The latest Rotoworld Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire column examines the return of Henry Davis to the majors for Pittsburgh, the emergence of Mark Vientos in New York, a recent turnaround for Spencer Arrighetti with Houston and the potential impending arrival of Braves top pitching prospect Hurston Waldrep.
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Henry Davis, C/OF, Pirates
Available in 92 percent of Yahoo! leagues
The post-hype sleeper label is quite fitting for Davis, who generated a ton of offseason buzz among fantasy managers as a trendy late-round sleeper candidate, but struggled to a .486 OPS with zero homers across 83 plate appearances over 23 contests to earn a ticket back to the minors. The 24-year-old former first-overall pick from the 2021 MLB Draft appears to have turned things around over the last few weeks at Triple-A Indianapolis, slashing .296/.436/.642 with seven homers and one steal in 101 plate appearances over 23 contests. Those numbers should be taken with a grain of salt given the level of competition, but they clearly demonstrate that Henry has regained his confidence at the dish. There’s been an influx of exciting young backstops at the catcher position over the last few years and it might finally be time for Davis to join that group. His contact issues will likely prevent him from reaching full-fledged fantasy stardom, but he’s available in the overwhelming majority of fantasy formats, and figures to at least hit for consistent power at the highest level. Given his prospect pedigree and path the everyday at-bats in Pittsburgh, he’s at least worthy of a speculative roster spot in deeper mixed leagues.
Mark Vientos, 1B/3B, Mets
Available in 86 percent of Yahoo! leagues
The demotion of former top prospect Brett Baty to Triple-A Syracuse last week has paved the way for Vientos to receive everyday at-bats at the hot corner for the Mets until further notice. The 24-year-old burgeoning slugger continued his recent offensive surge on Monday evening, powering the Mets to a narrow victory over the division-rival Nationals by going 2-for-3 with a solo homer and also drawing a pair of walks. He put the Mets ahead with a gargantuan 420-foot homer off Nationals starter MacKenzie Gore – his fifth round-tripper of the season – and wound up reaching base safely in four of his five plate appearances. While he won’t sustain an impossibly-high .366 BABIP for much longer, he’s certainly making the most of his opportunity as New York’s primary third baseman, batting .327 (17-for-52) with four homers over his last 15 games since May 15. He’s clearly locked-in at the dish right now and his ability to make consistent hard contact makes him worthy of a speculative roster spot in deeper mixed leagues until further notice.
Spencer Arrighetti, SP, Astros
Available in 86 percent of Yahoo! leagues
Arrighetti got off to a pretty brutal start following an early-April promotion to the big leagues, but he’s quietly turned things around recently, allowing three earned runs or fewer in four of his last six starts since May 2. More importantly, he’s notched at least six strikeouts on four occasions during that stretch. The 24-year-old top pitching prospect authored the strongest performance of his rookie campaign last Thursday, striking out eight batters and limiting the Mariners to just a pair of hits and three walks over six shutout innings. The 24-year-old top pitching prospect generated 14 swinging strikes and finished with a solid 33 percent CSW, out-dueling Seattle co-ace Logan Gilbert in the process. The surface stats, which include an inflated 5.98 ERA, 1.65 WHIP and 51/23 K/BB ratio across 43 2/3 innings (nine starts), don’t inspire a ton of confidence moving forward. However, some of his underlying metrics, most notably a 3.72 FIP and 4.67 Deserved Run Average from Baseball Prospectus, suggest that he’s probably gotten a bit unlucky from a run-prevention standpoint so far. It’s not exactly an easy matchup, but Arrighetti is a decent streaming option against a Cardinals lineup that has scored the third-fewest runs in baseball this season and also boasts the second-fewest runs of any team in home games so far at Busch Stadium.
Hurston Waldrep, SP, Braves
Available in 97 percent of Yahoo! leagues
This one is for fantasy managers in extremely deep leagues with a speculative eye towards the future. Waldrep delivered a stellar performance on Sunday in his debut for Triple-A Gwinnett, recording a season-high 11 strikeouts over six innings of three-run ball. He generated a staggering 22 swinging strikes, including 16 on his splitter alone, and finished with a near-elite 37 percent CSW. The 22-year-old righty possesses an impressive arsenal, headlined by that double-plus splitter, which figures to translate into big-time strikeout totals once he reaches the majors. Persistent control issues are the lone bugaboo in his profile at the moment, but he’s managed to keep the free passes to a minimum lately, walking three batters or fewer in each of his last six starts. The former first-round pick from the 2023 MLB Draft finds himself on the doorstep to the majors after a dominant run at Double-A Mississippi to open the season where he compiled a stellar 2.92 ERA, 1.40 WHIP and 48/17 K/BB ratio across 49 1/3 innings (nine starts). Given his strikeout upside and proximity to the big leagues, it’s time for fantasy managers in deeper mixed leagues to put him on their radar screens.
