Fantasy Baseball Week 17 Waiver Wire Pickups: Michael Lorenzen, Henry Davis, and More!
I’m not saying you need to start making grand roster changes, but it’s also no time to be too sentimental, hopeful, or patient with players who may be struggling on your roster (more on that in tomorrow’s Waiver Droppables). And it’s also no time to get picky about a player on waivers because he had a bad month of April or May. It’s almost August and two months ago doesn’t really matter at this point.
With that, let’s look at the Week 17 Fantasy Baseball Waivers and see if we can solidify our rosters before the home stretch of the season.
As always, check out the fantasy assistant for personalized waiver wire recommendations and team analysis. Make moves based on projections, strengths and weaknesses, waiver alerts, and lots more.
Top Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Adds
(ownership percentages are based on ESPN leagues)
Michael Lorenzen, P, Detroit Tigers (16.7%)
I’ve written about Lorenzen before, but he’s still available in like 83 percent of ESPN leagues, so here we are again. While he’s not a strikeout machine (only 76 strikeouts in 100.2 innings this year), Lorenzen hasn’t allowed a run in three straight starts and is down to a 3.49 ERA and 1.10 WHIP on the year. I realize his ceiling is a bit capped playing on a meh Tigers squad, but it’s hard to ignore what Lorenzen has been doing lately. Go grab him and see if you can ride the wave before it crashes.
Bryce Miller, P, Seattle Mariners (37.0%)
I don’t love writing up guys above 25-30 percent ownership, but I’ll make an exception for Miller this week because he should be above 37 percent. The 24-year-old hasn’t allowed more than three earned runs in a game since early June and has only allowed eight TOTAL unearned runs in his last six starts combined. He’s not a strikeout machine, but he’s still struck out 64 batters in 69.1 innings this year so he can still put up numbers there too. He’s also been able to keep his walks and hits allowed low on the year and has brought his WHIP down to 0.96 on the year. Grab him now if you still can!
Henry Davis, C/OF, Pittsburgh Pirates (21.1%)
Davis struggled a bit when he was called up, but he’s finally coming into his own (including hitting two home runs against Shohei Ohtani this week). He’s up to .286 with 16 runs, four home runs, 11 RBI, and three steals on the season after a week during which he hit .350 with four runs, two home runs, three RBI, and one steal. He’s mostly playing outfield for the Pirates, but can slot into your catcher slot fantasy-wise – which is extremely valuable because he’s playing every day (not something most catchers do). Grab the youngster now and hope he can keep this up!
Edouard Julien, 2B, Minnesota Twins (10.1%)
Julien is one of the hottest hitters in baseball right now and is hitting .452 in July with 12 runs, five home runs, seven RBI, and one steal during the month. He’s up to .304 with nine home runs and two steals on the season after a rough start to the year (and a trip down to the minors). While the 24-year-old doesn’t provide a whole lot of counting stats, he’s a great player to grab while he’s hot to see if he’s able to sustain this pace. He’s registered a hit in 10 of his last 100 games and, at worst, you can ride his hot streak until he cools off and find another waiver option.
Wilmer Flores, 1B/2B/3B, San Francisco Giants (19.7%)
The 31-year-old has never hit more than 19 home runs in a season and he’s a .263 career hitter, so why am I writing about him? Like Julien, he’s one of the hottest hitters in the game right now and is coming off a week during which he hit .471 with four home runs. Flores has a hit in 12 of his last 14 games and is hitting .417 during the month of July. He’s up to 12 home runs on the season and is getting regular playing time for the Giants, so there’s a good chance he’ll be worth having on your fantasy roster for the rest of the season considering he can slot into most infield positions.
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