Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Poncedeleon discovers success in his debut

Daniel Poncedeleon's debut deserves reaction and Fantasy attention, even if the peripherals don't quite add up. Hot-hitting Stephen Piscotty is also among four waiver candidates.

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No one will ever believe it, but I actually wrote about Daniel Poncedeleon on Monday, before he threw seven no-hit innings in his major-league debut. I wrote about his tragic injury 14 months ago and his increased K rate (10.1) this season in the minor leagues. And right about the time I finished up, I realized it wasn't my turn to write the waiver wire column. Oh well, we'd just wait and see how the rookie did. Couldn't be that big of deal.

Except now he's 24 percent owned.

As magical as Poncedeleon's debut was, there are plenty of reasons for doubt. First, he had three walks and three strikeouts in those seven innings. Neither rate is going to cut it in the major leagues. High walks are something he's struggled with in the minors,  and his strikeouts have been low until this year. Of course, the biggest thing to worry about was his future in the rotation. At the very least, he should have earned himself a few more starts. 

This is not a must-own starting pitcher, but definitely someone you can speculate on and feel more comfortable that he'll get a few more starts to prove his worth.

I'll be honest with you. I really wanted to plug Jake Bauers (56 percent owned) here again after he took Luis Severino deep on Monday. And if I had to choose between Bauers and Stephen Piscotty, it would be a pretty easy choice. But you've got to be tired of seeing Bauers face in this space, so let's take a look at another red-hot hitter. (Still, go add Bauers). 

Piscotty homered on Monday and now has a .953 OPS since May 31. In the month of July, he has eight doubles and six home runs. This is a guy who has dealt with a lot personally over the past calendar year, so I think it's perfectly reasonable to give him a pass for the times he didn't produce. Right now he looks a lot more like the guy we saw from 2015-2016 in St. Louis. I'd add Piscotty in any points league or categories league with five outfielders.

Another good performance from over the weekend I didn't get to talk about yesterday was Dereck Rodriguez. In what has been a tumultuous year for the Giants rotation, Rodriguez has arguably been their best starter. His start on Friday was his fourth straight quality start and his fourth this year where he's gone at least six innings and given up one run or fewer. 

The way he's gotten to his 2.72 ERA is a bit suspicious, and I do think there is some regression coming, but his 3.33 FIP suggests the regression shouldn't be too bad. With his fly ball tendencies I'd be scared to start Rodriguez at true hitter's parks, but you won't find many of those on his schedule. Rodriguez is a fine fifth or sixth starter in a points league who deserves to be owned in more than 51 percent of leagues.

When we came into this year the crop of SPARPs looked really discouraging. Thankfully, they've popped up all over the place as the season has gone on. One of them, Brad Keller, looked like he got back on track in his most recent start on Sunday. Keller struck out eight Twins over seven innings for his fourth quality start in his past six outings. The two that were sandwiched between were pretty terrible, but we'll forgive that out of a 22 year-old rookie.

Keller does not fit the mold of a pitcher in 2018. His strikeout rate is laughably low and he's only given up two home runs all season. If Major League Baseball was looking for a way to get more balls in play, Keller would be a good place to start. He gets a ton of ground balls and generally has good control. That control will be the key. If he can avoid walks, it seems likely he'll get enough ground balls to be an effective option in a points league as a SPARP. If not, his nine-percent ownership rate may be too high.