2024 Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Adds: Caden Dana, Matt Wallner, Parker Meadows

Matt Wallner – OF – Minnesota Twins

Things weren’t looking great for this young lefty batter earlier this season. After he went 2-for-25 at the beginning of the year, the Twins sent Wallner down for some extra seasoning in the minors.

Well, that move paid off. Since the All-Star break, he has put up .299/.419/.675 slash line with six home runs, 15 runs scored, and 17 RBIs in 27 games. 

His season OPS sits at 1.011, and his Statcast page is dark red. Wallner is short of the necessary plate appearances to be a qualified hitter, but what he has shown so far is promising.

His average exit velocity of 94.3 is among the best in the league, along with his barrel rate, hard-hit rate, and bat speed readings. An underrated part of his skill set is his keen eye, which mostly stays focused on pitches thrown inside the zone. 

Think about it this way: There is a guy on the waiver wire in your fantasy league with similar power upside as Yordan Alvarez, Shohei Ohtani, and Aaron Judge.

One reason many people might shy away from Wallner is his role as a platoon player and lack of playing time against left-handed pitchers.

The good news? Manager Rocco Baldelli featured Wallner in the lineup against the last two lefties the Twins faced, telling us he will be more of an everyday player moving forward. 

Caden Dana – SP – Los Angeles Angels

The Angels top pitching prospect made his debut this past Sunday, and most signs suggest you should be picking him up. 

Dana showed everything one would want to see from a young hurler, though there was one slight issue. He’s going to have to work on not walking so many major league batters. The four free passes he issued won’t be anything worth bragging about in the future.

However, everything else under the hood looked promising. At Double-A Rocket City, the young kid put up a 2.59 ERA and 0.95 WHIP in 135.2 innings. In that time, he worked to cut down his walk rate, which he did successfully going from a 4.0 BB/9 in 2023 to a 2.6 in 2024. 

L.A.’s schedule has provided a promising path to initial success for Dana in September. In his final starts of 2024, he lines up to battle the White Sox twice as well as the very dry Rangers offense two times.

When it’s fantasy playoff time, a key to success is finding pitchers available on the waiver wire who will be exposed to the league’s weaker offenses. Rostered at just under 5% in all ESPN leagues, Dana will have managers adding him all over the place soon enough.

Parker Meadows – OF – Detroit Tigers

You’re most likely too late if you haven’t already picked up Lawrence Butler by now, after his monster past week and three-homer game. However, there’s another player whom I expect to put up similar, if not better, numbers. This outfield bat is a blend of both power and speed.

August has shown Meadows’ true potential, a result of the work he put in at Triple-A.

Since returning from the injured list in early August, Meadows has a .949 OPS with 11 extra-base hits in 18 games. I believe he will soon start running more; it’s taken him a bit of time to come all the way back from that strained right hamstring injury which can contribute to hesitance on the base paths.

The reason I like Meadows more than most outfielders on the wire is simply because of his leadoff ability. He’s getting the most at-bats out of anyone on Detroit’s roster, especially when they face right-handed pitchers.

A lack of playing time against southpaws brings down his value a bit, but isn’t that the case with almost all young lefty batters? Look for A.J. Hinch to start inserting Meadows into the lineup for more experience against southpaws.

Pick him up off the waiver wire before other fantasy managers start to realize Meadows has the true potential to be a five-category producer.

JJ Bleday – OF – Oakland Athletics

This guy has always been in my thoughts in terms of fringe fantasy waiver wire additions. I just needed to give Bleday a bit more time to marinate in order to determine if his success was real. After watching him hit .385 over the past week, I think it’s time to feature him. 

This Oakland Athletics offense is a surprise for many, especially after the 2023 season. Lawrence Butler is a refreshing blend of power and speed, which plays well with Brent Rooker’s big bat. And the player following both of them in the lineup? JJ Bleday has been taking advantage of every opportunity that comes his way. 

In short, Bleday is an outfielder with an everyday job who has produced 20 home runs, 69 runs scored, and a near .800 OPS. That will play in almost any league with five outfielders. If you need more offensive depth (Don’t we all this year?) Bleday is the perfect underrated addition. 

Albert Suárez – SP – Baltimore Orioles

In a year that has taught us so much about mediocre pitchers doing well against poor offenses, here is yet another example.

Let’s give credit where credit is due, Suárez has been a major help for this Orioles team, which is extremely thin in terms of starting pitchers. Even their ace, Corbin Burnes, has been getting smacked around the diamond lately. But not Suárez. 

A 3.14 ERA in 27 games is spectacular, and most Baltimore fans did not expect this type of performance. The 34-year-old last threw in the majors back in 2017.

Seven years later, he’s doing well with a 3.62 FIP and 1.26 WHIP. He’s not going to strike out the world, but he is limiting hard contact and has good extension on the mound. 

In his last 30.1 innings, Suárez has allowed four earned runs while walking only five batters and striking out 24. And not to mention, two of those starts came against the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox, a couple of the more dangerous lineups in the game.

It goes without saying that Suárez will have his fair share of blowup starts, but that’s the risk you run when streaming pitchers. It’s essentially an opportunity cost between pitching depth and ruined ERA/WHIP ratios. I don’t know about you, but I’d take that chance on a guy who has been nothing but solid this year.

Stats updated prior to games on September 4.