The 2016 Major League Baseball season hasn’t been too great for some fantasy baseball owners.
That’s OK. A waiver wire was developed for such a rough start.
Here’s three players who are off to hot starts and are currently sitting unclaimed on the wire.
Tyler White, Houston, 3B
White came out of nowhere in the first week of the season. He leads the Majors with a .556 batting average and owns an on-base percentage of .591.
Oh, and he also has three homers and nine RBIs in only six games.
Stats like that deserve top billing in fantasy and not a permanent spot on the fantasy baseball waiver wire.
But don’t get too carried away with White’s hot start. He’s a rookie, with no MLB experience.
The 22 plate appearances he has this season are his only appearances in his career. So while that start is nice, it won’t hold up.
However, if you’re in need of a third basemen, who apparently has a little pop, you could do a lot worse than White. In 2014 and 2015 in the Minors, he had 64 and 99 RBIs respectively.
He blew through the Minor Leagues and was drafted in 2013 as a 33rd round draft pick. The Astros obviously see something in him and he has delivered in the Minors.
He’ll cool off, but his past success in the Minors is a good indicator that he might be a decent add for a fantasy baseball team.
Brock Holt, Boston, Pretty much everything
Holt is the ultimate utility player. Fantasy Pros has him listed at every position in the infield and outfield.
That offers serious versatility to your roster, especially when he’s producing like he has in the first few games of 2016.
Holt has played in only four games, thanks to an injury that won’t keep him out long, and has eight RBIs already. He also has scored four runs and is batting .412.
He’s one of those early waiver wire guys I like to look at because he has limited experience in the Majors. In his two years in the Majors with more than 100 games, he has batted at least .280 in each of those seasons.
He’s shown the ability to steal some bases in the past to go along with scoring a few runs.
His numbers aren’t great, but with two years under his belt, that may be enough to push him into being a more productive player in batting average and runs.
Jean Segura, Arizona, 2B/SS
Segura was at one time a rising fantasy baseball star. Then, he crashed back to reality.
Now, he’s on the waiver wire in approximately 50 percent of fantasy leagues, and he’s good enough to add depth to your fantasy team.
Segura can steal bases, which he did at a high clip in 2013, but has fallen off a bit in the last two years. His batting average also has dropped, along with all his other major statistical categories.
But so far this year, a new environment has given him a new outlook. He has a .407 batting average to go along with six runs already. He also has three home runs, which is in stark contrast to what he has produced in the past with 11 homers combined in the last two seasons.
Segura is an interesting case, since he had two awful seasons after an All-Star performance. He’s worth a flier, thanks to the scenery possibly having a positive influence on his season.
