Monday's potential fantasy pickups dig deeper into the player pool, but we're still at a time in the season when it's worth using that last roster spot on a player with upside who has been presented with plenty of opportunity. Here's a look at two waiver-wire candidates who fit this bill, along with a certain rookie who may not have impressed during his first weekend in the big leagues, but is still well worth an add in all formats.
1. Adolis Garcia, OF, Texas Rangers: He doesn't feel like a significant contributor in fantasy, having entered 2021 at the age of 28, and having previously been designated for assignment -- a move that removes a player from his team's 40-man roster -- by two separate organizations. Not only that, but he didn't even made the Rangers' Opening Day roster. What's important, though, is that Garcia is getting a sizable opportunity now, in the wake of early struggles by David Dahl and Leody Taveras and the injury to Ronald Guzman.
Garcia has started each of the Rangers' last 12 games, seven of them as the cleanup hitter. During that time, his 51 trips to the plate are the most of any outfielder available in more than 60% of ESPN leagues. He has contributed five home runs and 13 RBIs, fueled by eight Barrels and a 50.0% hard-hit rate.
Now, Garcia isn't without his flaws. He's a free swinger with only a 4.7% career walk rate in the United States, compared to 6.5% in his five seasons in Cuba. At the big-league level (thus far) he has hit a grounder on 47.8% of his batted balls. Still, playing time can be a valuable thing in fantasy baseball, carrying greater weight the deeper your league dives into the player pool. Garcia has enough pop (see his .233 ISO in the minor leagues) and he's quicker than you think, with 28.1 feet-per-second Statcast sprint speed thus far in 2021. If he can fall into regular at-bats, as he has been getting during the past two weeks, he could even contribute as a shallow/mixed league No. 5 outfielder.
2. Logan Webb, SP, San Francisco Giants: One of my "deep sleeper" nominations from Opening Day, Webb was briefly bounced from the Giants rotation after the announcement of Alex Wood's impending activation, only to be restored to the team's starting five following Johnny Cueto's placement on the injured list. Webb was excellent in his Sunday return, generating 13 swinging and 20 called strikes en route to seven shutout innings against the Miami Marlins.
While my previous mention cited his increasing usage of a cutter he first introduced in 2020, Webb went in a somewhat different direction on Sunday, leaning most heavily upon his sinker. With two strikes, he went to the changeup that continues to generate good movement (although he's also reliant on his slider in those circumstances). There's enough here to make him more than merely a "matchup candidate," and we're still at that time of season when you should be stashing interesting arms like this with the hope that one of them clicks.
3. Alex Kirilloff, OF, Minnesota Twins: Widely hailed as one of the year's best Rookie of the Year candidates after he made a surprise appearance on the Twins' 2021 postseason roster, Kirilloff shockingly failed to earn an Opening Day roster spot this spring. With the requisite number of days for a prospect to not pick up a full year's big-league service time now behind us, however, he's back -- and he'll probably get that extended opportunity as originally intended when the team let Eddie Rosario depart via free agency.
Kirilloff is a contact-oriented, good-pop, high-average hitter -- the kind who should bring with him an elevated statistical floor. In other words, there's less risk here as he adapts. Sure, he went hitless in 11 at-bats against the Pittsburgh Pirates over the weekend, but so far in 2021, Statcast has measured him with one Barrel and a 54.5% hard-hit rate, meaning his performance hasn't been a complete disaster. The Twins need to inject some life into what has, to date, been a struggling team. Giving Kirilloff a chance to nail down the everyday left field role is a wise move for them. There's no reason he can't hit .270 with 15 home runs from this point forward -- and that's well on the conservative side.
Drop zone candidates
1. Akil Baddoo, OF, Detroit Tigers: It's been a great story: a Rule 5 pick who generated headlines during spring training, not only earning an Opening Day roster spot, but also homering in his first big-league trip to the plate. Unfortunately, that Baddoo magic appears to have faded, and his flaws have become much more noticeable with more than 10% of the season now in the books.
Baddoo swings and misses a lot, as evident from his 27.7% rate on pitches in the rulebook strike zone. That's fourth-worst among players with at least 50 PAs. Beyond that, he hasn't done anything against same-handed pitchers, relegating him to a low-in-the-order platoon role. In daily leagues, players like these are manageable, but his best asset is really just his speed.
2. Nick Senzel, OF, Cincinnati Reds: I want to give him as much of a chance as I can, but yet again, the Reds don't seem committed to him as an everyday player. If they did, why wasn't he a consideration for second base (with Jonathan India shifting to third base) when Mike Moustakas landed on the disabled list? Senzel has contributed little in 2021, with modest Barrel (6.7%) and hard-hit rates (40.0%) backing his poor rotisserie numbers.
A closer look at his performance suggests that he's struggling to square up the ball and, as a result, hitting way too many fly balls and harmless pop-ups. Maybe he can correct that over the long haul, but with players like Jesse Winker and Tyler Naquin off to better starts -- not to mention Shogo Akiyama on the mend -- the Reds might choose to not find the lineup room for Senzel to even try. Without regular at-bats, those corrections simply won't come.
3. Andrew Benintendi, OF, Kansas City Royals: Here's another player I'd love to give an extended chance to correct his struggles, but we're at the point now where his poor returns are a hindrance to his fantasy teams. Benintendi wasn't a player I rostered in many places, because even as the move to Kansas City gave him a fresh start, that new chance comes in one of the poorest home venues for power.
Benintendi's Statcast sprint speed was already in decline, to the point that he could no longer be counted on for even 20 stolen bases. He has a 50.0% ground ball rate thus far, and has only two Barrels on 53 batted balls. The Royals demoted him from second to seventh in their lineup just 10 days ago and, while they lack the outfield depth to keep him glued to the bench, that move did hurt his chances at collecting counting stats like runs and RBI.