MLB

Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Adds: Week 6

John Stolnis  —  @johnstolnis May 9th, 2016
This week's waiver adds features some serious Marlin mania, including Martin Prado.

You never know what you're going to get out of those finicky Miami Marlins. But hey, that's kids for you.

Even though they lost two out of three to the Philadelphia Phillies over the weekend, the Marlins have been one of baseball's nice little surprises. They were winners of 11 of 12 after their series opening win against the Phillies, and there are a few players on their roster who are likely unowned in your leagues.

Adam Conley - Miami Marlins (SP)

ESPN Percentage Owned: 25.9%

Adam Conley is one of the better young starting pitchers in baseball who you're probably not familiar with. But through six starts this season, he is averaging 9.46 strikeouts per nine (K/9) and 3.62 walks per nine innings (BB/9). He has an ERA of 3.06 and a fielding independent pitching (FIP) of 3.47 in 32 1/3 innings.

Conley has been particularly hot lately. In his last two starts, he's pitched 13 innings and given up 2 hits on no runs with 13 strikeouts and 5 walks. The young left-hander looked awfully impressive in his last start against the Diamondbacks.

Plus, he's slated to pitch twice this week, so now is the time to snag him.

Martin Prado - Miami Marlins (3B/2B)

ESPN Percentage Owned: 19.9%

To say Martin Prado is off to a good start would be like saying the Chicago Cubs have a decent team. The 32-year-old infielder has been on fire for Miami, slashing .396/.426/.475 in 108 plate appearances this year, with 6 doubles, 1 triple, 11 runs, and 10 RBI and a weighted runs created (wRC+) of 140. He's already worth 1.3 fWAR this season, 12th-best in the National League.

Prado is tied with St. Louis' Aledmys Diaz at the top of NL batting race, both have a .396 average, and his .426 on-base percentage ranks ninth. He's not hitting for much power (no homers so far), but if you need someone who can pile up the hits and get on base, you should be snagging Prado ASAP.

Steven Wright - Boston Red Sox (SP)

ESPN Percentage Owned: 45.4%

Knuckleball pitchers are a beautiful thing. They usually are the result of a pitcher failing the conventional way, forced to find a new way to stay in baseball. A lot of times, it doesn't work. But for guys like R.A. Dickey and Tim Wakefield, it did.

Enter Steven Wright, the 31-year-old right-hander who has knuckled his way into the starting rotation and who doesn't appear to be leaving anytime soon. On Sunday night against the Yankees, Wright's knuckler was dancing.


And here he was earlier in the week against the red-hot Chicago White Sox.

Isn't watching the knuckleball a hoot? In six starts this year, Wright is 3-3 with a tiny ol' ERA of 1.52, striking out 8.27 batters per nine. His FIP (3.24) indicates his numbers are better than they should be, and batters are hitting just .219 against him on balls in play (BABIP).

Still, he's definitely worth grabbing for your team moving forward.

Zack Cozart - Cincinnati Reds (SS)

ESPN Percentage Owned: 36.8%

I'm not sure how long Zack Cozart's hot start can continue, but for right now, he's a dangerous man.

In 98 plate appearances, Cozart is batting .344/.347/.548 with 3 homers, 11 RBIs,and 18 runs scored with a wRC+ of 129. He's really hitting the ball hard, too, with a career-high hard-hit ball rate (as calculated by FanGraphs) of 32.2%. His previous career high in any full season was last year at 25.4%.

The one troubling note is that he's walking in just 2.0% of his plate appearances. And while he's never been a walk machine (just 4.6% in his career), it is a significant drop from last year's 6.5%.

Jackie Bradley Jr. - Boston Red Sox (OF)

ESPN Percentage Owned: 29.8%

Hey, don't look now, but Jackie Bradley's offense may have caught up to his defense. The young outfielder is batting .288/.342/.519, with 3 homers, 7 doubles, and 4 triples as well as a wRC+ of 135.

And despite not hitting a ton of homers, Bradley's isolated power numbers are among the highest in baseball.


That'll do.

Hector Neris - Philadelphia Phillies (RP)

ESPN Percentage Owned: 14.8%

While he may not be a closer yet, it seems as though Philadelphia set-up man Hector Neris may wind up as the team's ninth-inning man sometime soon. I mean, just look at this filth.

He has a mid-90s fastball and a splitter that is among the most un-hittable pitches in baseball. His 28 strikeouts are the most among MLB relief pitchers, and he's whiffing 12.60 batters per nine while walking just 2.70 per nine innings.

Even though Jeanmar Gomez is doing a fine job as the team's closer, it shouldn't surprise anyone to see those roles flip-flopped at some point this season. And even if they aren't, he's a strikeout machine.