Widely regarded as a sleeper power bat coming into the 2014 season, Khris Davis rubbed many owners the wrong way with his pitiful start to the season. He scuffled his way through April, striking out a a phenomenal pace and drawing just a singe walk. Flip the calendar to May and we’ve seen a completely different player, reminding us all of the play who flashed a strong power bat in a 56 game sample last season.
As a rookie, Davis clubbed 11 home runs in those 56 games, providing a .316 ISO slugging that would have ranked second in the league (oddly enough behind only Chris Davis). He added 10 doubles, giving him 21 XBHs in just 153 trips to the plate.
As we approach the end of May, Davis has redeemed himself for owners who remained patient, but as he continues to turn his season around, the slugging outfielder remains available in 53% of standard yahoo leagues. Since May 13, Davis has provided a sizzling 353/.421/.765 with 5 HR, 6 2B and, perhaps most impressively, six walks compared to just 10 strikeouts in that time and if he can continue to exercise just a tiny bit of patience at the dish, he’ll be an excellent source of power moving forward.
Each week we’ll provide a position-by-position roundup of the top talent on the wire. To qualify, players must have an ownership rate below 50% in standard 12-team Yahoo leagues. For our deeper formats, we’ll also throw out names with under 15% ownership. Check out last week’s list to find a number of other options who may still be out there on the waiver wire.
Working The Waiver Wire
Catcher
Carlos Ruiz (18%): Chooch is most valuable for his on-base skills and has seen some time batting in the two-hole for the Phillies. If he sticks near the top of the lineup, he’s worth an add.
John Jaso (8%): Jaso sits versus left-handed pitching more often than not, but is a fantastic contributor on a platoon basis. He’s warming over the last couple of weeks and makes a nice plug and play in all leagues, batting .312/.397/.523 versus right-handed pitching in 109 at-bats.
First Base
Adam Lind (33%): Piping hot, Lind has posted six multi-hit efforts in his last 10 games, batting .389 with eight runs in that time.
Adam Dunn (34%): Though Dunn is hitting below the mendoza line over the last few weeks, he’s still got 30-homer pop in that bat. If you can afford to roster him and only start vs. righties, he’s a nice piece.
Garrett Jones (21%): Similar to Dunn, Garrett Jones doesn’t hit a lick versus lefties, but can provide some punch on a part time basis.
Chris Carter (20%): If you can swallow the strikeouts, the power is nice in a Pedro Alvarez type of way
Tommy Medica (4%): The 26-year-old batted .296/.370/.593 over 297 minor league at-bats in 2013 and despite struggling for much of the season at Triple-A, Medica has hit the ground running in his latest shot in the bigs. He’s hit in four straight games since being called up and racked up three hits and a home run in each of his past two contests.
Middle Infield
Kolten Wong (18%): Wong is now 16-for-48 since getting called up with 4 steals and a very nice 4:6 walk-to-strikeout ratio. If you need some speed, grab that Wong.
Jonathan Villar (43%): After batting just .097 over the past two weeks, Villar’s ownership rate has dipped below our 50% threshold here. The fact is, you weren’t rostering Villar for his batting average anyway and he’s still got 5 home runs and 11 steals over that time, quietly putting him on pace for a 17/37 season.
Derek Dietrich (4%): A relative unknown to the masses, Dietrich continue to show solid pop and improved on-base ability while taking over the heavy side of the Marlins’ second base platoon.
Stephen Drew (8%): Drew finally agreed to join the Red Sox last week and after a short tune up in the minors he should step right into the lineup on a regular basis. He batter .253/.333/.443 over 124 games last year with an impressive .284/.377/.498 versus right handed pitching.
Gordon Beckham (13%): As painful as it is to recommend adding Beckham, he’s batting .347 over the past two weeks and you gotta ride that streak!
Third Base
Chase Headley (44%): We can’t possibly expect Headley to provide anything like his phenomenal second half in 2012. Still, he’s a .253 career hitter and provides some depth at a thin position.
Casey McGehee (26%): There’s not much power in McGehee’s bat but he’s getting it done in other ways as the Marlins’ cleanup hitter. Credit an improved walk rate for his bounce-back campaign and buy the .299 average with 32 RBI in 52 games that he’s put together so far.
David Freese (19%): In nine games since returning from the disabled list, Freese is 9-for-38 with six runs driven in.
Outfield
Khris Davis (47%): Since May 13: .353/.421/.765 with 5 HR, 6 2B and hey, six walks against just 10 Ks in that time.
A.J. Pollock (46%): Bumped up to the top of the D-Backs lineup, Pollock continues to show solid on-base skills with a little bit of speed. His improved power stroke is a some icing on the cake.
Oscar Taveras (29%) and Gregory Polanco (33%): As we sti just about two weeks away from the super-two deadline, Taveras and Polanco are the next big names to likely be called up. Now is the time to scoop these guys up if they’re sitting around on the wire.
Ozwaldo Arcia (5%): Arcia is rocking a four-game hitting streak since returning from the DL with a couple of multi-hit efforts and a home run.
Josh Willingham (7%): Like Arcia, Willingham just return from a wrist injury and has immediately shown some pop, going 2-for-3 with a home run Thursday evening.
Starters
Trevor Bauer (32% owned): The strikeouts will keep us interested regardless of opponent.
Drew Hutchison (32%) Despite poor outing this past week, Hutchison holds a 3.51 ERA with 49 strikeouts in 56.1 inning pitched since April 12.
Jorge De La Rosa (30%): Jorge continues to work a solid ground ball rate (55.6%) and decent strikeout to put together a solid start to the season.
Tyler Skaggs (21%): Rackes up three quality starts in his last four outings while striking out 23 batters and walking four over 28 IP.
Closer Carnage
It will be a constant race to the wire to go mining for saves, here’s how we see it.
Go get ’em: Hector Rondon (49%), Jenry Mejia (43%), Chad Qualls (29%), Zach Birtton (51%), Ronald Belisario (19%)
Keep an eye on: Rex Borthers (26%)Jeurys Familia (10%), Adam Ottaviano (10%), Daniel Webb (5%)