If your fantasy baseball roster is beset by injuries and disappointing performances, know that you are not alone. Even the best teams face some problems. The road to a championship is never a perfectly smooth road.
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It seems like not many of you are excited about the fact that knuckleball is alive and well in San Diego. Waldron has been struggling in his recent starts thanks to the knuckleball, the best of pitches. In his last six starts, Waldron has compiled a 3-1 record with a 1.78 ERA and 39 strikeouts in 35.1 innings. He has been an absolute delight in both fantasy and reality, and this has not gone unnoticed by other professional pitchers:
Waldron will face the Mets on Friday, which is not a difficult spot. He’s been too good (and too fun) to stay out of so many leagues.
By now it should be clear that every time I write the waiver article, you’ll probably get a blurb about Soriano. This will simply serve as a weekly reminder that he throws a million miles per hour (the man divider averages 94) and that he also has one of the highest ground ball rates in the league. We generally like this profile.
After Wednesday’s start, an eight-inning win at Arizona, he has struck out 60 in 72.1 innings on the season and posted a 3.48 ERA. At the end of the month, he is in line for a two-start week in which he will face Oakland and Detroit. Soriano certainly belongs in your streaming plans.
If you’d rather avoid the White Sox experience altogether, we completely understand. It’s, um… well, it’s not for everyone. But know that Thorpe is a legitimate talent who impressed in his MLB debut on Tuesday, striking out four batters in 5.0 innings and allowing just three hits and one earned run. He missed a lot of bats and generally seemed ready to perform on the major league stage.
Thorpe was basically untouchable in Double-A entering the season, going 7-1 with a 1.35 ERA and 0.87 WHIP, hitting 56 batters in 60.0 innings. He was equally dominant in the minors last year, posting 182 K in 139.1 innings and maintaining a 0.98 WHIP. His next turn will be Sunday at Arizona and then he will face the Tigers next week.
Perhaps we haven’t mentioned often enough the fact that in 2022 and 2023, Hamilton stole 127 bases in 222 games in the upper minors. One hundred and twenty-seven. That’s extreme stealing, folks. This gentleman is quite fast. Hamilton plays almost every day for Boston and has been a multi-hit machine over the past week. He has respectable power by middle infield standards and has stolen 13 bags so far for the Red Sox. In all likelihood, Hamilton’s roster percentage will increase in the coming days, so this will serve as the final decision.
All Horwitz has done since being recalled from Triple-A is go 7-for-18, taking firm control of the leadoff spot for the Blue Jays. He is a verifiable on-base monster. Horwitz was hitting .335/.456/.514 in Buffalo before his promotion, which is almost exactly the same production he put up the year before (.337/.450/.495). He has low double-digit power and speed, so we’re not going to make any promises in those categories. But it should be a huge advantage in runs and average.
If you play in a league that uses OBP, he is a priority addition. He should earn 2B eligibility in his next start, so he’ll offer positional flexibility soon.
We’re still two full weeks away from Marte releasing his 80-game suspension for banned substance use, so it may not be easy for you to hide it if you play in a league with short benches. But his range of power/speed potential isn’t routinely available, so the inconvenience might be worth it.
Marte hasn’t looked rusty at all since returning to the lineup at Triple-A Louisville:
Last year, at age 21, Marte hit .316/.366/.456 for the Reds with three home runs and six steals in 35 games, plus hit another 11 bombs and stole 18 bags in the minors. Playing time shouldn’t be an issue when he returns to Cincinnati at the end of the month.
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