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The landscape among outfielders has changed quite a bit since the season started. Half the battle in fantasy baseball is navigating the waiver wire and surviving injuries the best you can. Some marquee outfielders have hit the disabled list recently. Jose Bautista, Hunter Pence, Yasiel Puig, Josh Reddick, Jorge Soler... the list goes on.
Fortunately, there are plenty names on the waiver wire who could not only serve as suitable stopgaps but also permanently replace your struggling starters as it is. You can find power and speed -- not in abundance, mind you, but they're there if you know where to look. We're here to help.
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Week 1 (OF/SP) | Week 2 (OF/SP) | Week 3 (SS) | Week 4 (1B) | Week 6 (SP) | Week 7 (2B) | Week 8 (SP) | Week 9 (C)
Adam Duvall, CIN OF
44% owned, via Fleaflicker
If you're not familiar with Duvall, you should be. He's currently tied with Nolan Arenado and Mark Trumbo for the league lead in home runs -- as a rookie. Duvall's not really a late bloomer -- he always demonstrated massive power throughout the minors but was buried in the Giants' farm system. A trade to Cincinnati helped give him the chance at playing time he always needed but could never have.
Duvall actually profiles very similarly to Trumbo, who offers power and almost nothing else. Duvall's plate discipline leaves even more to be desired than Trumbo's miserable approach, but his batted ball profile suggests there might be even more thump in his bat. Duvall hits a ton of fly balls, he likes to pull the ball, and he hits the ball hard. Thus, his peripherals suggest the power is legitimate, in case we ever doubted his minor league track record.
The strikeouts are concerning, but Chris Davis and Chris Carter make a living on slugging and whiffing. Duvall isn't quite as extreme, but he comes close. Without the walks, he becomes something of a liability in on-base percentage (OBP) formats, especially if he suffers a dry spell. But there's no reason Duvall should be unowned in any league -- he may already be one of the game's premium power bats.
I'd drop _______ for Duvall: Carlos Gomez (72% owned), Shin-Soo Choo (61% owned), Byron Buxton (52% owned)
Rajai Davis, CLE OF
16% owned, via Fleaflicker
To be clear, Davis has always been this good. He just never saw much playing time; he has mostly been used as the larger half of a platoon, given his weakness versus right-handed pitchers. Even in part-time duty, Davis has stolen 20-or-more bases in every season -- except for last year, during which he fell just short of the threshold.
Well, the Cleveland Indians' outfield was in shambles to begin the season, leaving Davis with the opportunity to take a job and run (no pun intended). Run, he has, playing virtually every day and leapfrogging into second place in the league for stolen bases. As aforementioned, the speed was always there. It seemed to taper off last year, but he mostly suffered from a poor conversion rate (69% successful) that seemed to suggest he was slowing down. Even Old Man Time can't slow Davis down.
But Davis also hits for power, too. Since 2012, Davis has posted home run totals that extrapolate into the double-digits for a full season. He's a little ahead of pace this year, so expect the pace to slow considerably from here on out. Still, Davis could wind up with a .250, 12-homer, 45-steal season under his belt as the 83rd outfielder drafted in NFBC leagues. He has been underrated for years. Don't let him be underrated now.
I'd drop _______ for Davis: Ender Inciarte (49% owned), Eddie Rosario (44% owned), Howie Kendrick (42% owned)
Michael Taylor, WAS OF
11% owned, via Fleaflicker
After yesterday's huge performance, Taylor sits pretty with six home runs, 10 stolen bases and a .243 batting average. Taylor's horrendous plate discipline is hard to stomach, and it forced him to endure the first couple months of the season beneath the Mendoza Line. But Lady Luck's pendulum swings in Taylor's favor this month, as his batting average on balls in play (BABIP) has crawled up into an appropriate territory (.318) for his skill set.
Taylor always flashed his tools in the minors, so his combination of power and speed should come as no surprise. He profiles as a 15-homer, 25-steal guy this year -- with room for growth, should he ever earn a full-time starting gig (which probably won't happen, honestly, given his very serious strikeout problem). The batting average is a dealbreaker in standard formats, but the power and speed plays up in deeper leagues, where you sometimes have to take the good with the bad.
I'd drop _______ for Taylor: Nick Markakis (25% owned), Angel Pagan (21% owned), Brock Holt (21% owned)
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