They’re coming a little later in the day that usual -- and I apologize for that -- but here are some of my preferred pickups at the moment.
FANTASY BASEBALL WAIVER WIRE PICKUPS
Blaine Crim (1B Rangers) - Rostered in 0% of Yahoo Leagues
Crim isn’t even in the Yahoo player pool as of yet, though that’s about to change. The 27-year-old is getting his first major league callup as the replacement for Jake Burger in Texas and should start at first base regularly for now.
It’s been a long time coming for Crim, who was a 19th-round pick in the 2019 draft after a standout career at Mississippi College. He’s since hit .296/.372/.507 in six minor league seasons, with his Triple-A line coming in at .286/.373/.486 with 49 homers in 308 games. He was at .313/.365/.565 with seven homers through 28 games with Round Rock this year. The switch from the .190/.231/.330-hitting Burger seems like a pretty obvious call at this point.
The odds are against Crim becoming a long-term regular, but he possesses a perfectly solid right-handed bat. He had a 52% hard-hit rate in Triple-A, and he’s consistently struck out less than 20% of the time in the minors. If he starts regularly and hits in the middle of the Texas order, as he should, he’s not going to need to be a 120 OPS+ guy to amass some fantasy value in such a nice situation. He’s a fine replacement for those who were using Burger or perhaps relying on someone like Ryan Mountcastle or Wilmer Flores at first base.
Tony Gonsolin (RHP Dodgers) - Rostered in 34% of Yahoo leagues
I mentioned Gonsolin in the Quick Hits portion of the column when he was six-percent rostered last week. A victory and nine strikeouts in his season debut now have him picked up in one-third of leagues. It’ll probably go even higher next week, since he’ll get to take on the Marlins for a second straight start.
Gonsolin did have a 4.50 ERA in his first start back from an inflamed back, but that was largely due to bad outfield play behind him. His velocity was in the 91-94 mph range, leaving him just a half tick down from his 16-1 season in 2022, and both his slider and splitter looked sharp. Maybe he wouldn’t be a must pickup on an average team, but with a top offense and bullpen supporting him, he seems worth using in all formats for now.
Of course, health is an always an issue with Gonsolin. His career high for innings was the 132 he threw during his miraculous 2022 campaign. He’s topped 100 innings just three times in all since being drafted in 2016. He won’t show up all that high on next week’s updated Top 300 rankings, just because it’s so unlikely that he’ll remain useful for even four of the next five months. Still, he’s probably a top-50 starter for the short term.
Shelby Miller (RHP Diamondbacks) - Rostered in 20% of Yahoo leagues
With Justin Martinez (shoulder) joining A.J. Puk (elbow) on the injured list, the Diamondbacks are minus their top two relievers. The guy who was probably No. 3 going into the spring, Kevin Ginkel, only just returned from shoulder inflammation, and struggled some Thursday in a game in which he probably shouldn’t have been used in the first place (he wound up throwing 34 pitches on no rest after tossing 11 in his season debut). The save chance in that game went to Shelby Miller, who quickly converted the opportunity while facing the bottom three hitters in the Mets lineup.
It’d probably surprise most that Miller’s save against the Mets was only the fourth of his career. He still has more complete-game shutouts, though his fifth and final one of those came way back in 2016. Injuries shifted him to the pen for good in 2021, and he’s still often been banged up since. Last year was his healthiest since 2015, but after 55 2/3 innings with a 4.53 ERA out of the pen for the Tigers, he wound up getting cut with a week left to go in the season.
Things have gone much differently for Miller so far this year. The one run he’s allowed in 13 2/3 innings was unearned. He’s surrendered just four hits. His 94.5 mph average on his fastball is up one mph from the last couple of years, and he’s done great work with the splitter that had led to mediocre results since he added during his stint with the Dodgers two seasons ago. Given his track record, he probably shouldn’t pitch on back-to-back days very often. Still, Torey Lovullo doesn’t seem too worried about it, having already used him on consecutive days four times. Miller will probably wind up hurt again at some point, but hopefully for the Diamondbacks, it won’t be until after Martinez and/or Puk is back healthy. For at least the next few weeks, Miller might be a top-20 fantasy RP.
Waiver Wire Quick Hits
- It has to be very close to Bubba Chandler time in Pittsburgh, as Triple-A simply isn’t posing much of a challenge. The 2021 third-round pick has a 1.42 ERA and a 36/7 K/BB over 25 1/3 innings in his six starts. The Pirates are trying to keep his innings in check, so he’s yet to throw more than 71 pitches in an outing. He’ll be restricted some there in the majors, too, which will probably cost him wins on a subpar offensive team. He figures to offer mixed-league value anyway, though.
- Colin Rea still might be a pretty fringy option in 12-team leagues, but it’s hard not to like the way he’s throwing since moving into the Cubs rotation. His current 93.8 mph average on his fastball would be a career high, and he’s striking out four batters for each one he walks. Especially with as well as the Cubs are playing, he’s a solid choice against mediocre offenses in 10- and 12-team leagues and maybe an every-week guy, at least for the short term, in deeper formats.
- With Jazz Chisholm Jr. out for at least a month due to a strained oblique, Jorbit Vivas might offer some short-term value. The 5-foot-9 infielder was hitting .319/.426/.436 with just eight strikeouts in 116 plate appearances for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre before being called up Friday. He was a disappointing 6-for-10 stealing bases, but he’s usually more efficient there (he was 21-for-26 in 101 games last year). He’s obviously not much of a power guy, but he’ll get a couple of cheapies in Yankee Stadium. It’s not worth dropping someone of significance for him, but those who were relying on Chisholm could do worse for a stopgap.
