With the All-Star break in the rearview mirror, it’s time to start positioning ourselves for the championship push. Whether you’re trying to hold onto a top spot, pushing the leader, desperately trying to play catchup, or positioning yourself for the playoffs, reinforcements are vital this time of year
Most waiver wires have been picked over though and it’s difficult to find impact players readily available in most leagues at this point in the season.
Fear not, because there are still a handful of available players that have the chance to be difference makers that help push us towards glory.
The streaking Brewers continue to exceed expectations this season.
D.J. Short
Here are three players that are under 40% rostered on Yahoo leagues that you should strongly consider adding.
If you want a larger list, Eric Samulski wrote his extended waiver wire piece on Sunday.
Jac Caglianone, OF Royals
(26% Rostered on Yahoo)
Still teeming with potential, the first seven weeks of Caglianone’s career have been a disaster.
After 38 games, he has a lowly .501 OPS – second-lowest among all qualified players since his debut on June 3rd – and has not acclimated well to the corner outfield. In terms of FanGraphs’ wins above replacement, no player in the entire league has been less valuable since he came up.
Yet, the fact that Caglianone is even in the major leagues is a miracle in and of itself.
The Royals drafted him sixth overall just last season and he only played 79 total minor league games before getting the call. While he was flying through the system, he was transitioning to the outfield after splitting his time between first base and pitching in college with the University of Florida.
So, here we have a 22-year-old who was a regular member of a high-level SEC rotation last year that was tasked with trying to revive the Royals’ floundering offense after barely half a season of minor league baseball at a defensive position he’d never played before. This is not an easy assignment!
Funny enough, while his stats are completely abysmal, he’s done a lot of things well enough at the plate to think he could turn a corner soon.
The biggest thing working in Caglianone’s favor is 99th percentile bat speed, on par with super-rookie Nick Kurtz. That was his MO in college and has translated to the big leagues with a max exit velocity of 114.1 mph (92nd percentile) and 90th percentile exit velocity at 110.2 mph (99th percentile). He hits the ball very, very hard
Also, Caglianone has managed to both lift and pull the ball around league average so far. Of course, he’s struggling to do both of those things at the same time with a very low pulled fly ball rate, but just having the capability to do each shows he could be close to it all coming together.
Lastly, he is making tons of contact. His general contact rate is good and zone-contact rate is great despite poor chase and whiff rates. While he’s aggressive in general, he’s especially aggressive in the strike zone. Which is good for a hitter that can do as much damage as he can.
That helps Caglianone pop on one of my favorite leaderboards: barrels per swing. It takes some fancy Baseball Savant search function customization to get there, so I linked it for you guys right here.
I often go back to barrels per swing rather than the normally reported barrels per batted ball event of plate appearance because it adds a swing-decision element into the best stat we have to understand power output.
Caglianone being around the 85th percentile there tells me his power is legit (duh), his swing decisions are solid, and his hit tool is a bit better than anticipated.
Throw away what’s happened so far and pick up Caglianone for the chance he goes on a huge hot streak to close the season.
Zebby Matthews, SP Twins
(18% Rostered on Yahoo)
Of all the arms that could be found on waiver wires right now, Matthews has the best chance to pitch well enough to win you your league for the rest of the season.
He’s more reliable than any injury stash and already in the major leagues unlike any other prospect stash. Also, his upper-90s fastball, strong slider, and excellent command makes him totally equipped to get major league hitters out.
There are a few mitigating factors though as to why he’s flown a bit under the radar to this point.
Matthews opened the season pitching in shorter, three to five inning stints with Triple-A St. Paul. He remained in a quasi-starter’s role for a couple outings when the Twins called him up in mid-May.
They began to push him shortly thereafter, but he struggled to keep runs off the board before landing on the injured list with a shoulder strain in June that kept him sidelined for about six weeks.
He made one rehab start right before the All-Star break and looked excellent in it, striking out nine batters over four scoreless innings. His fastball touched 99 mph and sat around 97 mph over 56 total pitches. In all, he forced 15 swings-and-misses with eight of them coming with his slider. Funny enough, St. Paul’s bullpen allowed eight runs over the following five innings after he was pulled.
In most cases, he would’ve made a few more rehab starts before re-joining the Twins’ staff. Their rotation has been ransacked by injuries though, so they brought him back over the weekend to eat some innings. Annoyingly, his return was in Coors Field where he allowed five runs in four innings. That pushed him to a 6.26 ERA at the major league level this season.
Honestly, that should be considered a blessing in disguise for us. While his results were poor against the Rockies, he still struck out six batters and walked just one. Plus, his velocity looked great. We know for certain that right now, he’s healthy.
On top of that, the ugly ERA is foiled by a low 3.21 SIERA and elite 21.2% strikeout minus walk rate. His stuff is good, his command is great, and he has a bonafide spot in the Twins’ rotation. He is primed for a great final few months of the season ahead.
Jesús Sánchez, OF Marlins
(6% Rostered on Yahoo)
Now 27 years old and hovering around league average for the better part of three years, practically all the hype that surrounded Sánchez as a popular breakout pick over the last few seasons has dissipated.
He’s still producing like the same player he’s been too with eight home runs, nine stolen bases, and a .733 OPS through 79 games.
Ironically, all of those same tools that intrigued us are still present and he’s made some massive improvements under the hood that haven’t shown up in his production to this point.
First off, he currently has the lowest strikeout rate of his career at 21.1%. He’s gotten there by chasing fewer pitches out of the zone, making more contact on pitches in the zone, and dramatically decreasing his whiff rate against breaking balls.
It’s all borderline unbelievable after watching Sánchez flail at breaking ball after breaking ball in the dirt during his first few seasons and the growth in his approach has gotten to a point where we can confidently call it ‘good’.
Past that, he’s pulling his fly balls better than a league-average rate at the moment after not doing so for the past few seasons. It was a skill he had earlier in his career, but lost as he seemed focused on adjusting his approach.
Since 2023 – when he had one of the lowest pulled fly ball rates in the league – Sánchez has moved a few inches deeper in the batter’s box, closed off his stance a good bit, and shortened up his swing a tad while swinging harder more consistently. With all of those tweaks, he’s making contact with the ball nearly five inches further out in front of the plate on average.
There was certainly some intentionality with these changes. Also, probably a function of him working better counts and not being victimized by breaking balls like he had been earlier in his career.
Rumors have been swirling around Sánchez possibly being traded before the deadline next week too. Getting out of loanDepot Park in Miami will only further push him towards a late-season breakout. Just be advised that he still sits against left-handed pitchers, hurting his value in weekly leagues.
