Mike Yastrzemski and Alex Dickerson: Deep League Wire

Welcome to an exciting all-Giants edition of the deep league waiver wire! It’s tempting to just completely ignore Giants hitters, but that just makes the guys worthy of your attention cheaper!

Mike Yastrzemski | OF SF | CBS 5% Owned

It’s always fun when a player with baseball in his blood becomes a top prospect and/or makes it to the Majors. Yes, that Yastrzemski is Mike’s grandpa. When your grandpa was one of the best hitters to ever play the game, attention needs to be paid. Like grandfather, like grandson? Obviously, Mike doesn’t exactly have that type of potential, but he’s now in a position to contribute to your fantasy team.

At 28 years old, Yastrzemski isn’t a prospect and the Giants just acquired him toward the end of March for a generic pitcher. But, he enjoyed a power breakout while at Triple-A this season and has shown promising power at times in the past. In fact, that power breakout wasn’t your ordinary breakout, it was an outright eruption. His HR/FB rate more than tripled, while his ISO more than doubled. Of course, standard small sample caveats apply, as the Triple-A surge came in just 163 plate appearances.

He has carried things over to the Majors, though, as his HR/FB rate stands at an even 20%, with an ISO just over .200. His plate discipline has regressed, but he’s not swinging and missing any worse than the league average, which is a good sign that he’s not overmatched.

He’s had a long career in the minors and played his fourth stint at Triple-A. So it’s difficult to gauge his true near-term potential. But for now, he has taken over the every day right field job, even against southpaws (he’s a lefty). Better yet, he has hit second the majority of the time.

Alex Dickerson | OF SF | 3% Owned

Several years ago, I was a big fan of Dickerson. Sadly, he ended up missing the entire 2017 season after undergoing back surgery and then tore his UCL and had to undergo Tommy John surgery a year later (it’s not just for pitchers!), costing him the 2018 season as well. Finally, three years later, he’s back in the Majors, but now, in a different uniform.

Dickerson’s intrigue was pretty good contact to go along with acceptable power, and a fly ball tilt. I’m a sucker for the good strikeout rate guys who own some potential power skills, because they don’t require massive HR/FB rates to knock 30 homers. As a lefty, a 30 homer pace is far too much to ask here, but if he shows anywhere near the contact skills he has historically, then 10 homers the rest of the way is reasonable.

Like Yastrzemski, you may not have realized that Dickerson is suddenly an every day player. He has started five games in a row in left field, though all of them have come against a right-handed starter. He’s likely to sit in favor of Tyler Austin when a lefty is on the mound.

The Giants always seem to be searching for offense and there’s no standout prospect in the high minors knocking on the door for an outfield spot. That means that Dickerson will control his own fate. A two week slump is likely to lose him his job, but if he hits well enough, he’s unlikely to lose his job to someone else in the organization.