2023 Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Week 11: Elly De La Cruz Called Up By The Cincinnati Reds
Is there anything going on in baseball besides Elly De La Cruz? It didn't feel like it this week. The Reds infield prospect was the talk of baseball this week and he's the highlight of the fantasy baseball waiver wire for leagues in which he's still available. In most leagues, he's already on a roster. Unless he was drafted in the National Fantasy Baseball Championships (NFBC), he's a free agent. In some leagues, you can't add a player until they are called up and with free agent pickups on Sunday, De La Cruz is available in some of those formats, too. Almost every week there has been a big waiver wire pickup to spend on and De La Cruz will go for big money. He doubled in his first game, hit a 458-foot home run in his second game and stole a base in his third game and has been hitting fourth in the lineup. In his first four games with the Reds, he's slashing .333/.412/.733 with one double, one triple, a home run, two RBI, and a stolen base. As a young player, he will strike out often and has struck out nine times in 15 at-bats. De La Cruz will go for big money as possibly one of the final impact bats off the fantasy baseball waiver wire the rest of the way. He has power and speed and plays his home games in one of the best parks for hitters. By now, you should know how aggressive your fantasy baseball league is and looking at others remaining budgets can help gauge how much to spend. As always, do take advantage of all our Fantasy Baseball Season-Long Tools, including Fantasy Baseball Rest of Season Projections, Fantasy Baseball Player Rankings, and more to dominate you leagues!
Top Waiver Wire Hitters
Elly De La Cruz, SS, Cincinnati Reds, 40-50%
Hopefully, you have been reading this column the last few weeks and saw De La Cruz as a recommended stash. If so, it saved a lot of money. The buzz has been building for De La Cruz as the top prospect in baseball. In 38 games at Triple-A, De La Cruz slashed .297/.398/.633 with 38 runs, 12 home runs, 36 RBI, and 11 stolen bases in 38 games.
Jesus Sanchez, OF, Miami Marlins, 6-8%
Sanchez missed some time with a hamstring injury and has played well since returning. He has started the last seven games and is 8-for-27 with four runs, three home runs and seven RBI. Sanchez has always showed good power and is slashing .306/.376/.582 with 13 runs, six home runs, 17 RBI, and three stolen bases in 98 at-bats. Sanchez has a 46.4% hard hit rate.
Nolan Jones, OF, Colorado Rockies, 6-8%
Jones has been good since being called up and is getting consistent playing time. He is slashing .349/.404/.581 with four runs, two home runs, ten RBI, and four stolen bases. He batted .356 with 12 home runs and 42 RBI in 39 games at Triple-A and will at least be worth streaming in games at Coors Field in deeper formats.
Joey Wiemer, OF, Milwaukee Brewers, 6-8%
Wiemer started strong and went through a long slump. Wiemer has started to hit over the last eight games with five doubles, seven runs, three home runs, nine RBI, and two stolen bases with a 1.563 OPS. Over his last 19 games, Wiemer is slashing .288/.354/.576 with four home runs and four stolen bases.
Eddie Rosario, OF, Atlanta Braves, 6-8%
Rosario began the season slowly, but he's been much better lately. He will sit against most left-handers, but the Braves face five right-handers in their seven games next week against the Tigers and Rockies. Over his last 12 games, Rosario is 13-for-48 with eight runs, three home runs, and nine RBI.
Mitch Garver, DH, Texas Rangers, 6-8%
Garver has appeared in five games at catcher, so he's eligible in some leagues and will be in others soon depending on league rules. Injuries have limited Garver the last few seasons and he recently came off the injured list. He started the first four games after coming back and went 6-for-16 with five runs, a home run, and three RBI. Being able to slot Garver at catcher is most appealing and he's hitting in one of the best lineups in Major League Baseball.
Will Brennan, OF, Cleveland Guardians, 3-5%
Brennan is a good option if you miss out on the higher-priced bats or don't have enough money in the budget left. Brennan has been playing every day and hitting well. He has 18 hits in his last 39 at-bats with four runs, two home runs, eight RBI, and a stolen base.
Gary Sanchez, C, San Diego Padres, 3-5%
Sanchez was designated for assignment by the Mets last month and has hit well since coming to the Padres. In nine games with San Diego, Sanchez is slashing .275/.318/.700 with eight runs, five home runs, and 12 RBI. Sanchez has always showed good power, but tends to strikeout often leading to a low average. He can be used as a second catcher in leagues that start two while he's hitting well.
Ryan Noda, 1B, Oakland Athletics, 2-4%
Noda is more for deeper formats, especially in on-base percentage leagues. The A's lineup is awful, but Noda is slashing .255/.415/.473 with 32 runs, seven home runs, 23 RBI, and two stolen bases. While he's striking out 33% of the time, he has a 19.8% walk rate and a 45.8% hard hit rate.
Top Waiver Wire Pitchers
Braxton Garrett, Miami Marlins, 10-12%
Garrett is still widely available in Yahoo leagues. The overall stats look worse due to an awful performance against the Braves in which he allowed 14 hits and 11 runs over 4.1 innings. Since that start, Garrett has pitched 32 innings and allowed 25 hits, 12 earned runs, seven walks, and struck out 38.
AJ Smith-Shawver, Atlanta Braves, 10-12%
The 20-year old began the season in High-A and is already in the majors. Smith-Shawver made his first appearance in relief and got a start on Friday night against the Nationals. He pitched 5.1 innings and allowed three hits, two runs (none of which we earned), walked two, and struck out two. Smith-Shawver has a good fastball with a nasty slider and between High-A, Double-A, and Triple-A he had a 1.09 ERA, 0.94 WHIP with a 45:12 K:BB ratio over 33 innings. He gets another favorable matchup in his next start against Detroit.
Andrew Abbott, Cincinnati Reds, 10-12%
Abbott was good in his big league debut on Monday, going six scoreless innings and allowing one hit, four walks and struck out six against the Brewers. He had a favorable matchup and only had ten swings and misses. He doesn't throw hard and deception is part of the reason for his success. The hitter’s ballpark in Cincinnati doesn't help either, so don't break the bank.
Aaron Civale, Cleveland Guardians, 3-5%
Civale missed almost two months with an oblique injury and returned June 2nd. In his first two starts back, he has pitched 10.2 innings and allowed eight hits, two runs, walked four, and struck out seven. Civale won't get a lot of strikeouts, but his velocity is up and he keeps the walks down.
Jaime Barria, Los Angeles Angels, 3-5%
Barria started the season in relief but has made three starts recently and looked good. He has pitched 15 innings over that span allowing nine hits, three runs, walked four, and struck out 15. Barria has allowed a low hard-hit rate of 24% and has an xERA of 2.81.
Trevor Rogers, Miami Marlins, 3-5%
Rogers is close to returning as he's on a rehab assignment. He was supposed to start Friday and the game was rained out, pushing his final rehab start to Saturday. Rogers threw 70 pitches and five scoreless innings in his last rehab start on Sunday.
More Fantasy Baseball Content
Fantasy Baseball Prospect Report
Player News
Emmanuel Clase allowed one run in the ninth inning on Wednesday against the Guardians, preserving a three-run lead for his fifth save of the season.
Clase got the call to protect a three-run lead in the final frame after Cade Smith recorded the final two outs of the seventh and managed to hang on for his first save since April 19. He struck out Carlos Correa and Ty France in addition to giving up singles to Trevor Larnach and Ryan Jeffers, which put the tying run to the plate with two outs. He uncorked a wild pitch, which brought home a run, before striking out Kody Clemens on a 100.3-mph cutter to end it. It’s safe to say that Clase is definitely back in the closing mix for Cleveland until further notice.
Luis L. Ortiz fired 6 1/3 scoreless innings on Wednesday in a win over the Twins.
Ortiz gave up just three hits, struck out five and only handed out a pair of free passes. He wasn’t exactly overpowering, generating just 10 swinging strikes. However, he managed to throw enough strikes with his five-pitch mix to keep the Twins off-balance, allowing just four hard-hit batted balls with exit velocities over 95 mph. He’ll bring a respectable 4.78 ERA, 1.41 WHIP and 36/16 K/BB ratio across 32 innings (six starts) into a road tilt on Monday against the Nationals.
Pablo López was charged with two runs over 6 1/3 innings on Wednesday in a loss to the Guardians.
López carried a shutout into the seventh inning before the Guardians finally broke through when he launched an ill-advised throw down the first-base line on Carlos Santana’s infield single, which allowed José Ramírez to scamper home on the play. He was charged with an additional run when Brock Stewart coughed up a three-run homer following his departure. He struck out six and didn’t hand out a free pass, but was still saddled with a loss in this one. He’ll bring a sparkling 2.25 ERA, 1.00 WHIP and 26/4 K/BB ratio across 28 innings (five starts) into a home matchup on Tuesday against the Orioles.
Randy Arozarena went 2-for-4 and hit his fifth homer Wednesday in the Mariners’ 9-3 drubbing of the Angels.
Arozarena had gone six straight games without an RBI before driving in himself in the second inning today. He’s hitting .208/.359/.406 with eight steals in eight attempts. Batting average figures to remain an issue while he continues to play half of his games in Seattle, but everything else is good.
Emerson Hancock gave the Mariners six innings and allowed three runs Wednesday versus the Angels.
Hancock left with the Mariners trailing, but he put the team in good position to come back and win, which it did 9-3. Hancock’s velocity was down some today, as his 93.5 mph average on his sinker was off by 1.2 mph from his season mark. He’s scheduled to face the A’s next week.
Tyler Anderson held the Mariners to two runs over six innings in a no-decision Wednesday.
The one-run lead Anderson departed with quickly turned into a four-run deficit in the seventh, and the Angels lost one of his starts for the first time in six turns this year. Anderson is 2-0 with a 2.67 ERA, though his peripherals aren’t at all impressive. He’ll face the Blue Jays next.