2024 Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Adds: Week 1
Headlined by Trevor Story, Michael Conforto and Garrett Crochet, there are plenty of players who can bring value on the waiver wire this week.
Playing the waiver wire effectively is crucial to fantasy baseball success throughout the season. Each week of the 2024 campaign, this article will help pinpoint which players are readily available to be picked up in most formats. All of them should help bolster fantasy rosters in the short and/or long term.
***Players included on the list below were rostered In less than 70 percent of Yahoo! Leagues at the time of writing.
Hitters
Trevor Story – SS – Boston Red Sox (67%)
After injuries relegated him to only 137 total games over his first two seasons in Boston, Story is finally healthy again. The home-run power hasn’t shown up yet this year, but, following a 1-for-13 start over the first two games of this season, the two-time Silver Slugger is really picking it up. In his last three games, Story has gone 6-for-13 with three doubles and four RBI. He has often been a streaky hitter during his career and could be on the cusp of one.
Luis Campusano – C – San Diego Padres (59%)
Given the hype surrounding Campusano coming into the year, it’s a bit surprising to see him available in so many leagues. The 25-year-old backstop hit a cool .319 over 174 plate appearances in 2023, and he’s already silencing some of the doubters this year. Through his first seven games of 2024, Campusano has gone 12-for-30 (.400 AVG) with a homer, three doubles, and seven RBI. And, by the way, he’s struck out just once. Campusano should be rostered everywhere.
Michael Conforto – OF – San Francisco Giants (44%)
It’s been since the shortened 2020 season that Conforto has been anything close to a “must-own” player. However, he has officially regained that status with a scorching start to the season. The veteran slugger has put up a ridiculous .391/.440/.870 slash line over his first 25 plate appearances of the year, hammering three homers and two doubles already. There’s certainly reasonable skepticism with Conforto, but fantasy managers should ride this hot streak while it lasts.
Brice Turang – 2B,SS – Milwaukee Brewers (29%)
After his rookie season last year, It was already known that Turang had a great glove at second base and the wheels to be an asset in the stolen-base category. After all, he swiped 26 bags in 30 attempts over 137 games in 2023. The question was if he could hit enough to be an everyday big-leaguer considering his .218 AVG and .585 OPS.
Well, Turang is hitting so far this season and stealing every base in sight. He’s picked up seven hits, including two doubles and a walk, over his first 15 plate appearances of the young season. He also leads the league with six steals.
Pitchers
Garrett Crochet – SP – Chicago White Sox (55%)
There’s nothing more that needs to be seen from Crochet to warrant a spot on fantasy rosters for the foreseeable future. The lefty made headlines when he was named the Opening Day starter for the White Sox, as it would be his first career MLB start.
Crochet responded by allowing just one run on five hits with eight strikeouts and no walks across six innings against the Tigers. He followed that up by holding the Braves’ potent offense to one run on three hits and a walk while racking up eight punchouts Tuesday night. Crochet appears to be the real deal.
Brady Singer – SP – Kansas City Royals (41%)
Following a 2022 season that saw him post a 3.23 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, and 150-to-35 K/BB across 153 1/3 innings, Singer appeared poised to settle in right near the top of the Royals’ rotation for years to come. However, he didn’t come anywhere close to repeating those marks last year, as Singer declined significantly pretty much across the board. He didn’t do much to calm concerns during Spring Training either.
One start into the 2024 season, though, Singer suddenly looks like a valuable fantasy hurler again. In his season debut this past Sunday, the 27-year-old righty was as good as he’s ever been, holding the Twins scoreless over seven frames while striking out 10 batters.
Jason Foley – RP – Detroit Tigers (59%)
Sticking right in the A.L. Central with the pitchers, let’s go to the bullpen. Foley appears ready to run with the closer’s gig for the Tigers. Armed with serious gas – he’s averaging 99.0 mph with his heater so far this season – Foley has struck out four batters while allowing one hit and no walks across his first three outings (2.1 IP) of the campaign. He’s also picked up two saves and a win. He was fairly solid out of the Tigers’ bullpen the past two years, but Foley appears ready to take the next step.
Written by
Nate Miller is a feature writer at FantasyPros and Just Baseball. He has been an analyst in the fantasy sports industry for the past decade, covering…