It has been a long year for fantasy baseball. During that time, many of our waiver wire picks here at Fantasy Trading Room have worked out well. Jacob Misiorowski, Andrew Vaughn, Chase Burns, Addison Barger, Alejandro Kirk, Randy Rodriguez, Otto Lopez, Mickey Moniak, Sal Stewart, Jonah Tong, and Kyle Manzardo were all featured in a waiver wire article at some point this season. All of them have boosted their fantasy baseball stock since then.
We have reached the final month of the MLB regular season. Accordingly, this week’s waiver wire article will include two September call-ups (which can be found at FanSided’s call-up tracker). The following six players (with rostered rates via Fantrax) could be a difference-maker for fantasy baseball managers in the final weeks of the season:
Week 24 Waiver Wire Adds
Carter Jensen
(C, Kansas City)
23% Rostered
Carter Jensen is ranked as the Royals’ sixth overall prospect according to MLB Pipeline. Kansas City ranks 21st in the big leagues in catcher WAR, with Salvador Perez getting the majority of the reps.
Jensen was called up on Monday and brings a well-rounded offensive profile with him. Jensen is slashing .290/.377/.501 this season across Double and Triple-A, and has performed extremely well at the latter level in 43 games. He’s shown an advanced approach at the plate, walking 30 times and striking out just 52 times in 153 at-bats.
MLB Pipeline gives Jensen a 60-grade power tool, which means he could establish himself as one of the premier offensive catchers in baseball. He is a great pickup for fantasy managers in both points and rotisserie leagues, given his all-around skillset.
Kevin Alcantara
(OF, Chicago Cubs)
36% Rostered
Kevin Alcantara ranks as the second-best prospect in Chicago’s system. While he has struggled with swing-and-miss in Triple-A this season (128 strikeouts in 379 at-bats, which is a 33.77% clip), his offensive ceiling is too high for fantasy baseball managers to ignore.
Alcantara has knocked at least 13 home runs in each of his last four seasons, including 17 this year. It remains to be seen how well he’ll fit into the Cubs’ outfield mix, however, as they have the highest outfield WAR in baseball by a significant margin. Ian Happ, Kyle Tucker, and Pete Crow-Armstrong are all having excellent overall seasons for the Cubbies, which means Alcantara’s playing time could be somewhat limited. That’s a downside for managers in points leagues.
Blaze Alexander
(2B/3B/SS, Arizona)
30% Rostered
While not a top-tier prospect in the typical sense of the phrase, 26-year-old Diamondbacks infielder Blaze Alexander has shown he can produce at the big-league level. In 180 plate appearances this season, Alexander has an average exit velocity, barrel rate, and hard-hit rate that all rank well above league-average.
He also draws his fair share of walks due to an excellent 23.0% chase rate, which is a good sign for fantasy managers (especially in deep points leagues) looking for a well-rounded offensive player.
The main knock on Alexander is his propensity to whiff. The infielder has a 33% whiff rate that contributes heavily to his significantly below-average 32.2% strikeout rate. While his quality of contact is a good sign, he’ll need to figure out how to limit the whiffs if he wants his .237/.331/.449 slash line to stay where it’s at.
J.T. Ginn
(SP, Athletics)
19% Rostered
Despite an unsightly 5.17 ERA in 71.1 innings pitched this season, Athletics starting pitcher J.T. Ginn certainly offers upside for fantasy managers. His xERA of 3.95 ranks slightly above league average, and he boasts a 71st-percentile whiff rate and 77th-percentile strikeout rate.
Not only does he possess strikeout stuff, but he has excellent control to pair with it. Ginn has walked just 7.5% of the batters he’s faced this season, which is a great number considering his high strikeout rate.
Living in the zone too much has hurt Ginn at times; his barrel and hard-hit rates are both well below league average, but his ability to get ground balls with a heavy sinker provides hope that his ERA will regress to what we’d expect given his opponent's batted-ball quality.
Michael McGreevy
(SP, Saint Louis)
52% Rostered
Michael McGreevy ranks as Saint Louis’ 15th-best prospect per MLB Pipeline. While he certainly doesn’t possess overpowering stuff (none of his Pipeline pitch grades rate as above-average outside of a slider), he certainly has a specific skillset that has enabled him to get outs this season.
McGreevy has a 4.17 ERA so far this year, and although his xERA of 4.68 is significantly higher, his ability to get ground balls (73rd-percentile ground ball rate) and an elite walk rate helps him limit his WHIP. That is good news for managers in deep points leagues in need of a starter to eat up innings.
McGreevy has thrown at least six innings in each of his last six starts due to his efficiency, and he posted a 3.50 ERA over that span. Take a look at the following excerpt from his MLB Pipeline scouting report:
“The 6-foot-4 hurler’s control remained as good as ever, even in Triple-A with the tighter ABS zone, and he’ll likely never get in his own way when it comes to walks. Because of that, he can eat innings in bunches. While that’s valuable, McGreevy currently lacks the stuff to be more than a No. 5 pitcher, and he may end up as a grounder-heavy bulk option or up-and-down arm.”
Tyler Tolbert
(2B/SS/OF, Kansas City)
2% Rostered
While not an offensive powerhouse by any means, fantasy managers in rotisserie leagues who are in need of stolen bases can find them in Royals infielder Tyler Tolbert. His elite wheels have helped him swipe 17 bags this season with extremely limited playing time. He has an 83rd-percentile sprint speed, which indicates he’ll be able to keep up his excellent stolen base rate.
There are many options on the fantasy baseball waiver wire for managers in need of roster help this September. Remember to check back next week for another waiver wire breakdown.