Waiver Wire: May 3rd
Here are three players with low ownership rates who could pay immediate dividends in fantasy leagues:
Jhoulys Chacin, Colorado Rockies (owned in 3% of Yahoo! leagues)
If you were going to create a fantasy pitcher out of scratch, you would give him a great fastball, great command and the ability to get lots of ground ball outs. Chacin may not rank as great, but he is pretty good in all three of these areas. His fastball is in the low-90s, he averaged 2.68 BB/9 in the minors and in 427 IP in his minor league career, Chacin has a 59.4 GB%. In a brief trial in the majors last year, he struggled, mostly due to command issues. But in his first start this year for Colorado, Chacin allowed 3 BB in 8 IP. He should have an extended shot in the rotation, as the Rockies have two SP (Jorge de la Rosa and Jason Hammel) on the DL. If his command holds up, Chacin could be a nice addition to any fantasy roster.
Ryan Hanigan, Cincinnati Reds (owned in 3% of Yahoo! leagues)
Right now Hanigan is living large thanks to a .433 BABIP. But if we look at his major league career, he has 446 PA with a .303 BABIP and a .277/.376/.361 slash line. He has little power and less speed, but he can deliver a solid AVG for a catcher. Also, he has started three of the last four games for the Reds. Hanigan should be owned in all NL-only leagues and should merit serious consideration from all leagues that start two catchers.
Eric Young Jr., Colorado Rockies (owned in 6% of Yahoo! leagues)
When the Rockies placed Brad Hawpe on the DL, they called up top prospect Young, despite him scuffling in Triple-A with a .600 OPS. Young is interesting because of his speed and chance to post huge SB numbers if he gets playing time, as he swiped 58 bags last year in Triple-A. And Colorado is not getting much production out of 2B Clint Barmes, who is batting just .197 while showing little of the power he displayed in 2009. Meanwhile, Young is batting .333 with 5 R and 4 SB in 7 games. Young can play both 2B and the OF and should see a lot of action in the next couple of weeks to determine if he can hit major league pitching enough to make his speed worthwhile.
Chacin’s 3BB outing came against the Giants who are 26th in team walks. Just saying…