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Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Prospects Keston Hiura, Brendan McKay get the call; Aaron Nola, Edwin Diaz highlight winners and losers
Big day for prospects, with Keston Hiura, Brendan McKay reportedly on their way to the majors. Bad day for closers, with Edwin Diaz, Wade Davis getting blown up. Scott White breaks it all down.
By
Scott White
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1 min read
The biggest prospect news from Thursday is the impending promotion of Brendan McKay, a high-end hurler for the Rays who is deserving of a pickup in Fantasy even though there are some unusual circumstances surrounding his promotion. You can read all about those here.
What may turn out to be even more impactful for Fantasy players, though, is the return of Keston Hiura, who looked like he was just beginning to find himself in the big leagues while filling in for an injured Travis Shaw in May. Turns out a strained wrist wasn't Shaw's only problem. Just as evident after the IL stint as before it is that the dude's forgotten how to hit, striking out at a ghastly rate of 33 percent. And so the Brewers decided to pull the ol' switcheroo, sending Shaw down in favor of the 22-year-old first-rounder who was putting up these numbers at Triple-A:
Hiura is a natural with the bat, and the way he ended his first major-league stint going 7 for 21 with three homers in final five games has me convinced he's going to hit the ground running this time around.
Second base might be one of the few positions where there's genuine need in standard Fantasy leagues, which is probably why Hiura's ownership rate has remained above 50 percent. Maybe in a points league where you're having to devote so much of your bench to pitching, you might not be able to swing it, but everywhere else, he's must-add — preferable even to Cavan Biggio and Jonathan Villar.
Friday's top adds
Four players to add
I wouldn't say he's the top priority off the waiver wire today (see above ... and below), but Chris Taylor is just a year removed from being a staple in Fantasy lineups and is doing some special things filling in for Corey Seager now. His 4-for-5 performance Thursday, albeit at Coors Field, makes him 18 for 35 (.514) with three homers and two steals in his past 10 games, so chances are you could use him at one of the three positions where he's eligible.
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A day of big call-ups has me mulling who's next, and considering Yordan Alvarez had to leave Thursday's game with discomfort in his knee, why not the guy who has put up Alvarez-like numbers at the same Triple-A affiliate since May 1? The injury doesn't sound like a big deal, but Alvarez will undergo further testing. Even if it's a day-to-day thing, the Astros might opt to shut him down through the All-Star break. Better too early to Kyle Tucker than too late.
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With another four-run meltdown Thursday against the Dodgers, Wade Davis has allowed 12 earned runs in his his past eight appearances, his ERA ballooning to 6.00. Meanwhile, Scott Oberg, who filled in at closer while Davis was sidelined by a strained oblique, struck out the side in a perfect eighth inning and sports a 2.04 ERA. The ol' switcheroo!
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The daily Dominic Smith watch saw him start for the fourth consecutive game Thursday, and even though his home run streak was snapped at three consecutive games, the kind of numbers he has put up in a part-time role are deserving of us all jumping the gun and assuming the left field job is his now. Well, maybe not in shallower leagues, but if you have a spot to play with, there are worse gambles.
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Winners
After striking out 10 over eight one-run innings against the Marlins last time out, Aaron Nola struck out 10 over seven one-hit innings against what's a pretty good offensive club Thursday. The swinging-strike rate is still down, but he says he's doing a better job getting ahead in the count (his first-pitch strike rate is way down this year) and deserves the benefit of the doubt in a league short on aces.
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An up-and-down 2019 is back on the upswing for Zack Wheeler, who delivered a second straight gem Thursday at the Phillies. His seven strikeouts over six two-hit innings give him 12 of 13 starts with at least six innings, and he's had more than a strikeout per inning in six of them. Almost makes the 4.51 ERA seem not so bad.
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Griffin Canning would have the fourth-best swinging strike rate in baseball if he had the innings to qualify, but a vulnerability to the long ball has stifled enthusiasm in Fantasy. He allowed two more Thursday, but that's all he allowed over six innings. And despite an ERA approaching 4.00, he sports a WHIP south of 1.00.
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Max Muncy homered twice Thursday to further entrench himself as an OPS monster in the heart of one of the deepest lineups in baseball. He may have started out in a platoon role, but he has started all but five games since the start of May and actually has better numbers against lefties than righties so far.
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Losers
Edwin Diaz's five-run disaster Thursday in which he allowed two home runs was hardly an isolated incident. It was the third time he allowed multiple runs in his past nine appearances, his ERA skyrocketing from 1.64 to 4.94. His BABIP is absurdly high, though, and his fielding-independent pitching stats all projected him for more like a mid-twos ERA prior to this outing. It helps that the Mets don't have an obvious closer replacement.
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Allowing seven earned runs on 13 hits is every definition of ugly, but I think Walker Buehler gets a pass for this one. Not only was it at Coors Field but he was also coming off a complete game 16-strikeout effort and had a 1.89 ERA over his past nine starts.
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Just when it looked like Brad Peacock's slider might be coming around finally, the right-hander serves up three home runs in a six-run outing Thursday, which only served to draw attention to another way he has overachieved this year. Not only has he gotten away with not having his best pitch but he had had incredible home run luck prior to this start. It feels like you're playing with fire with this one, but what else are you going to do in this pitching environment?
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Bryse Wilson had a chance to establish himself as the clear replacement for a recently demoted Mike Foltynewicz, but instead, he allowed six runs, four earned, in 4 1/3 innings at the Cubs. He had a 2.49 ERA in his final eight starts at Triple-A but gave up a lot of hits there and may need more work on his secondary arsenal, throwing his fastball nearly 70 percent of the time in this one.
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