2017 Fantasy Baseball Week 21 Waiver Wire: Don’t Ignore Us

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It is tough to ignore that fall is right around the corner and with this comes football. The majority of the nation is amped up about fantasy football drafts (don’t get me wrong, I am excited too), but I am here to tell you that there is still more time in the fantasy baseball season to make moves that will make a difference on your rosters.

Before I start talking about the players, let me run some numbers by you of fantasy sports in general. According to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, the average age of fantasy players is 38.6, the average person spends $556 annually and finally the favorite fantasy sport is football. This is why I am saying don’t ignore baseball though. Fantasy always makes regular sports better. Now it’s time to talk about my players who you should take a look at this week.

2017 Fantasy Baseball Week 21 Waiver Wire

Hitters

Delino DeShields, OF, Texas Rangers (14% owned in Yahoo)

I like to think of DeShields as a poor man’s Dee Gordon. A poor man’s Dee Gordon because he is available in a majority of leagues and won’t cost you a first round pick. The main reason I am spotlighting DeShields is because of his speed to take a base. In fact, he had more steals than Gordon these past two weeks (6 to 3).

Speed kills. Not only on the bases to steal, but the ability to get yourself in scoring position without hesitation. I was watching the Rangers Angels on Tuesday night and saw Deshields take a first to third bag on a single without indecision. He then proceeded to fake out Mike Trout on a short catch in center field to score on a sac fly by Elvis Andrus. I am sure Andrus bought Deshields lunch the next day for that one.

DeShields is now a staple in the leadoff position for the Rangers. I heavily promote the pickup enough that I picked DeShields up in a league where I was lacking stolen bases. He does provide a nice average also with a current .279 average and an OBP of .348. He is obviously going to score and is still available in many leagues to be picked up.

Nicky Delmonico, OF, Chicago White Sox (20% owned in Yahoo)

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Nicky Delmonico sounds like the normal kid next door. Well, I hate to break it to you he is not. He is a major leaguer who is filling up all the five major hitting categories that fantasy has to offer. Delmonico was originally selected in the sixth round of the 2011 draft by the Orioles. He would later debut in the majors this year on August 1^st for the White Sox.

Since his call up, he is batting .329 with an OBP of .434. He has a total of 15 runs scored, six home runs, 12 RBI and two stolen bases. He never really put up good minor league numbers, so I am a little skeptical here. There is potential here, though, to make an impact on the last couple weeks of the regular season in fantasy.

Pitching

Juan Minaya, RP, Chicago White Sox (23% owned in Yahoo)

Another Chicago White Sox that seems to be fitting nicely in his new role is Juan Minaya. What a mess this situation was when Robertson was traded to the Yankees, then the White Sox went to Clippard to no avail because he was quickly traded soon after. Now, Minaya has been upgraded to the new closer for the White Sox and seems to be doing well at it too.

Although his overall numbers are not that great in the last two weeks, it’s the situations that he has been in that I say he is able to be picked up. In his last three appearances, Minaya has collected three saves. At this point in the season, it looks like Minaya is manager Rick Renteria’s key guy to go into the ninth in a save situation.

Chris Stratton, SP, San Francisco Giants (4% owned in Yahoo)

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I know it hasn’t been a grand year for the Giants this year, but a few bright spots still seem to lurk around every corner. Stratton is the latest surprise to have a couple successful starts which are making him more and more fantasy relative in mixed leagues. I wouldn’t keep your hopes set very high on him, but he is an interesting play going forward.

In his last two starts, Stratton faced the Brewers and the Nationals. Combined, he did not give up a run to either ball club, had a WHIP of 0.95 and pitched to at least the six innings. He ended up winning both games and accumulated two quality starts. He now has the longest Giants rookie scoreless innings (12 2/3) streak since 2015.

Stratton will look to keep his nice streak going on Sunday against the Diamondbacks in Arizona. As he had a great run these past few weeks, he is coming into a tough stretch of facing the Cardinals and Rockies as well. I see the glass half full though, as he did face two tough teams before going into this stretch. I would add Stratton as a possible nice waiver wire pickup for the fantasy stretch run before the playoffs.