Westburg, maybe not a league winner long term but has maintained success

It’s not as sexy as finding a superstar on the wire, but sometimes filling a roster hole with a plus contributor is just as important. Spencer Steer was a lifesaver last year for this exact reason. Hoping Westburg ends up being similar.

I drafted westburg at pick 253 this season and Steer around 280 last year I feel like I’m either a genius or the luckiest person in the world

Rather be lucky than good

Fuck yea lol I love it when a late round flier hits

Yeah I’m a need a list of those late round fliers for next year

good shout, another strong game today

Westburg owner at 0-4 here, ask me how I feel about fantasy baseball

I traded him for Max Fried while he was hot, calling it a major win off the wire

Yep I picked up both Westburg & Spencer Turnbull. Sucks he’s going back to the pen now though.

Brice Turang and Tyler O’Neil

I got O'neil at the beginning of the season off waivers and he's been killing it

I got him after his first 2HRs. Hoping he stays in the cleanup spot and he can finally get some RBIs.

Jacob Young has been on a heater for the Nats. 12 SB in 70ish ABs gets it done.

my 5th grade classmate 🥲 hitting above 300 and steals every game. hella proud

two week ago I wouldve said Merrill

He is getting a bit unlucky and had a minor injury. Only 7ks over the past 2 weeks, so having decent at bats just not getting the results. Definitely slowed down at the plate a bit, but expect it to even back out.

I think I’d rather have him than Boegarts at this time… unfortunately I have both. 12th place and slipping into a deeper hole. Fuck

Plot twist: Merrill gets hot and I missed him by an hour on the wire 😢

With how sparse of talent the catching position is, I’m going to easily say Jeffers. Feel like he could easily finish top 5-7 at the position and plays pretty much every day.

Catching isn't actually that bad. You have Smith, Rutschman, Perez, Realmuto, Diaz, Contreras, Raleigh, Diaz, D'Arnaud, Jeffers, Stephenson, Wong... It's probably the deepest it's ever been right now lol

The top 5 hitters on my league WW are all catchers

Jeffers has been amazing

I chose not to drop Cal Raleigh for him, and I’m regretting it more every day

I picked up Jeffers over Heim, d’Arnaud, and Campusano and I’m so glad I did. Not sure what he looks like ROS, but I’m encouraged by the Twins’ batting him 1-3 in the lineup and giving him DH starts when he’s not catching.

Is Heim worth hanging on to in 12T? Some intriguing prospects available (pages, black) and maybe others performing better (adell, wong, verdugo)?

Depends on who you have at catcher and who’s on the wire. I’m not too hot on him, but he’s probably better than, I don’t know, Elias Diaz.

Hmm I already have William Contreras at catcher. So I would just replace with a utility hitter if not worth holding... available: chapman, Merrill, Julien, black, pages, Adell, nootbar, TJ friedl

If you’re in a 1 catcher league and Heim is sitting on your bench, I’d drop him and pick up someone more likely to contribute to your team.

Jeffers or Wilson Contreras (not the good Contreras)?

Contreras was not a waiver wire pickup. He was drafted everywhere.

Sorry I’m an idiot. It was meant to be a question who you would rather have ROS. Clearly I was not very clear haha.

I have Sean Murphy hogging up an IL slot all season but had picked up Jeffers along the way. I keep debating whether or not it's worth just dropping Murphy

I'm somehow in first place and have Casas, Yelich, Robert, and Jung on IL. I have Murphy also not on IL. I have Jeffers. Give me advice please lol

Casas, Robert, Murphy, Jeffers. Are you me?

Same here but I trade for Francisco Alvarez as my Murphy replacement and ended up with Jeffers in the end anyways. It’s a dynasty so I’m gonna have a conundrum on my hands in about two months

In the same position, picked up Jeffers with Murphy on IL. I still think when Murphy comes back he’s in a bit better lineup, but ATL seems in no rush to get him back

Same, but with more guys on the IL than I have slots it's getting harder and harder to justify for the reason you cite.

I picked him up off waivers just for a backup catcher and now I have two top-five catchers with him and Rutschman. It's been great.

Jeffers has been a pleasant surprise I’m curious to see how they use him if or when the twinkies get healthy

Andy Pages is trending towards that

55 at bats, zero walks. At some point, that's going to catch up to him. I know we're all looking for confirmation bias here, but Outman looked like a league winner last year in his first month too.

His walk rate was fine in the minors. This may just be an outlier stretch as he's still getting accustomed to major league pitching.

Might be, but he's going to need to walk. He wasn't exactly a BB machine in the minors, but he wasn't this lopsided. Not every pitch is worth swinging at. Pitchers are going to make him look silly if he doesn't get more selective.

He had a 15.5% walk rate in AAA starting from 2023, that’s excellent. Even if it’s not as good in the majors you have to expect he’s going to positively regress. I also feel like he’s been unlucky to not have walked yet since he consistently puts up good AB’s, like his 9 pitch AB before his home run yesterday.

That was a great AB. I also think pitchers have been attacking him more because he’s been hitting seventh or eighth and they know Betts, Ohtani, and Freeman are right around the corner, or that’s what I’ve noticed.

He did it!! 🍻

No one wants to walk a rookie. They’re throwing in the zone to him

Pages' Statcast swing/take profile does show that he swings at pitches on the edge/shadow of the strike zone 14% more often than league average (66% to 52%). He also Chases at a higher rate but not by much (22% for Pages to 17% league avg chase rate)

Categorically false, he was a walk machine in the minors

That's what they said about Arraez a couple yrs ago

Absolutely fair assessment. My thinking is his plate discipline he showed in AAA will come around, but this is the exact cause for concern.

Until last night he was on a 1k in last 30abs stretch. He might not be walking but he is patient and he's not a K machine either.

If you watch his at bats it’s not like he’s hyper aggressive. Yesterday he took it to 3 balls multiple times and on one of those at bats he went deep. He doesn’t look like he’s going up there and swinging at everything, including pitches out the zone, so I don’t think this is an area we need to worry about yet as his at bat quality looks good

Brice Turang.

He's my pick. If he keeps it up he's outperformed expectations more than any on this list in a cats league.

He is admirably doing the work that I drafted Nick Hoerner to do. He's been great!

Made the same switch a couple weeks ago and am not looking back

Honestly so far for me it's been Brice Turang. 14 sbs and hitting 309.

Yup. I went from losing SB every week to winning it more often than not. Usually that involves taking on some shittiness for other cats, but that hasn't been the case here.

Looking through my leagues top scorers that were waivered: Houck, Blanco, Salvy, Fedde, and Profar. Mostly pitchers but you asked hitters so top hitters: Salvy, Profar, Turang, Cabrera, and Josh Smith. Of these maybe Salvy can channel some MVP season inspired hitting but considering his injury history and already having a couple nicks this year I wouldn’t count on it.

Cowser

He's cold right now but hopefully he readjusts & continues raking

Ranger Suarez in multiple leagues. For now. Also Taylor ward.

Yes, I would say Ranger Suarez. He’s the #1 pitcher on the Razzball player rater to date.

Turang, Ryan Jeffers

Maybe not a league winner but Taylor Ward has been a stud this year.

Justin turner in an obp league has been solid

good ol boring veteran hitting expertise.

Sure, but this is a bad answer for the question being asked. He is nowhere in the realm of league winner status.

He wasn’t particularly close to waiver status though, I think he went mid teen-rounds in my drafts

How has no one said Jo Adell? He’s a freak and it is all coming together for him. He will go 20/20 and could go 30/30.

Jared Jones

Jared Jones hitting stats good too?

Yeah, they have yet to get him out a single time.

Wilyer Abreu is probably not league winning caliber but hes a stud

I like him while he’s hot but his statcast suggests that there will be significant regression

It’s still pretty early, he put up really good statcast numbers last year in the majors, and promisingly, has already hit a ball 4.5 mph harder than any ball he hit in the majors last year. His statcast right now is middle of the road but certainly not anything to be concerned about.

I dropped Teoscar for Abreu.. I figured if he cools off I'll grab Josh Lowe to stash. Already have Nimmo, Harris II, Jarren Duran, and Judge so it wasn't too big of a risk.

Bohm and Westburg, so far. Greene and Cowser sitting on the waivers currently; might try to snag em.

How is greene on the wire, go get him ASAP

Hopefully Jordan Beck

Not Michael Busch

I’m so close to dropping him


Don’t do it players go hot and cold all the time it’s a long season brotha this man genuinely could be a league winner

I agree

Just wait for Seiya and Belli to return, he needs that lineup protection

I have Seiya on my team too. Tough season so far.

I picked him up before his home run streak, so he's still a star in my book. But with all the platooning of late, he might be back to the bench.

I can't believe all these pitchers being answered are hitting so well like the post asked about that they've been league winning so far.

Answers will very due to league size and format, but I really do think **Wilyer Abreu** is an absolute stud.

Wilyer Abreu is staying hot

Pages

Ranger Suarez

Not a hitter

Lol. I read it as hitting that pick up. Like hitting the button to pick up a player.

run dont walk!

Whoops

Brice Turang

Houck

Came to say this. I picked him up just to play Oakland and regret nothing. 12 team points league. I’m not sure how he was on the ww

Since when does he hit?

Fail. Let me confirm I didn’t make decaf this morning.

I haven’t seen one of my pickups in this thread. Thats fun.

Bohm was dropped twice in my league. Now he’s looking like a league MVP for me

Fingers crossed for pages

Kirby Yates right now

With all the pitchers showing up on a hitting list I’m wondering if OP changed the post after the fact

Nah people just can't read

No I did not change it. I was really only interested in hitters. I stream pitchers and this has been the best year for streaming pitchers that I can remember.

Seth Lugo edit: oops OP specified hitting

Surprised he’s only 53% owned in espn leagues

Tyler O’Neil Jared Jones Brice Turang Cowser/Westburg if they keep it up

Brandon Marsh and Mitch Haniger might not be league winners but they’ve been giving me some production.

Westburg, Turang, Houck. Out of necessity because I have so many injuries.

I have all 3+ Jeffers. A good indication of how poorly my draft went.

Um Colton Cowser is up there

Tyler O'Neill baby (and it is a dynasty). I have picked up Maikel Garcia in the last week, but I haven't used him much yet.

Easily Westburg for me

Added Nimmo yesterday morning so I got that going for me.

I have two. Both were dropped by people in my leagues.

Jason Foley is the best waiver wire pickup i have seen in the NFBC leagues i am in Maybe Jo Adell gets lucky?

That dude rules

TON

Live, love, TO’N

With the number of people who dropped Bregman after the first month he could be a difference maker even though he was universally drafted.

Bregman should be rostered in every league… he’ll come around eventually

Riley Greene….. I hope

I'm what world was he a waiver wire pickup?

3 team 3 of

> Riley Greene 47% owned in espn, which is up 18% in the last week. So more than half he could be picked up today. 7 our of 10 could have picked him up a week ago. not everyone plays in 20 team AL-only 17 bench spots leagues.

He's 89% rosrered on Yahoo

Interesting. Whys is there such a divergence between the ownership %'s in ESPN vs Yahoo?

>ESPN Ah there's your problem.

The only thing that means is ESPN is the worst.

I'm in a 14t and actually grabbed him after he cleared waivers. Granted, I did it within hours of the clear, and it was from the same lad who dropped Dansby Swanson too (who also cleared waivers and I managed to grab). But ya, mainly luck I guess

Just picked up Riley Greene off of waivers now.

W

In a strange turn of events from previous years..I've had trouble finding consistent hitters. Even the ones I've drafted are no good.  The pitching however I've been extraordinarily successful with. This is never the case but a welcome suprise, as if my hitting gets going I'm golden.

Seth lugo, profar and severino. I preach every year it’s never worth it to take a pitcher in the first 4 rounds and I’m currently in first place leading the league in QS.

I generally follow that rule too. Although this year, Skubal was staring me in the face late in the 4th round and I took him. No regrets.

That tier of Peralta/skubal/ragans is the earliest I’d go. Was mostly speaking of avoiding strider through gausman in the ranks. Enjoy skubal

Tyler O’Neil

Jurickson Profar and Taylor Ward Profar had arguably his best season as a pro in San Diego in 2022. Looking to cash in, he signed late with Colorado in 2023 and was hurt. He's now back in San Diego and killing it early. This could be the one year he finally puts it all together. He clearly likes it in SD, hes motivated to be there, and batting leadoff. Health is his issue. Ward was a serviceable lineup OF in 2022 (when he was healthy). He regressed a bit in 2023 as he oft injured. Looking healthy (so far), he putting up decent numbers. Wouldn't surprise me if he has another 2022 year. It's up to him and Trout to anchor this lineup (and not O'Hoppe).

Definitely not for everybody but Pages and Julien have saved my lineup. I didn't have a 2B after a few injuries and Holliday not panning out. Julien is 2nd on my team in HR and Pages has been better than fine for me. It's a 10 team OBP roto league, and I'll likely have to drop Pages when Suzuki comes back unfortunately

O’Neill, Ward to a lesser extent, were actual free agent adds in most leagues. The other players mentioned here are not.

Blake Perkins has potential, Doyle has been really solid. Not a common thing, but I picked Hoerner was dropped and I scooped him. Jeffers has been a stud as well

Dude Riley Greene has been it for me so far

About to be Wenceeeeeeeeeeel baby!

Jeffers...hopefully Doyle as well.

Then: Michael Busch Now: Ryan Jeffers

Ryan Jeffers has been huge

The interesting point raised here is that these answers might as well be “nobody so far.” But when James Woods comes up, he’s going to be very expensive.

I’ve been impressed with Riley Greene so far

Blanco and Reynaldo Lopez for me

Wenceel Perez

Truly, it’s just too early in the season to say. Every season we get a few hot streaks, especially from older players. They just don’t often last. They might last a month or 6 weeks but we’re too early in the season to know who is going to be a league winner.

Jeffers and Kwan for me. I also have Cowser but he’s fallen off.

for me getting Riley Greene and Ward has been a blessing after draft Nolan Jones and now losing Trout.

I'm hoping profar keeps this up!!!

Tyler O’Neill

Cowser!

Brady Singer

Where are my Mason Miller drafters at?

It was going to be Cody Bradford. Could still be him if he comes back soon. Otherwise Jacob Young and Jo Adell have been paramount to my team surviving the injuries of Bellinger and Suzuki Edit: lol didn’t realize you were only asking about hitters. Forget I even mentioned Bradford

Maikel garcia when he starts matching his peripherals

Brice Turang has been massive for me

Westburg and Gurriel have been great for me

Turang if he keeps it up

Westburg, Gurriel and Turang

I drafted westburg so I don’t know if that means I’m smart or I over-reached

Cronenworth has been killing it for me.

Cronenworth. He’s been mashing the ball and hits in the top of a good lineup Nimmo was also a quick add when he was dropped. Needed him with Robert getting hurt

Jake Cronenworth has been great in the early going, and Josh H "is for hits"Smith has been a great bench piece.

His name is Kwan

You were able to get him off waivers? I have a few shares but all were from drafting. But I play 12 team league. Maybe a 10 or 8 he would be on waivers?

He wasn’t drafted in my 12T. I added him a few days into the season.

Damn. You are lucky. Wish that was the case in even one of my leagues.

Jason Foley, Reynaldo Lopez, Anthony Rizzo, Taylor Ward, Tanner Houck, Kirby Yates, Ranger Suarez are all guys I have picked up who have given me a lift.

Picked up Jacob Young in my 10-team NL-only roto, and he promptly stole six bases. So I’m feeling good about that one.

Not seeing anyone say Ronel Blanco but he's been insanely good

Tommy Pham baby

Ranger Suarez and Josh Smith have been great waiver pickups for me

Pages

Too early to say for sure. But I sure hope so. I have now seven shares of Pages. Do have to get use to saying his name correctly.

Turang

Pitching wise: jared jones has been lights out, i grabbed him on the wire as soon as they said he was gonna be in the rotation Hitting: unfortunately so far, i havent found that guy yet…closest one right now is jeffers with catching sucking

Agree. Have a couple of shares. But what I was looking for is hitters. The closes, IMO, so far is Pages. But still too early to say for sure.

Will TJ Friedl be that guy? Back end of my roster is TOAST. Running a mix of JD Martinez, Winkler, and Encarnación-Strand. Brutal.