We’re back to help you crush your fantasy baseball waiver wire. Below we highlight three hot players to snag. For a player to qualify for this article, they’ll need to be available in at least 50% of Yahoo! fantasy baseball leagues. For deep league players, one of these shortstops sits on the wire in 90% of fantasy baseball leagues (though we stretched that this week to 12%).
Zack Cozart, Cincinnati (50% owned)
Smart leagues have already snatched up Cozart. The #5 shortstop on the season is out there in literally half of fantasy baseball leagues. And it isn’t like there has been a recent cratering that caused a mass ownership exodus, either. Over the last week, he has a home run, a stolen base, 9 runs and 5 RBI. Cozart put his speed/power potential on full display despite the low RBI total. That stat line is good enough for the #2 shortstop over the last week. Deal him if you can, though; Cozart notoriously cools off as it heats up.
Jose Reyes, Mets (30% owned)
Reyes’ start led to owners ditching him for hot upstarts, as he ended April with a .174/.260.302 slash line with a .194 BABIP. So far in May, he’s upped his season-long line to .233/.294/.400. Still not great, but his .200 BABIP is 100 points below his career average, shows better news is on the horizon. Over the last two weeks, however, Reyes’ .306 batting average, three home runs, three stolen bases and twelve a piece runs & RBI makes him the #3 shortstop. He finally bounced back from his dismal start to the season, which saw his average dip as low as .095 on April 22 before turning it around. He’s been on a hot pace, and as his BABIP normalizes, he will continue to roll.
Freddy Galvis, Philadelphia (12% owned)
Galvis put his speed & power combination on full display in the last two weeks. In the last seven days, he has two stolen bases, in the previous seven days, he hit two home runs. Galvis is part of the surprisingly potent Phillies offense (their .755 OPS is .001 out of tying the Dodgers for #5 in the NL, and tied with Colorado). Galvis fell through the cracks, which is shocking given that he was within a few stolen bags of 20/20 last year at a position seemingly bereft of quality options.