Should You Drop Tyler O'Neill and Carlos Correa in Fantasy Baseball Leagues?

After checking out some fantasy baseball waiver wire options on Friday, let's look at some drop candidates.

More droppable player data can be located on the waiver wire trends most dropped tab, which can be found on any fantasy baseball page here at FantasySP. 

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Should You Drop Willi Castro?

Castro is down to 66% rostered after a 3.3% drop today. He's been dealing with an oblique injury and could be headed toward a stint on the injured list.

Across 18 games and 72 plate appearances so far, Castro has a .227 batting average and .292 on-base percentage. He has six doubles and a home run among his 15 total knocks, along with five RBIs, a stolen base, three walks, seven runs scored and 15 strikeouts.

He had two hits in his last game, but was also injured in that contest. Minnesota already called up Luke Keaschall, and might have to add another player with the versatile Castro being banged up.

Castro is a career .247 hitter with a .312 OBP. He had the same average last year, but also a .331 OBP. Castro being able to play several fantasy positions makes him an ever better fantasy asset.

If he's not hitting very well though, it's hard to keep rostering Castro in standard leagues. I thought he was overrated coming into the season, and think he's owned in too many leagues right now.

He's an OK standard league option when he's going well at the plate, but I think he's going to top out as a deep-league option more often than not. Don't drop Castro in deeper leagues, unless he's out with his injury for several weeks.

Should You Drop Ke'Bryan Hayes?

Hayes is down to 14% rostered after a 3.1% dropoff.

In 19 games and 74 plate appearances so far, Hayes has a .194 average and .270 OBP. He's got a double, triple and home run among his 13 total knocks, along with eight RBIs, three stolen bases, eight runs scored, seven walks and 13 strikeouts.

He has no hits over his past three games, with no walks in that span either. Hayes has struck out once in each game and gotten just 11 plate appearances.

Hayes was a decent fantasy option early in his career, but has regressed as a hitter, and now is barely owned in any fantasy leagues. He's got a career .256 average and .311 OBP, but only had a .233 average and .283 OBP in 2024 across 96 games.

Right now, only fantasy owners in the deepest of leagues should still be rostering Hayes. And also right now, you probably would be best served benching Hayes in those leagues.

When he heats up, he can be started again, and his own percentage should increase as well. Hayes is likely to top out as a deep-league option, but he's usable in those leagues when he's hitting.

Should You Drop Tyler O'Neill?

O'Neill is rostered in 78% of fantasy leagues after a 2.8% dip today. He's dealing with a neck injury right now, and hasn't played since April 15.

In 14 games and 56 plate appearances so far, O'Neill has a .265 average and .339 OBP. Those are above his career .265 average and .339 OBP.

O'Neill has three doubles, two home runs and a triple among his 13 total knocks. He also has eight RBIs, four walks, seven runs scored and 12 strikeouts.

His injury is definitely part of the reason why he's being dropped. O'Neill has just two hits over his past five games as well though, so that isn't helping his cause either.

He can pop homers and provide run production, so there's fantasy value there for people to take advantage of. O'Neill is a good deep-league option all season (as long as he's healthy) and can be a standard league option when he's delivering enough at the plate, which he had been until recently.

At this point, it doesn't look like O'Neill is going to hit the injured list, which means he should be back soon. If he misses more games, or does hit the IL, expect most standard league fantasy owners to move on from him. When he's active again, his own percentage will likely rise again, and more production at the plate will have him moving in a positive direction again.

I wouldn't drop O'Neill in deeper leagues, even if he does hit the IL. He's simply too productive, even if he's not producing regularly, to drop.

If O'Neill does get dropped in your league, his status and production moving forward needs to be monitored. He'll have long stretches where he's a daily fantasy starter, and you want to take advantage of that when you can.

Should You Drop Josh Smith?

Smith is down to 23% owned after being let go in 2.7% of leagues. He's got a thumb injury that he's been dealing with, and hasn't been on the field since April 13.

Smith's injury comes at a bad time, as he's been red hot to start the season, and of late. Over 14 games and 44 plate appearances, Smith has a .342 average and .432 OBP, along with three RBIs and stolen bases, six walks, eight runs scored and 11 strikeouts. He has three doubles and a home run among his 13 total knocks.

Smith hit .258 and got on base at a .337 clip in 149 games last season, but nobody saw this kind of production coming from Smith. He won't sustain his early-season numbers all year, but he's worth playing in fantasy leagues until he cools off.

He has six hits over his past four games played, with one extra-base hit, an RBI and walk, three runs scored and two strikeouts in that span.

I'm honestly shocked to look at Smith's overall numbers and then see him rostered in under 25% of fantasy leagues. And he hasn't been dropped much since he got injured.

Smith is really quite undervalued as a fantasy asset right now. He's not a huge power guy, but he doesn't strike out much, meaning he's not racking up a ton of negative points. 

I understand dropping him if he isn't playing, but when he's back in the lineup, Smith needs to be added in more deeper leagues. He probably won't ever get into standard leagues, but he's worth tracking in case he gets in a power surge.

Should You Drop Carlos Correa?

Correa is another Twin who is injured right now. He's at 45% rostered after a 2.5% dip, and is dealing with a wrist injury.

In 18 games and 66 plate appearances so far, Correa has a .164 average and .227 OBP. He has five doubles among his 10 total hits, along with four RBIs, five walks and runs scored and 10 strikeouts.

Correa simply hasn't been producing at the plate, and the injury isn't going to help matters. He too could hit the injured list, so his status is worth watching.

Correa does have hits in three of his past five games, so he was trending up a bit before getting injured. He's not striking out a ton, so he wasn't ever really hurting fantasy teams, but he also wasn't scoring much of anything either.

Correa was always a better deep-league option in my eyes. With a career .274 average and .353 OBP, he had long stretches where he was a standard league asset, but with not a ton of power or run production, and some injury woes, Correa falls short of many daily fantasy shortstops.

I don't think he's worth a roster spot in standard redraft leagues right now, and think he's droppable in some deeper redraft leagues as well. He should be held onto in deeper setups still, but can be benched until he's back in the lineup and producing a bit more.