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Waiver Wire Report: Welcome Back Wheeler

When the heck did it become late July? Did I hibernate for the last three months? I swear it was just Opening Day. Even though the baseball season has flown by, it’s still a grind in the fantasy world. In last week’s Waiver Wire Report, I mentioned that now is the time to decide whether your team is a contender or a pretender. If you haven’t made that decision now, don’t worry, you still have a little time. And by little, I mean about seven days. With the trade deadline four days away, this week’s report and next week’s report will be the last two reports that will help you make that decision. If you wait past then, your fantasy squad will likely be playing golf during the month of September.


It’s time to multi-task! Keep up with all of our baseball coverage, but kick off your football prep and dig into our 2018 Fantasy Football Draft Kit. Then head on over to Fantrax and join a Fantasy Football league.


Waiver Wire Targets

Garrett Hampson (2B – COL)

Ownership: Fantrax 26%, Yahoo 10%, ESPN 1%

To be honest, I’m shocked Hampson hasn’t gotten more love in the fantasy world this week. He’s a Top-100 prospect with considerable offensive upside and is now receiving regular playing time in Colorado. He’s not the usual big home run threat that we’ve become accustomed to with the Rockies, but Hampson’s plus speed and hit tool are going to provide plenty of value for fantasy owners.

Let’s start with that plus hit tool, shall we? Everyone loves a plus hit tool. Hampson has a career minor league slash line of .315/.389/.458/.846 in 1,158 at-bats and never hit lower than .301 in any stop along the way. It’s not just the average that is pretty either. Hampson’s plate discipline is exceptional as evident by his 10.9 BB% and 14.6 K%. He puts the ball in play a lot and can run with the best of them, which you can see by his 51 steals in 2017 and 33 so far in 2018. What’s not to like?

I got the chance to see him play back in April with Double-A Hartford and came away thoroughly impressed. Hampson has the upside of a .300 hitter with 30-40 steals per season and double-digit pop, and will get at least a few weeks to put that on display while D.J. LeMahieu rehabs his oblique injury.

Nick Williams (OF – PHI)

Ownership: Fantrax 44%, Yahoo 4%, ESPN 4%

The Phillies outfield has been quite the crowded place this season. Odubel Herrera and Rhys Hoskins haven’t been hurt by it much, but Aaron Altherr and Nick Williams have been in a dogfight for the right field spot nearly all season. I’m not sure why the battle lasted this long either. Sure, Altherr is big and has raw tools, but a .171 average and .595 OPS just isn’t going to cut it unless your name is Chris Davis and you’re making 23 million a season. With Altherr now in the minors, Williams has right field all to himself.

On the season, Williams might only be hitting a pedestrian .250, but over the last month, that average is a cool .333 with five home runs. He doesn’t profile as a masher, but Williams is hitting more fly balls and pulling the ball more this season which has contributed to the slight uptick in his home run pace. That is especially true in July. Williams’ fly ball, pull, and hard contact rates are all up while his soft contact rate is all the way down to 10.8%. With a starting spot locked up moving forward, Williams is worth a look in 12+ team leagues for his contributions in home runs and RBI.

Lourdes Gurriel (2B/OF – TOR)

Ownership: Fantrax 25%, Yahoo 22%, ESPN 4%

Move over Yuli, little brother is here. The younger Gurriel brother might not be as polished as big bro, but carries higher fantasy upside, which is really all we care about. In 128 at-bats with Toronto, Gurriel has more than held his own with a .297 average, five home runs, 16 RBI, and 14 runs scored. Granted, the 3/27 BB/K rate is concerning, but when you look at it, a 20.5% K rate isn’t all that bad in this day and age. He’s been especially hot lately with four straight multi-hit games. Gurriel is likely to have peaks and valleys with that low of a walk rate, but as long as he’s this hot and playing nearly every day, he’s worth a waiver wire add in standard leagues.

Zack Wheeler (SP – NYM)

Ownership: Fantrax 65%, Yahoo 29%, ESPN 28%

For the first time since 2014, we can say that Zack Wheeler is 100% fantasy relevant again. It’s about damn time, too. People forget that Wheeler was right there with Jacob deGrom back in the day before battling injuries and ineffectiveness over the last three-to-four seasons. Keep your fingers crossed, but it appears we can welcome Wheeler back into the circle of trust. Even Robert DiNiro and Jinxy cat approve.

Don’t look at Wheeler’s full-season line. Instead, let’s focus on the last month where Wheeler has a 3.03 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, and 8.3 K/9. His velocity has bounced back to pre-injury levels and his slider has become more of a weapon for him with a career-high 53.57% whiff rate in July.

*Stats from Brooksbaseball.net

No one would blame you if you were a little hesitant to believe that Wheeler is indeed back. I was skeptical myself up until the last month or so. But when you think about it, what have you got to lose? Wheeler should be added in all 12+ team leagues.

Jace Fry (RP – CHW)

Ownership: Fantrax 15%, Yahoo 13%, ESPN 1%

There’s a strong chance that most people didn’t know who Jace Fry was before this season. Heck, before two weeks ago even. Fry was never considered a noteworthy prospect coming up through the White Sox system and was atrocious during his brief Major League stint last season. The 2018 season has been a different story. His ERA still isn’t the greatest at 3.86, but his 2.27 FIP signals that his ERA is a tad inflated.

Fry features a fastball in the 92-94 mph range that he can ramp up an mph or two when needed and pairs those with two above-average breaking balls that he combines to throw slightly over half the time. That curve and slider combination has helped Fry rack up a useful 11.3 K/9 this season. With Nate Jones appearing to be done for the season, the closer role is Fry’s to lose going forward.

Check back next Friday for more waiver wire pickups.

For more from Eric, check out his archive and follow him on Twitter @EricCross04. For all of you dynasty leaguers, check back in on Tuesday for Eric’s weekly Dynasty Dugout column.

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