Fantasy Baseball Pickups: Resurgent Max Muncy headlines hitters to target on waiver wire

Yahoo

5 days ago

We made it into June, gamers. It's baseball season, it's wedding season, and for many MLB clubs and their prospects, it's promotion season. Kansas City is adding power prospect Jac Caglianone to the mix, and it's expected (if not publicly declared) Roman Anthony (the No. 1 prospect in baseball) will join the Red Sox at some point this month.
Andy Behrens has your Caglianone pub ready, so jump over and get the details. Caglianone has already chased into the 50s for Yahoo rostership. Anthony is at 31%. Just a PSA to start auditing the prospect lists in your league so you can try to be a half-step ahead of your opponents. Now is the time to be proactive.
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Of course, not all of your adds have to be freshmen. Consider how Max Muncy has saved his season in Los Angeles. The Dodgers vet hit under .200 in April, but he was a .250 stick in May, with five homers and 26 RBI. He already has a June home run, too. The last time Muncy sailed past 500 at-bats, 36 homers, 105 RBI and 95 runs scored were the result. He's an eyelash under the 50% cutoff for this column, so this is your last call on Mad Max.
Let's hit on some other plausible pickups.
Addison Barger, 3B/OF, (17%) and Ernie Clement, 2B/SS/3B, (12%) Blue Jays
The Blue Rays are riding a five-game winning streak and it's been the offense telling the story, scoring 39 runs over the past four games. Barger and Clement have been right answers of late — Barger homered three times on the weekend and is hitting .322 over his last 17 games, while Clement has a .345/.391/.512 slash and three homers over his last 23 games. Clement's versatility — he qualifies at three infield spots and actually played first base, a fourth spot, on Sunday — should keep him relevant even when Toronto gets some injured options back. And the Jays can't ignore Barger's exciting metrics, with most of his Baseball Savant sliders coated in deep red and pinned to the right (.306 expected batting average, .564 expected slugging).
Tyler Stephenson, C, Reds (34%)
An oblique strain cost Stephenson the first month of the season and he was rusty when he first returned, hitting under .200 as recently as May 24. But the cobwebs finally cleared last week, with Stephenson knocking three home runs and raising his average by 49 points. Terry Francona has noticed, raising Stephenson in the Cincinnati lineup. A healthy and confident Stephenson is a good bet to be a top 10 fantasy catcher the rest of the way.
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Willi Castro, 2B/3B/SS/OF, Twins (26%)
The Castro story is similar to the Stephenson one: an injury messed up Castro's early season and he was rusty on first return. But Castro's production has perked up over the last two weeks, a tidy .317/.417/.610 slash with three home runs and two steals. Castro is one of those perfect players for the top of a fantasy bench, as he qualifies at four positions (second, third, short, outfield) for Yahoo gamers. His batting average will likely be close to the league mean, and he'll dash in some category juice. A perfect insurance policy.
Agustín Ramírez, C/1B, Marlins (38%)
There aren't many right answers in the Miami lineup but Ramírez is one of them, with seven homers and a .493 slugging percentage. And we love catcher-eligible fantasy options who aren't forced to catch every day — about half of Ramírez's starts have come at DH. The Marlins recognize he's one of their few plus hitters, slotting Ramírez primarily first or second in their recent lineups. Ramírez has a strong batted-ball profile and has better plate discipline than most rookies, with a walk rate close to average and a strikeout rate well above average. There's a lot of polish in the 23-year-old's game.