Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Nutty for Nootbaar

Here are this week’s pickups. If you want to see how I rank everyone, check out the May rest-of-season player rankings, which were posted Thursday morning.

Lars Nootbaar - OF Cardinals - Rostered in 35% of Yahoo leagues

Nootbaar was grabbed in some leagues after returning from rib contusion in mid-April, but because of an icy start, he’s getting dropped again. It makes sense, given that he’s hitting just .185 with one homer in 18 games. However, his Statcast numbers are very encouraging. He’s set a new career high for maximum exit velocity this year, and his 51% hard-hit rate is a huge improvement over his career mark of 40%. Statcast has him with an xBA of .260 and xSLG of .445, which is nearly 140 points better than his actual mark.

It is easy to understand why Nootbaar isn’t particularly popular. He doesn’t excel in any one category, and outside of last year, when he hit .261, he’s been quite a liability in terms of batting average. He’s had enough issues staying healthy that his previous season totals are thoroughly unspectacular. It also doesn’t help that the Cardinals offense is a particularly disappointing unit on the whole. Nootbaar, though, is an everyday guy now, and while he’ll hit lower against lefties, he’s batting third regularly against righties. Over the course of his career, he’s collected 34 homers and 19 steals in a bit less than two full seasons of playing time (1,050 plate appearances), and it doesn’t seem like he’s peaked just yet. He should be quite the solid contributor if he can stay off the injured list.

Christian Scott - SP Mets - Rostered in 18% of Yahoo leagues

After going 3-0 with a 3.20 ERA and a fantastic 36/6 K/BB ratio in 25 1/3 innings in Triple-A, Scott will make his major league debut Saturday against the Rays. He’s not promised additional starts afterwards, but he’ll very likely prove to be an upgrade over Adrian Houser, and since he should eventually turn into a mainstay, he’s worth taking a chance on now.

Scott, a 2021 fifth-round pick out of the University of Florida, made a name for himself in Triple-A last year, when he had a 2.47 ERA in 12 starts. The Mets didn’t give him a shot at making the team this spring, but he was extremely impressive in his one start then, and since being sent down, he’s allowed a total of 12 hits in five starts. The fascinating and somewhat scary thing is that seven of those 12 hits have been homers, but he never had any such issue there previously. It’s probably something of a fluke, though the fact that he’s allowed just five non-HR hits in five starts is also surely fluky.

Scott doesn’t offer ace-type stuff, but his excellent command of his fastball and slider should make him a nice middle-of-the-rotation starter, and he’s in a fine situation for fantasy value in Citi Field. He should be especially strong in WHIP, though there is the chance that some early jitters will lead to extra walks. It’s easy to imagine him rating as a top-50 fantasy SP in the second half of the year.

Jordan Beck - OF Rockies - Rostered in 10% of Yahoo leagues

As a result of Nolan Jones’s back injury, Beck is getting his first look in the majors after hitting .307/.405/.594 in 25 games for Triple-A Albuquerque. It was actually something of a surprise that he got to open the year in Triple-A, considering that the 2022 first-round pick came in at a modest .240/.342/.406 after a midseason promotion to Double-A Hartford last year. That is a rather difficult hitting environment, though. Albuquerque was much friendlier in that regard, and Beck hit .367 with 11 extra-base hits in his 14 home games there, compared to .220 with six extra-base hits in 11 road games.

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As with Scott, this might be a short initial stay for Beck. The Rockies could stick with either he or Hunter Goodman in a significant role after Jones and Kris Bryant return, but they probably won’t keep both. Right now, Beck seems to have the edge on Goodman, who has started just one of the Rockies’ last four games. He possesses at least 20-homer power, and he was 5-for-5 stealing bases in Triple-A before his callup. Last year, he finished with 25 homers and 20 steals in 126 games between high-A and Double-A. It’s quite possible and maybe even likely that he’s not yet ready for prime time, but he offers plenty of long-term fantasy potential, especially with Coors Field helping him along. It’d be nice to have him stashed right now; it might not pay off, but it’s hardly beyond the realm of possibility that he’ll make the same kind of impression Jones did last year.