Feels like a starting pitcher is hitting the IL every day. Or is that just on my fantasy team? As I scoured the waiver wire for options to just get me some innings, I wanted to try to at least maintain some kind of floor.

When looking at pitchers outside of your top rostered starters, it can be a minefield; these are pitchers not picked up for a reason. The problem that can be prevalent is that these pitchers are susceptible to blow-up innings that quickly crater decent starts into nightmare starts. Often this takes place on the third time through the lineup.

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Moving on from looking at players who potentially might run out of luck in the previous piece, we now look to the other end of the chart, and some hitters who may be due some good fortune.

While identifying the hitters I thought had potential regression was easy, with plenty of highly-rostered bats in the top region of the chart with interesting data as to why they were outperforming their xwOBA in terms of BABIP, finding who to highlight at the other end was more challenging.

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I fought the law and the law won. And that law is the law of starting pitcher attrition. To make up for losing starters to season-ending injuries and the regression monster, turn to IL stashes.

This article won’t be for all of you, or at least the advice won’t be universally applicable. For those of you with limited IL room, or limited IL slots, this may not be as actionable today. But for most of these pitchers, you can likely hold off a few weeks before others in your league are ready to pull the trigger. 

But if you do have room to hold onto a player with a little upside, you are unlikely to be outbid in FAAB at this point. That would be the biggest value add of bringing on these pitchers now — not having to outbid opposing managers once more news is out. 

I will run through a handful of pitchers worth considering, sticking to blurbs unless a pitcher excites me to the point of digging in a bit deeper. I will focus on players who are rostered in less than half of CBS and Yahoo leagues (sorry Kris Bubic and Logan Henderson). 

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Most platforms have a feature where you can click something by the player’s name to put them on a virtual watchlist. It is smart to use this feature before the season starts because once it starts you be sorting by stats and you could miss out on someone you really want about to get a new role because you sorted by PA and he just didn’t show very high.

• Previous Watchlists

The Watchlist returns after a couple weeks off!

SHALLOW LEAGUES (mixed leagues – 10 or fewer teams)

LaMonte Wade Jr | OF/1B, SFG

How is he rostered in just 15% of ESPN leagues?? Since becoming a regular with the Giants (May 28th), he is 36th in wRC+ with a 134 mark with 15 HR (t-7th most), 38 RBI, 33 R, and 3 SB in 213 PA. He is consistently leading off for a strong Giants lineup, has dual-eligibility, and should be on many rosters than he is currently. The return of Brandon Belt hasn’t impacted his playing time as he has shifted back into the outfield and become the primary RF.

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Most platforms have a feature where you can click something by the player’s name to put them on a virtual watchlist. It is smart to use this feature before the season starts because once it starts you be sorting by stats and you could miss out on someone you really want about to get a new role because you sorted by PA and he just didn’t show very high.

• Previous Watchlists

Willy Adames stayed hot with another big week, hitting .308/.455/.692 including 3 HR and 10 RBIs since his inclusion in last week’s Watchlist.

SHALLOW LEAGUES (mixed leagues – 10 or fewer teams)

Austin Hays | OF, BAL

Hays has had a huge platoon split this year with a 1.013 OPS vL and just a .604 vR but it hasn’t always been like this as his career marks are .793/.721, respectively. He is surging of late with an .892 OPS and 3 HR in his last 50 PA. I always love having Baltimore bats in the summer, especially when they are at home and the ball is flying at Camden Yards. If you are bought in on the lefty/righty thing (though you really shouldn’t give it too much credence) he does have 3 southpaws in the first 4 games next week.

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Most platforms have a feature where you can click something by the player’s name to put them on a virtual watchlist. It is smart to use this feature before the season starts because once it starts you be sorting by stats and you could miss out on someone you really want about to get a new role because you sorted by PA and he just didn’t show very high.

• Previous Watchlists

Bruce Zimmermann was one out away from a quality start his last time out and he has a 4.25 ERA and 1.31 WHIP with 31 Ks in his last 29.7 IP, but now he is on the IL with biceps tendinitis.

SHALLOW LEAGUES (mixed leagues – 10 or fewer teams)

Dylan Moore | 2B/OF, SEA

Moore was a popular power-speed pick this draft season after a 2020 breakthrough that saw him hit 8 homers and steal 12 bases in 159 PA. After hitting just .168/.270/.353 in the first 41 games of 2021, he suffered a calf strain that put him on the IL. He recovered and tore it up in three games on a rehab assignment (1.500 OPS, 1 HR/1 SB in 12 PA) before rejoining the Mariners.

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Most platforms have a feature where you can click something by the player’s name to put them on a virtual watchlist. It is smart to use this feature before the season starts because once it starts you be sorting by stats and you could miss out on someone you really want about to get a new role because you sorted by PA and he just didn’t show very high.

• Previous Watchlists

Jake Fraley hit .333/.400/.500 with 1 HR and 2 SB in 20 PA since last Friday. Three lefties in the six games cost him a couple starts, so keep an eye on the schedule if you want to play him.

SHALLOW LEAGUES (mixed leagues – 10 or fewer teams)

Cesar Hernandez | 2B/SS, CLE

Hernandez is having an uncharacteristic power season with 9 HR already and a career-best .167 ISO. Unfortunately, it hasn’t yielded major dividends across his profile as he is hitting just .220 with a .299 OBP. He also hasn’t attempted a stolen base since September 8th, 2019, when he swiped a pair against the Mets. Obviously last year wasn’t a full season, but it has been 136 games. His .246 BABIP is 87 points off his career mark and should rise. If maintains the power with that rising BABIP, he could be a sneaky MI asset even without the speed contributions.

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Most platforms have a feature where you can click something by the player’s name to put them on a virtual watchlist. It is smart to use this feature before the season starts because once it starts you be sorting by stats and you could miss out on someone you really want about to get a new role because you sorted by PA and he just didn’t show very high.

• Previous Watchlists

Spencer Turnbull was sharp against the Yankees after appearing on last week’s list and will no doubt be picked up quite a bit this weekend, especially with Seattle on the docket next week.

SHALLOW LEAGUES (mixed leagues – 10 or fewer teams)

Willi Castro | SS/2B, DET

Castro generated some sleeper buzz after a strong 2020 that saw him hit .349/.381/.550 with 6 HR in 140 PA. After hitting just .191/.232/.277 through 25 games, Castro started popping up on a lot of waiver wires and understandably so. He is starting to get picked back up, though, thanks to a .254/.342/.460 line with 3 HR and 2 SB in 74 PA. He still has a 27% K rate in that run and that level of swing-and-miss is likely to foster more of these severe ups and downs. Ride the wave when things are going well!

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Most platforms have a feature where you can click something by the player’s name to put them on a virtual watchlist. It is smart to use this feature before the season starts because once it starts you be sorting by stats and you could miss out on someone you really want about to get a new role because you sorted by PA and he just didn’t show very high.

• Previous Watchlists

Danny Santana got the call quickly after the Wk. 8 Watchlist and already has 2 HR and 1 SB in 17 PA.

SHALLOW LEAGUES (mixed leagues – 10 or fewer teams)

Ji-Man Choi | 1B, TBR

Choi returned on May 16th and has been on fire in his 10 games, hitting .355/.500/.645 with 2 HR in 40 PA and playing virtually every day. He bats top 3 against righties and he’s even drawing some starts against lefties, though his career .604 OPS against them still says this is more of a platoon bat. A strong side platoon bat is still mostly a streamer in shallower leagues but if you are piecing together your CI or DH spot, Choi can be part of the mix. The Rays have a seven-game week coming up with two against lefties so Choi could be a viable streaming option this week, but at the very least he merits Watchlist attention.

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Most platforms have a feature where you can click something by the player’s name to put them on a virtual watchlist. It is smart to use this feature before the season starts because once it starts you be sorting by stats and you could miss out on someone you really want about to get a new role because you sorted by PA and he just didn’t show very high.

• Previous Watchlists

Jesús Sánchez smacked another 4 HR in Triple-A (7 on the season) and is now hitting .509 in 56 PA.

SHALLOW LEAGUES (mixed leagues – 10 or fewer teams)

Austin Nola | C, SDP

He’s only on 32% of the ESPN rosters which makes him pretty available in shallow 1-catcher leagues. He was a top 10 catcher last year, but he essentially missed April so he has sat on a lot of wires despite being back and playing regularly. He is a solid replacement for the recently injured Carson Kelly, too.

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