RADIO
We're barreling toward the halfway point of the 2021 season, and with the onslaught of injuries showing no signs of stopping, diligence on the waiver wire is as crucial as ever.
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 12 - June 14 through June 20.
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Pickups for Shallow Leagues
Jonathan Villar, 2B/3B/SS, New York Mets (42% rostered)
Villar has seven hits in his last four games, including a home run in Saturday's win over the Padres. He also stole a base on Friday, a good sign that his recent hamstring issues are not lingering. The veteran infielder has five homers and seven steals this season despite spending most of April as a part-time player. Injuries opened up an opportunity for everyday at-bats, and he's used it to ascend to the leadoff spot.
Jonathan India, 2B/3B, Cincinnati Reds (39% rostered)
India fizzled after a hot start, leading many fantasy managers to toss him back onto the waiver wire. However, he's hit a scorching .333/.442/.556 with a pair of homers, 15 R+BI, and a stolen base in the last 14 days. He's also continuously improved his plate approach as he progresses through his rookie season:
| Season | Month | BB% | K% |
| 2021 | Mar/Apr | 6.3% | 25.3% |
| 2021 | May | 12.7% | 18.3% |
| 2021 | Jun | 15.4% | 17.9% |
Amed Rosario, SS/OF, Cleveland (21% rostered)
Rosario is a perfect 6-for-6 in stolen base attempts since the start of May, and he's been swinging a red-hot bat in recent weeks as well. He's gone without a hit just once in his last 12 contests, with two HR, two SB, and four multi-hit games during that stretch. The 25-year-old has seized both the starting shortstop and #2 hitter roles in Cleveland and doesn't look like he'll be relinquishing either anytime soon.
Pickups for Deeper Leagues
Willy Adames, SS, Milwaukee Brewers (21% rostered)
Home/road splits are not always the most trustworthy or useful tool, but in Adames' case they seem to have steered us in the right direction. The 25-year-old performed notably worse at Tropicana Field when he wore a Rays uniform, and spoke about the difficulty he had picking up the ball in his home park. Since being traded to Milwaukee, Adames has hit .294/.377/.485 with three homers and 21 R+BI in 19 games, and he's chopped seven percentage points off his swinging strike rate while adding five to his walk rate.
Brendan Rodgers, SS, Colorado Rockies (14% rostered)
Rodgers entered action on Saturday with a solid .278/.355/.463 line and three homers in 18 games. Clearly overmatched in his first two cameos at the MLB level, he's cut his whiff rate in half this time around primarily due to a sharp increase in contact on pitches in the strike zone. You'd like to see him hit the ball in the air a bit more (54.5 GB%) but one step at a time. He's a former top prospect who plays half of his games in Coors, so there's plenty to dream on here.
J.P. Crawford, SS, Seattle Mariners (13% rostered)
Crawford was a well-regarded prospect, but he projected as a player more valuable to his real-life team than fantasy squads since he lacks a standout tool. He's on a nice run at the moment though, with a .353/.407/.588 line, two homers, and a stolen base since May 29. The 26-year-old has also served as the leadoff hitter for Seattle in every June contest so far.
The Watch List
Christian Arroyo, 2B/3B, Boston Red Sox (4% rostered)
A first-round pick by the Giants back in 2013, Arroyo owned an uninspiring .219/.283/.360 career line entering this season and was already on his fourth organization. That performance was over a span of just 85 games, but it didn't inspire any of the clubs he's played for to give him much more playing time. But in the past two weeks, he's hit .294 with three homers and 16 R+BI, good enough to rank him a nice 69th overall in 5x5.
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