Royce Lewis and Shane Smith Among Thursday's Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups

Let's dive into another fantasy baseball waiver wire story.

We won't include any waiver wire options who were in articles on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, and will also avoid any streaming pitchers from Thursday's story.

Check out the top fantasy baseball waiver wire options everyday on FantasySP. Join the new FantasySP Discord to keep up to date with all the recent news from FSP!

Should You Add Royce Lewis?

Lewis is up 3.03% and sits at 41.62% overall now.

The Twins might just be playing out the season, but Lewis has caught fire at the plate of late. He had a three-hit game on Wednesday and has six knocks over his past three contests.

Lewis has nine hits, including two home runs, over his past six games and 24 plate appearances. He has six RBIs, four runs scored, three stolen bases, a walk and six strikeouts in that span as well.

He's battled injuries again this season, and been pretty underwhelming when he's been on the field. Lewis has a .237 average and a .294 on-base percentage. He also has 15 doubles and 10 homers among his 68 total hits, along with 40 RBIs, 31 runs scored, five stolen bases, 24 walks and 56 strikeouts.

Lewis is playing regularly, but hitting seventh for now. That's not a great spot, especially in an underwhelming lineup, but he's made it work of late with some strong hitting.

Really all that matters for the third baseman is that he's hitting. He's a risky add because of his injury concerns, but for now, he's at least a deep-league streaming option. Third base is a tougher position to find talent at, so I like the idea of adding him in deeper leagues.

He could also be streamed in standard leagues, but based on his season-long numbers, and adding in the injury concerns, I'd think there are likely some better third base options available to you.

Go over your options and see if Lewis might be worth an add.

Should You Add Josh Lowe?

Lowe is rostered in 34% of leagues right now. He was at 31% at the start of the month.

He has three hits over his past two games, and he had two more two-hit games before that. Lowe has 15 hits, including two homers, three doubles and a triple, over his past 12 games and 50 plate appearances. He has six RBIs, 12 runs scored, five stolen bases, a walk and 13 strikeouts over that stretch as well.

Lowe has appeared in 89 games and logged 363 plate appearances for the season. He has a .240 average and .304 OBP, along with 35 RBIs, 52 runs scored, 17 stolen bases, 28 walks and 84 strikeouts. Among his 79 hits, Lowe has nine homers, two triples and 19 doubles.

The outfielder has started in each of the team's past five games, which were all against right-handed pitchers. He hit fifth in four of those contests, and cleanup in the other. He's in a favorable spot in the lineup, but at a stacked fantasy position, so his own percentage is capped because of that.

I only see him as a deep-league waiver wire pickup. There's just not enough there to support adding him in a standard league, unless he really heats up at the plate.

He could be a solid deep-league asset down the stretch though, so at least add him to see if he can stay hot at the plate.

Should You Add Shane Smith?

Smith has gotten a 3.66% bump and is owned in 27.57% of leagues now.

This is a rare time when a heavily-added starting pitcher is rising before his scheduled start. Smith is next set to pitch on Friday against the Tigers.

Over 24 appearances this season, he has a 4-7 record and 3.81 earned run average. Smith has allowed 59 runs (51 earned) over 95 hits and 50 walks. He's struck out 112 batters in 120 1/3 innings.

Smith has faced Detroit twice already this season. In a start on June 3, he got a win after tossing 5 1/3 scoreless frames. He allowed three hits and two walks, while striking out six.

He worked five scoreless innings in a no decision on August 13 against the Tigers. Smith allowed two hits and three walks, while striking out five.

You can see why he's on the rise a day before his start. He's also pitched pretty well of late.

Over six August starts, Smith only allowed more than two runs once, and he only gave up four runs in that outing. He went 1-0 with a 2.67 ERA over 33 2/3 innings last month. Smith allowed 10 runs on 19 hits and 13 walks, while striking out 31 batters.

He faced some decent offenses over that stretch, including the Tigers, so there's some confidence in being able to start him on Friday too.

I see him as a pretty good deep-league streaming option, and even possibly a standard league starting option. So adding him a day early makes some sense to me, especially if you don't love the streaming options for today.

Should You Add Isaac Collins?

Collins has been added in 2.01% of leagues and is at 30.27% overall.

He hit a three-run homer on Wednesday, and also drove in a pair on Monday (the game before that). Collins has seven hits over his past six games. Over that stretch, he has two doubles, a homer, 10 RBIs, two runs scored and walks, a stolen base and three strikeouts.

Collins isn't going to keep driving in runs at this pace, but he seems to be heating up at the plate again. He moved up to the No. 5 slot in the order on Wednesday, after Christian Yelich was scratched with an injury. Until Yeli is back, expect Collins in the lineup daily, and hitting in the top-five spots in the order.

He had been hitting seventh in his starts before that. Collins is also an outfielder, so those couple things had been working against his fantasy value.

I like adding and utilizing Collins in deeper leagues, even if he's more of a secondary option. He plays enough to be a nice fill-in when your regular starters are out, and produces enough to warrant a fantasy roster spot.

Check out your roster and see if Collins could be a nice addition to your squad down the stretch.

Should You Add Jose A. Ferrer?

Ferrer got a 1.97% bump and sits at 37.3% overall.

He's on the rise after earning two saves in the first three days of September. While that's a positive, it's also worth noting that his last save before the start of this month was August 21.

In other words, Washington hasn't been winning enough to support Ferrer, who has taken over as the team's closer.

He is 4-3 with six saves, two blown saves and 20 holds this season. Ferrer has worked in 63 games, covering 67 innings. He's allowed 32 runs (30 earned) for a 4.03 ERA. Ferrer has given up 65 hits and 13 walks, while striking out 58 batters.

There's some good, OK and bad in those numbers, but right now, he's definitely trending up. The added bonus of earning some saves has his fantasy value up a bit.

I only see him as a deep-league option though. Washington doesn't win enough to support a fantasy closer, but if Ferrer keeps pitching well, you can expect his own percentage to keep rising as the season winds down.