Fantasy Baseball Week 20 Waiver Wire Pickups: Gavin Williams, Chase Silseth, and More!
Happy Monday!
It’s Week 20 of the fantasy baseball season. Time is getting short. That means it’s also no time to be too sentimental, hopeful, or patient with players who may be struggling on your roster (more on that in tomorrow’s Waiver Droppables). And it’s also no time to get picky about a player on waivers because he had a bad month of April or May (or even June or July). There are less than two months to go in the MLB season, so we’re really just looking to string together some good weeks at this point.
With that, let’s look at the Week 20 Fantasy Baseball Waivers and see if we can solidify our rosters before the home stretch of the season.
As always, check out the fantasy assistant for personalized waiver wire recommendations and team analysis. Make moves based on projections, strengths and weaknesses, waiver alerts, and lots more.
Top Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Adds
(ownership percentages are based on ESPN leagues)
Gavin Williams, P, Cleveland Guardians (15.9%)
The 24-year-old has back-to-back starts with double-digit strikeouts and should be added anywhere you can find him. He hasn't allowed more than two earned runs in a start in over a month and now has a 2.80 ERA and 1.17 WHIP on the year. Over the past two weeks, Williams has a 1.59 ERA with 28 strikeouts over 17.0 innings. He's in the midst of an absolutely ridiculous stretch that includes opposing batters hitting .200 against him over the past month. With a start coming up against the lowly Tigers next, Williams is set up for a promising stretch run.
Chase Silseth, P, Los Angeles Angels (13.2%)
Silseth appeared here last week and he's still only rostered at 13.2 percent, so I'm going back to the well. While he didn't hit double-digit strikeouts like he had in two of his three previous starts, Silseth pitched five shutout innings against the Astros on Sunday and struck out five in the process. The 23-year-old sports a 1.59 ERA over his last four starts while limiting opposing batters to a .181 average during that span. He'll get another chance to continue his hot streak against the Rays on Saturday and should be rostered in all but the shallowest leagues.
Kerry Carpenter OF, Detroit Tigers (5.7%)
Rostered in very few leagues, Carpenter has quietly put up a solid season by hitting .282 with 34 runs, 15 home runs, and 41 RBI in 252 at-bats. Moreso, he's absolutely on fire right now on the back of a 10-game hit-streak (which includes six multi-hit games). The 25-year-old is hitting .391 with four home runs and eight RBI over the last two weeks, and is hitting .423 with three home runs over the past week. While he may not end up being a season-long pickup, you should be able to at least get some solid short-term production out of Carpenter. And who knows, maybe you'll luck into a difference-maker for the rest of the season.
Brandon Williamson, P, Cincinnati Reds (11.2%)
Williamsons' season-long stats don't look like much as he still has a 4.33 ERA and 1.22 WHIP, but he's been much better over his past two starts and has put himself on the fantasy radar. The 25-year-old has posted back-to-back starts where he's allowed just one earned runs and has struck out 15 batters in those two starts (12.2 innings). Williamson also had a really good July and held opposing batters to hitting just .218 during the month so it's not like this has completely come out of nowhere. While more of a deeper league add, Williamson still has some usefulness in shallower fantasy leagues.
Zach Gelof, 2B, Oakland A's (6.5%)
Scraping the bottom of the barrel a bit here, but Gelof has been very good in his short time in the Majos this year. In just 96 at-bats on the season, the 23-year-old has hit .281 with eight home runs and six steals. Gelof has now hit safely in seven of his last nine games and is hitting .348 with three home runs over the last week. And over the past two weeks, he's hit .333 with five home runs and a steal. Will he keep it up? Probably not. But he's worth an add to see if he can prove me wrong!
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