Here are some waiver wire targets ahead of matchup number four that you should consider adding. They are organized here as deep and shallow league targets. The players you choose to add and drop from your team should largely depend on your league size and roster construction.
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Deep League Waiver Targets
C Shea Langeliers – OAK
Shea Langeliers started the season slow but has turned it on of late. He has three homers, seven runs, eight RBI, and a .269 AVG.
His flyball rate is above 50%, but his HR/FB rate is below his career average, meaning, he could be getting unlucky early in terms of how many of his flyballs are staying in the park. With more time, that luck could turn.
Langeliers also improved his approach from last season, which has resulted in improvements to his chase, contact, swinging strike, and strikeout rates.
With the catching market so thin, if you need some help, you should add Langeliers from the waiver wire this week.
1B Harold Ramirez – TB
Harold Ramirez is not a hard hitter and does not help much in the power department, but he is a career .284 hitter who is batting .354 so far this season.
The batting average should come down some as his BABIP regresses closer to his career average, but with an 11% K rate, Ramirez could still maintain a high AVG.
With Jose Siri still on the IL, Ramirez has seen more at-bats and has performed well. As long as Siri remains out and Ramirez keeps hitting, he is worth adding from waivers, especially if you need some batting average help. But feel free to treat him as a streamer if Siri returns and Ramirez loses playing time.
SS Taylor Walls – TB
Taylor Walls has had an incredible start to the 2023 season. It is hard to find a Tampa player that has had a bad start.
Walls has three homers, 15 runs, seven RBI, a steal, and is batting .351. Of course, that AVG is unsustainable for most players, but with a 26% LD rate, Walls should be able to maintain somewhat of a high BABIP and AVG.
Further suggesting that Walls could improve on his career .193 AVG are his developments in plate discipline. Walls has dropped his strikeout rate by 9% from last season, making more contact on pitches inside and outside of the zone, and overall.
Walls has yet to barrel a ball, so do not count on him for much power the rest of the way, but he can be a huge help in almost every other roto category, and is widely available on the waiver wire.
OF Josh Lowe – TB
Another Tampa standout has been outfielder Josh Lowe. Clearly, Tampa’s coaching staff has affected their hitters’ approaches.
Like his counterparts, Lowe has also cut down on strikeouts, while increasing his contact rate by 10% from last season. He is making excellent contact as well, with a 22.9% LD rate and an 11.4% barrel rate.
These sorts of contact stats, along with a 10% infield hit rate may allow for a higher-than-normal BABIP and a high batting average. His .371 AVG carries a .301 xBA, and he already has four homers in 46 plate appearances after hitting two in 198 PAs last season.
This could be the Josh Lowe breakout year that people thought would happen in 2022, so if he is still available on your waiver wire, go snag him before someone else does.
SP Domingo German – NYY
Domingo German carries a 12 K/9 rate after 14 innings pitched across three starts this season.
There are signs that German has been both lucky in some areas and unlucky in others to start the season.
A .226 BABIP suggests he has pitched into some good luck and that batters have hit into some bad luck against him. It also may have to do with the fact that the Yankees have one of the best performing defenses so far this season.
On the other hand, his 62.5% LOB rate and 22.2% HR/FB rate are signs of bad luck. A 10-12% HR/FB rate is the league norm for a pitcher, and because he has allowed more homers than usual, it could be affecting his LOB% if runners were on base for those home runs.
What German has done well is induce groundballs at a 46.9% clip. He has leaned on his curveball to do this. It carries a .143 batting average against, with a 36.4% whiff rate and a 31.7% putaway rate.
Good things are coming to German – just look at his 2.68 xFIP and 3.11 SIERA, which are both over half a run better than his 3.86 ERA.
German is a great pitcher to add from the waiver wire in deep leagues.
RP Jose QUijada – LAA
Jose QUijada seems to have surpassed Carlos Estevez and Jimmy Herget as the preferred closer for the Angels.
He has a career 12 K?9 rate, but just a 7 K/9 rate so far this season. His pitches are performing well, for the most part, but not as well as last season.
He has no whiffs on his changeup so far this season after it had a 38% whiff rate and an 18% putaway rate last year. Currently, his only “out pitch” has been his fastball.
Despite underperforming early this season, Quijada has a hold of an important role, and the Angels finally have a relatively talented pitching staff.
Expect things to improve for Quijada, who could be handed the lead in a number of games this season. Make him a waiver target this week if you need saves in a deep league.
Shallow League Waiver Targets
C Elias Diaz – COL
Colorado catcher Elias Diaz has been on fire, batting .345 with two homers, seven runs, and 10 RBI in 55 at-bats.
Diaz impressed in 2021 with an 18/52/44/.246 stat line in 371 PAs, but in 10 more PAs in 2022, he halved his home run total and hit .228.
He appears to be on a better track early this season, improving on his strikeout rate from last year.
Where Diaz has regressed is in his line drive rate, which is at a career-low 11%. This signals regression to his BABIP and AVG, backed up by a groundball rate above 50% and his lowest flyball rate since 2019.
Despite his flaws, Diaz is batting .429 at Coors Field, his home park, and should be added of waivers if even just to ride his hot streak.
3B Josh Rojas – ARI
Josh Rojas has forced the hand of the Diamondbacks’ management to continue to find him at-bats after starting the season with a .352 AVG.
That batting average comes with 10 runs, seven RBI, and two steals. Rojas has yet to homer, but has never been a power threat. Even so, his flyball rate this season is in line with his career average, so the homers should start coming soon.
Rojas’ AVG likely is not sustainable at its current height, but he has improved his discipline numbers nearly across the board, and has a 33% LD rate that signal he could perform better than his .260 career AVG.
He is also eligible at multiple positions, making Rojas an excellent waiver wire candidate if he is available in your league.
OF Austin Hays – BAL
Austin Hays will not be able to sustain his current .344 AVG, especially if he continues to strikeout a quarter of the time, but with a 23% LD rate, he could sustain a BABIP higher than his .298 career BABIP and an AVG higher than his career .261 AVG.
Where Hays looks to have improved the most is his hard contact. Hays has a 21.3% barrel rate, which is a career best for the outfielder and is the 10th highest among qualified batters. He also has a career best 44.7% HardHit rate.
Without a noticeable change to his launch angle or fly ball rate, the improved hard contact could be the reason for the 7% spike in his HR/FB rate from last season and bring legitimacy to a boost in homers this season.
Do not buy the AVG with Hays, but definitely buy the power, and make him a waiver wire priority.
SP Johan Oviedo – PIT
Johan Oviedo has a 9.3 K/9 rate, an 89.9% LOB rate, and a 56.6% GB rate after his first three starts of the 2023 season.
He has been exceptional at getting batters to swing and miss. Four of his five pitches have a whiff rate above 25%, including his slider and curveball, which both have a putaway rate over 30%.
Batters are swinging over the top of his pitches, resulting in low launch angles and the seventh-highest groundball rate among qualified starting pitchers.
Oviedo actually has room to improve, as well. His 18% HR/FB rate suggests some positive regression is on the way.
He makes for a great waiver wire add in all leagues.
Hopefully some of these players are available for you, and you can use them to improve your team for matchup number four.