's Waiver Wire Targets
If you just need a bat to replace Duvall and not necessarily an outfielder specifically, Cooper might be your guy. He's usually a productive hitter when healthy, and he's currently healthy and producing, with a .368/.415/.684 line through 10 games. Will he keep up an OPS near 1.100? No, of course not. But Cooper has a .794 OPS over the previous four seasons, with a 162-game pace of 19 homers and with pretty good quality of contact metrics. I think he's a useful option in any 12-team Roto league as a CI or U option.
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Heaney's velocity is down a bit from last season (about 1 mph on each of his pitches), but after a disastrous first outing, he bounced back in a big way Monday against the Royals. In five innings of work he racked up 10 strikeouts, on the strength of a whopping 19 swinging strikes. 11 of those on his fastball despite the diminished velocity, while he garnered four each with his slider and changeup. The slider was the key for Heaney's breakout last season, and in the early going, he's still got a very good 38% whiff rate with the pitch – not quite where it was last season (44.3%), but plenty good. I was a bit worried Heaney's poor debut was a harbinger of doom, but this start has me feeling a bit better. He's worth rostering, even if I don't quite trust him.
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Elder got less hype for the Braves' open rotation spots this spring than guys like Jarred Shuster or Dylan Dodd, but as Kyle Wright and Max Fried work their way back from injuries, it looks like Elder is going to outlast both. He tossed his second shutout outing in a row Monday, limiting the Reds to just six hits and a walk over 6.1 innings with seven strikeouts. Elder has kept the walks in check and has flashed multiple swing-and-miss pitches while keeping the ball on the ground -- a pretty good combination. He probably isn't an ace, but Elder looks pretty useful right now for deeper leagues.
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