RADIO
Injuries have been a plague upon Major League Baseball from the jump this year; middle infielders haven't been spared, so things are looking a bit thin out there on the ol' waiver wire. You can still find help, though, and that's the goal of this exercise.
Most of the players who will be written up in this feature won't be the next breakout star. Some may only be useful for a brief period. A few might not provide any value at all. It's the nature of the beast; if these players were slam dunks, they wouldn't be widely available for free. We're looking for plausible upside with naught but opportunity cost. By considering a wide swath of factors including but not limited to evidence of a change in approach, favorable upcoming schedules, and plain ol' potential, the goal is simply to find as much marginal value as possible.
As a reminder, we'll be looking at pickups for shallow leagues (30-49% rostered) and deeper formats (10-29%), as well as highlighting players in the single-digits who deserve a spot on your watch list at the very least. These are your second base and shortstop waiver wire pickups for Week 11 - June 7 through June 13.
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Pickups for Shallow Leagues
Jorge Polanco, 2B/SS, Minnesota Twins (44% rostered)
Polanco's first 10 games this season were a disaster, but since then he's slashed .279/.353/.490 with six home runs, 24 runs, 20 RBI, and two stolen bases in 42 games. That's production any fantasy manager would be happy with from a middle infielder, especially given the way injuries have impacted the pool of available talent. Bear in mind that even a third of the way through the year, a bad couple of weeks can still have an outsized impact on a player's overall numbers - Polanco is yet another case in point.
Jonathan Schoop, 1B/2B, Detroit Tigers (34% rostered)
Schoop, meanwhile, has been so red-hot that he's shrugged off his own early slump to get right back in line with his career numbers. I've beaten this drum a few times already in 2021, but the Tigers' second baseman doesn't get enough credit in the fantasy community for his production over the last several seasons. Even if you think that isn't a hill worth dying on, Schoop has been a top-20 player overall in 5x5 during the past month, hitting .330 with seven homers and 33 R+BI. Much of that production has come in the last two weeks, during which he's second-best among all middle infielders behind some guy named Fernando Tatis Jr.
Pickups for Deeper Leagues
Odubel Herrera, 2B/OF, Philadelphia Phillies (24% rostered)
Herrera has not only cemented himself as the starter in center field for Philadelphia, he's usurped the leadoff spot from Andrew McCutchen in recent days. In the last 30 days, he's hit .312 with four homers, three steals, and 26 R+BI.
Amed Rosario, SS/OF, Cleveland (21% rostered)
Since the start of May, Rosario has hit .284 and stolen five bases with respectable run production (14 runs, 10 RBI). He only has one homer in that span, but he's hit three overall and had 15 bombs in 2019. He appears to have settled in as both the starter at shortstop and the two-hole hitter for Cleveland.
Cesar Hernandez, 2B, Cleveland (15% rostered)
Hernandez, meanwhile, remains the primary leadoff hitter in the Forest City. Another homer on Saturday gave him nine on the season, which puts him on pace to shatter his career-high of 15 from back in 2018. The 31-year-old has been barreling the ball significantly more than ever before, and his Statcast data suggests we should expect the batting average to rebound (as does his career .274 mark). He might be done stealing bases, though - he nabbed two in one game on September 8, 2019 and hasn't even attempted a theft since.
Willi Castro, 2B/3B/SS, Detroit Tigers (12% rostered)
It was fairly obvious that Castro wouldn't repeat his 2020 performance; a .448 BABIP simply isn't anywhere close to sustainable, and he chases too many bad pitches. But he's got enough raw talent to make him useful to fantasy managers when things are clicking, and that's the case right now. Castro is hitting .353 with two homers, a steal, and 15 R+BI in the last two weeks, which is enough to crack the top 50 overall in 5x5.
The Watch List
Luis Urias, 2B/3B/SS, Milwaukee Brewers (6% rostered)
With Kolten Wong's oblique strain landing him on the injured list, Urias has taken over as both the starter at second base and as the leadoff hitter in Milwaukee. His first 422 PA were uninspiring (.635 OPS) but he has seven homers and double-digit walk and barrel rates so far in 2021.
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