Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Michael Toglia, Orion Kerkering and David Hamilton

FANTASY BASEBALL WAIVER WIRE PICKUPS

Michael Toglia (1B Rockies): Rostered in 22% of Yahoo leagues

Toglia was mentioned in last week’s quick hits as someone who would likely soon find himself back in the majors. The Rockies recalled him three days later, and he’s since gone 6-for-17 with three homers and six RBI in four games.

Of course, a good series against the Nationals pitching staff doesn’t mean a lot. MacKenzie Gore didn’t even pitch during the four games. Still, Toglia is already moving up in the Rockies lineup, having hit fourth and fifth the last two days. His eight hard-hit balls in the series included his hardest shot of the year at 111.4 mph.

Toglia is undoubtedly a flawed hitter. He’s striking out 38 percent of the time this season, raising his career mark to 34 percent since he debuted in 2022. Coors Field reduces strikeout rates in large part because breaking balls move less at altitude, but even there, Toglia has fanned 31 percent of the time in his career. It’s not his approach as much as it’s the holes in his swing, and it seems unlikely that he’ll see dramatic improvement in that regard. Fortunately, Toglia tends to crush the ball when he connects. His 15.5% barrel rate the last two years is 10th in the majors, putting him right behind Kyle Schwarber, Brent Rooker and Pete Alonso. He’s also a surprisingly adept basestealer, having gone 12-for-13 in 174 games since the beginning of 2024.

It’ll definitely help Toglia’s fantasy value that things seem to be looking up for the Rockies offense as a whole, as the revamped top of the order with Jordan Beck, Tyler Freeman and Hunter Goodman is doing a much better job of getting on base than Brenton Doyle and Ezequiel Tovar did. Toglia will surely be a liability in batting average, so he needs both homers and RBI to make up for it. For his career, though, he’s hit with the bases empty 58 percent of the time, which helps explain why last year’s 25 homers came with only 55 RBI. That’ll come down and his fantasy value will increase if he hits fourth and fifth regularly.

Orion Kerkering (RP Phillies): Rostered in 20% of Yahoo leagues

The Phillies again seem to have lost some faith in Jordan Romano, leading to rare ninth-inning chances for Kerkering. The 24-year-old picked up his first career save Monday and his second on Thursday, with his 11th hold of the year coming in between. He’s up to 18 straight scoreless appearances, a stretch that’s lowered his ERA from 5.14 to 2.37.

Kerkering has thrived since reaching the majors at the very end of the 2023 season, posting a 2.34 ERA in 96 1/3 innings. Still, it’s not all sunshine and roses, given that his strikeout rate has dropped from 29 percent last year to 21 percent this season. He’s also gone from being a strong groundball pitcher to merely average in that regard, and he’s issued as many walks (17) in 30 1/3 innings this year as he did in 63 innings last year, with the caveat that three have been intentional. His success this year has been a product of him producing a great deal of soft contact, which is nice while it lasts but not always sustainable.

One reason for optimism with Kerkering is that his 31.1% CSW (his ratio of called strikes and whiffs to total pitches) is practically the same as last year and solidly above the league average. He should be getting more strikeouts and probably will do so. The Phillies probably won’t treat him as a true closer, but since he seems to be ahead of Romano as the top righty in the pen, he’ll likely keep getting a fair number of save chances, at least until he blows a couple.

David Hamilton (2B/SS Red Sox): Rostered in 1% of Yahoo leagues

All signs point to the main beneficiary of Kristian Campbell’s demotion to Triple-A being the speedy Hamilton, who started each of Boston’s last three games at second base. Unfortunately, he went hitless in those games, leaving him at .172/.206/.269 with two homers and 12 steals in 99 plate appearances this season. Still, as one of the game’s elite basestealers, Hamilton figures to be of use in mixed leagues for as long as he’s starting against righties

Hamilton was a nice surprise as a 26-year-old rookie last season, hitting .248/.303/.395 with eight homers and 33 steals in 317 plate appearances. At least in the past, he’s offered more pop than one would expect from looking at him; he hit 17 homers in 103 games in his final year in Triple-A. This season, though, his exit velocity numbers are down, with his hard-hit rate tumbling from 32% in 2024 to 21% now. Especially given that he’s a flyball hitter — he’s not typically one to use his speed to reach base — it’s imperative that he start hitting the ball harder. Hopefully, regular playing time will help.

This might only be a short window for Hamilton to establish himself. Alex Bregman might return from his quad strain within a couple of weeks, potentially pushing Marcelo Mayer to second base. Plus, Campbell could turn things around quickly in Triple-A and earn another chance. The odds are still probably against Hamilton being a long-term asset in mixed leagues this year. For now, though, teams in need of steals should grab him and hope that he starts getting on base some.

Waiver Wire Quick Hits

– The Marlins have clearly settled on

Calvin Faucher

(17% rostered) as their top choice in the ninth. That might last only a month, since he and nearly everyone else on the roster will be available at the trade deadline, but he’s another option for teams needing saves.

– I’ve featured

Jo Adell

in this column three times in the year and a half since it debuted, so I’m not going to make it a fourth right now. However, with him having launched nine homers in his last 18 games, it’s hard to believe he’s rostered in only 27 percent of Yahoo leagues at the moment.

– With a .290/.410/.493 line and three homers in 19 games since joining Triple-A Columbus, Guardians prospect

Chase DeLauter

might be close to earning his first shot in the majors. He’s had such a difficult time staying healthy that it’s probably not a good idea to get too excited about his potential. Still, he’ll be a mixed-league option when he’s called up.