RADIO
Two weeks down, 24 to go. As we'll continue to remind you in our early-season coverage, the fantasy baseball season is long. The most likely outcome of drastic decisions at this point in the year is regret.
That doesn't mean you can't look for ways to improve your roster at this juncture. The good news is that you've come to the right place for advice on that front.
As a reminder, our focus here is on players who are below 50% owned in Yahoo leagues, and standard 5x5 scoring. Your mileage may vary, in terms of availability or league settings. Using that cutoff point for ownership rate, however, these are your corner infield waiver wire targets and adds for Week 2 of the 2019 fantasy baseball season.
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Pickups for Shallow Leagues
Niko Goodrum (1B/2B/3B/SS/OF, DET) — 47% Owned
Goodrum didn't play on Sunday due to illness, but he's hitting .293/.420/.512 with a home run and a stolen base through 13 games. His absurd positional flexibility drives his value, but the Tigers' Swiss Army knife did put up 16 HR and 12 SB last year and appears locked into the cleanup spot.
Eduardo Escobar (3B/SS, ARI) — 45% Owned
Escobar has been slow out of the gate this year, but finally got on the board with his first home run on Thursday. The 30-year-old switch hitter smacked 74 extra-base hits in 2018, including a career-high 23 homers. Even with his early struggles, he's been slotted either second or fifth in all of Arizona's games to this point.
Jay Bruce (1B/OF, SEA) — 45% Owned
Bruce has only 10 hits so far this season, which is "good" for a .179 batting average. However, seven of those hits have left the yard, and he's piled up 25 R+BI in 15 games as a middle of the order bat for the surprisingly frisky Mariners. He's already almost a quarter of the way toward his fifth 30 HR season in the last eight years.
Chad Pinder (2B/3B/OF, OAK) — 34% Owned
Pinder won't play every day, but of his four starts last week, he notched multiple hits in three of them. Included in that stretch was his third homer of the year in just 52 at-bats. His overall line is up to .308/.327/.565 on the season. Eligible at three positions, Pinder's a quality bench option in most mixers.
Pickups for Deeper Leagues
Mitch Moreland (1B, BOS) — 21% Owned
Moreland homered in three straight games last week, and all five of his dingers on the year have come in his past seven games. We've seen hot streaks from him before, and there's nothing to suggest this is anything but more of the same. Still, you could do worse than riding Mitchy Two-Bags during those weeks when he becomes Mitchy Four-Bags - especially since he's hitting third for the Red Sox.
Christian Walker (1B, ARI) — 14% Owned
The growing buzz amongst fantasy owners that surrounded Walker has subsided a bit, as he has just two hits and no home runs in his last nine games. With that slump, his ownership rate has dropped back in the teens. Walker has a solid minor-league track record, though, and should continue to get the vast majority of playing time at first base with Jake Lamb on the shelf.
Ji-Man Choi (1B, TB) — 9% Owned
Choi has yet to hit a homer this season, and is slashing just .250/.310/.327 after an 0-for-4 showing on Sunday. He remains worthy of consideration in deep leagues, however, because he's always shown the ability to hit when healthy. Injuries have been an issue for him to this point, and he may never have much success against southpaws. Still, he's regularly hitting third in a talented Rays lineup and the pop should come around soon enough.
For Your Radar
J.D. Davis (1B/3B, NYM) — 3% Owned
Davis hasn't done much aside from a two-homer game on April 6, and with Jed Lowrie and Todd Frazier both nearing returns, may not have much more time to force his way into the lineup. However, he's hitting the ball rather hard and looks to have made some positive changes in his plate approach. Keep him on the watch list.
Derek Dietrich (1B/2B/OF, CIN) — 3% Owned
Dietrich homered twice on April 7, and with one of those bombs managed to kick off the Pirates-Reds brawl that resulted in suspensions for Yasiel Puig and Chris Archer (as well as an instantly iconic photo). The veteran added another bomb on Saturday, and has four on the season. With Scooter Gennett out of action, Dietrich should continue to see regular starts at second base for the Reds.
Scott Kingery (3B/SS/OF, PHI) — 2% Owned
Kingery hasn't played much in the early going after the Phillies' offseason upgrades left him buried on the bench, but he's recorded eight hits in just 16 at-bats after a three-hit game on Sunday. It may take an injury for him to break into the starting lineup, but Maikel Franco has cooled after a sizzling start and Cesar Hernandez has scuffled early.
More Waiver Wire Pickups and Streamers
Check out RotoBaller's entire fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups and sleepers list, updated daily!
