Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Slugger Joey Gallo among top pickups
The following players are widely available in Yahoo Fantasy Baseball formats and may be worth grabbing, depending on your league’s depth.
Jack Suwinski, Pittsburgh Pirates (15%)
A series in Coors Field has helped, but Suwinski has become intriguing in deeper fantasy leagues. He’ll sit against lefties, and small sample caveats still apply, but the sophomore hitter currently ranks in the top 5% of the league in average exit velocity and xwOBA. Suwinski was a league-average hitter (100 wRC+) as a rookie while contributing 23 homers/steals over just 326 at bats.
His prospect profile shows 30-grade speed, but Suwinski has clearly gotten faster; he stole two bases during Sunday’s game, and his current Sprint Speed is in the 88th percentile. Suwinski is a batting average risk since he strikes out a lot, but he’s also in the top 5% of the league in walk and chase rate. He also has the second-highest slugging percentage versus right-handers early in 2023. Suwinski is showing real signs of a breakout and remains available in 85% of Yahoo leagues.
Logan Allen, Cleveland Guardians (17% rostered)
Allen isn’t guaranteed to remain in Cleveland’s rotation but is worth adding in deeper fantasy leagues after an impressive MLB debut Sunday that included an 18.6 SwStr% (only Jacob deGrom and Shane McClanahan have higher whiff rates among starters this season). Allen was off to a strong start in Triple-A with a 1.26 ERA over three starts, so hopefully the 2020 second-round pick gets a real opportunity to remain in the Guardians rotation moving forward.
Tanner Houck, Boston Red Sox (19%)
The Red Sox didn’t initially plan to use Houck as a starter this season, but he should remain a fixture in Boston’s rotation after looking like arguably the team’s best pitcher in 2023. He’s a former first-round pick starting to live up to expectations. Houck’s K% (25.6) ranks top-25 among starters this season, yet he remains available in more than 80% of Yahoo leagues.
Joey Gallo, Minnesota Twins (40%)
Gallo remains an obvious batting average risk, but he’s cut his K rate down some and needs to be grabbed in all fantasy leagues given his power potential. It’s a tiny sample, but Gallo currently sports an 85.7 Hard Hit% — Aaron Judge led MLB last year at 61.8%. Gallo also sports a 1.116 OPS versus righties. He has reached at least 38 homers during three seasons in his career — and he’s never eclipsed 500 at-bats. Better counting stats should also come with his spot in Minnesota’s lineup. Gallo might hit sub-.200. But he also might lead all of baseball in homers this year.
Matt Strahm, Philadelphia Phillies (27%)
Strahm was once an intriguing prospect who’s back on the fantasy radar while given a chance in Philadelphia’s starting rotation. Two of his four starts have come in hitter’s parks (@NYY and @Cin), yet he sits with a 0.94 WHIP and 27 strikeouts over 18.0 innings. Strahm isn’t the best bet to stay healthy, but the lefty has legit peripherals and a FIP (2.94) that ranks top-20 among starters. You won’t often find a starting pitcher available in nearly 75% of leagues who’s projected to have a 10.6 K/9 rate rest of season.
