Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Jordan Walker, Reese Olson and Brendan Rodgers

Just as James Schiano did in his Tuesday Waiver Wire column, I’m leading off with a Cardinals outfielder here.

FANTASY BASEBALL WAIVER WIRE PICKUPS

Jordan Walker OF, Cardinals – Rostered in 15% of Yahoo leagues

Walker was the Cardinals’ Opening Day right fielder last week for the third straight year. This time around, though, it actually looks like he might keep the job into May.

It’s just five games, obviously, but this looks like an improved Walker. He’s right at the top of the bat speed leaderboard, trailing only Junior Caminero and Oneil Cruz. It’s helped him get off to a 7-for-18 start in which he’s already twice topped his career high for exit velocity, peaking at 116.5 mph. The whole “pulling the ball in the air” thing remains difficult for him, but making consistent hard contact, even if it’s not ideal hard contact, should be enough to give him some mixed-league value, especially if the steal attempts keep up.

Of course, that last part isn’t guaranteed. One can’t go five minutes listening to a Cardinals broadcast this year without hearing about how the team wants to be more aggressive on the basepaths. Walker has followed suit, attempting three steals already. The problem is that he’s been successful only on one of those. Walker was 8-for-12 stealing bases in 168 career games coming into the season. He’s fast enough to be successful there, but he isn’t exactly a polished basestealer, and he’ll likely be told to rein it in some if he keeps getting thrown out.

For now, though, pick him up and see what happens. If Walker winds up attempting 30+ steals this year, he’ll probably turn out to be a top-40 fantasy outfielder, maybe even a top-30 guy.

Reese Olson SP, Tigers – Rostered in 28% of Yahoo leagues

With his 3.53 ERA and 3:1 K:BB for an improved Tigers team last year, Olson should have already been on fantasy radars before his velocity jump this spring. Still, that he averaged 96.0 mph with his fastball, compared to 94.2 mph last season, in his first Grapefruit League outing made him quite a bit more exciting. He was at 95.6 mph in his regular-season debut last week, when he gave up four runs in a loss to the Dodgers. Fortunately, he won’t be facing them again anytime soon. In fact, he gets the White Sox next, and it’d be quite a mistake not to grab him prior to that outing Saturday.

Olson, though, should be more than just a streaming play. The right-hander has a 23% career strikeout rate that’s combined with a propensity for groundballs. He doesn’t walk overly many batters, and he’s in a strong pitcher’s ballpark on a team with a quality defense (when healthy anyway) that plays in a weak division. Run support is definitely an issue right now, but pretty much everything else tilts the right way for Tigers pitchers. It’s possible Olson’s extra velocity will turn him in an All-Star candidate this year.

Brendan Rodgers, 2B Astros – Rostered in 1% of Yahoo leagues

That Rockies hitters have a history of performing better after leaving Colorado has led to theories about the lasting effects of Coors Field on players. There’s surely something to that; thrown baseballs react differently in Coors than everywhere else and getting away from having to make that adjustment every week probably does help a player out. Still, there is one other consideration at play when a hitter exits Colorado. It means he’s no longer toiling for the most backwards organization in the league.

Rodgers, the third overall pick in the 2015 draft, was unceremoniously non-tendered by the Rockies in November after hitting .267/.314/.407 in 135 games last season. No one seemed especially eager to pick him up, either. The Astros, who wanted to move Jose Altuve to the outfield and who struck out on adding Jorge Polanco, finally signed him to a minor league deal as camps were opening. Most suspected they’d go with Mauricio Dubón at second base anyway, but Rodgers has largely claimed the job and gone 5-for-16 with three RBI in six games.

What makes Rodgers’ first week notable is just how much harder he’s swinging in Houston than he did in Colorado. Rodgers averaged 71.7 mph per swing last year, putting him in the 45th percentile of big leaguers. Right now, it’s at 75.5 mph, which ranks him in the 93rd percentile. It’s an enormous jump that greatly enhances his short-term career prospects. And, while it’s a very small sample, thanks perhaps to a swing adjustment he said he was working on with hitting coaches, only five of his 12 balls in play so far have been on the ground. That’s a 42% rate for a guy with an abysmal career mark of 53%.

Now, Rodgers doesn’t truly have to be picked up in shallow mixed leagues right away. He’s still a zero when it comes to stolen bases (he finally picked up his first in 452 career games last year). He’s hitting low in the Astros order, and it’s hard to say if manager Joe Espada is sold on him or if he’ll turn to Dubón if Rodgers has a bad week. In fact, since his contact isn’t guaranteed, he could still be let go within the first quarter of the season if Astros wanted to save some money. Still, Rodgers is one to watch, and it’d seem to be mostly thanks to the change in organizations. Those in deeper mixed leagues might want to give him a try and see it the changes lead to a 30-double, 20-homer campaign.

Waiver Wire Quick Hits

– Dennis Santana was the initial choice to replace demoted closer David Bednar in the ninth for the Pirates and would seem to be the better addition than Colin Holderman in fantasy leagues. Dating back to the spring, Santana hasn’t been quite as sharp as he was after being picked up by Pittsburgh last year. Holderman has been significantly worse, though.

– Especially now that he’s DHing when he’s not playing over Jacob Stallings, Hunter Goodman is a top-10 fantasy catcher for at least the short term. He’s still rostered in only 27% of Yahoo leagues. It pains me a bit to recommend him over Iván Herrera, but Herrera isn’t getting DH starts when the Cardinals use Pedro Pagés behind the plate.