Fantasy Baseball Week 24 – Risers and Fallers – Waiver Wire Pickups

Fantasy Baseball Week 24 – Risers and Fallers – Waiver Wire Pickups

Risers

Mark Canha, OF/1B, OAK

Canha is still widely available in fantasy leagues somehow despite having a breakout season. With a .275 batting average and 23 home runs, Canha gives you a great combination of power and average. In OBP leagues his elite OPB of .390 makes him even more valuable.

During the month of August Canha was on fire, batting .347 with six home runs, 18 RBIs, and 17 runs. Canta is locked at the dish right now as his stellar August is supported by a 49% Hard% and 26.1% Line Drive %. With most leagues having only a few weeks remaining, now is time to focus more about what guys can do for you today versus what they have done all season.

Canta started extremely slowly this season and has improved dramatically as the season has gone along. In the first half of the season his wOBA, the most important to stat measure a player’s performance, was .368. In the second half of the season that number is .413, 89 points higher than the league average of .324.

Canha is owned: in 57% of CBS leagues, 57% of Yahoo leagues, and 33% of ESPN leagues. Grab him now for the final playoff push.

Jake Cave, OF, MIN

Cave is absolutely mashing the ball right now. The 26-year-old outfielder is batting .367 with five home runs, 8 RBIs and 12 runs scored over his last 15 games. Cave is a perfect example of a guy who is locked in at the dish and could help you make a move in your league in September.

Cave is seeing lots of time in the outfield for the banged up Twins. He doesn’t have the power profile to support his numbers but he’s a good flavor of the month to give you production for the stretch run.

With a Hard% of 51.1% and a Line Drive% of 23.3%, Cave is a good bet to hit for a strong average with some bombs.

His ownership numbers are on the low side: 7% in CBS leagues, 7% in Yahoo leagues, and 2% in ESPN leagues. In other words he is available in your league so pick up and ride out the wave of production.

Fallers

Dakota Hudson, SP, STL

On paper Hudson has had an excellent last month, posting a 2.38 ERA with 28 Ks over 34 innings. But once we start digging into the numbers we see that performance is not sustainable.

Hudson’s BABIP of .239 is very low and is not supported by his Hard% of 38.1% during that time period. His HR/FB% is also on the low end at 5.3%.

Given that hitters are getting solid contact and the league average for HR/FB% is 15%, I expect a lot more balls to fly out of the park during September. Hudson’s xFIP during August is 4.36, which suggests his ERA should be a lot closer to that number going forward.

There’s many better options out there with more strikeout upside than Hudson, who is an unimpressive K% of 18.2%. I have no problems letting him go and chasing a recent call-up with more upside.

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