FANTASY BASEBALL WAIVER WIRE PICKUPS
Eury Pérez (SP Marlins): Rostered in 30% of Yahoo leagues
97.6 mph. That’s what Pérez averaged with his fastball in his 19 big-league starts as a fantastically promising rookie with the Marlins in 2023. It’s also exactly what he averaged on the 30 fastballs he threw Thursday in his first Triple-A rehab start after three previous outings in A ball. Pérez, who had Tommy John surgery last April, struck out seven while allowing two runs in 3 1/3 innings. He got 13 whiffs on 28 swings in 61 pitches.
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The challenge for Pérez being a big-time mixed-league starter this season is that his workload will surely be monitored, and he’ll be pitching for a bad Marlins team that’s going to have a tough time protecting leads on those occasions when he does qualify for a victory. Still, he’s simply too talented to leave unrostered in mixed leagues. Pérez had a 3.15 ERA and a 29% strikeout rate while not even being old enough to drink in 2023. His slider and curve are both plus pitches, and he hasn’t been hesitant with either on his rehab assignment.
So, Pérez will probably struggle to get wins after returning. He might walk a few more guys than usual, too, since that often seems to happen in the early stages of a return from Tommy John. The ERA and strikeout rate should still be there. With his stuff intact, he projects a top-20 SP next year. It’s too much to ask for that now, but he’ll be playable most weeks.
Nick Loftin (2B/3B Royals): Rostered in 0% of Yahoo leagues
Surprisingly enough, it’s not coming at Michael Massey’s expense. Still, with Hunter Renfroe getting dropped from the Royals roster on Friday, Loftin is finally going to get a shot in Kansas City after hitting .295/.451/.468 with four homers and 12 steals in 13 attempts for Triple-A Omaha.
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It’s overdue. Loftin certainly didn’t help his cause by hitting .189/.282/.236 in 171 plate appearances for the Royals last season, but he seems like a better player now. His Triple-A hard-hit rate was 40 percent, up from 28 percent for Omaha (and 26 percent in the majors) last season, and his strikeout rate was all of the way down to 12 percent. The steals were also a really nice surprise, given that he hadn’t done a whole lot of running since 2022. He was 5-for-7 stealing bases between Triple-A and the majors last season.
Given that he’s zero-percent rostered at the moment, it’s probably fine to wait a few days and make sure the…