“Rising Stars on the Waiver Wire: Could Tyler Soderstrom and Jack Leiter Be Your Secret Weapons This Season?”

Advertisement

Kyle Manzardo – 1B, CLE: 27% rostered
(POWER UPSIDE, EVERYDAY ROLE)

I know Manzardo can be harder to roster in formats where he’s UT-only, but given his prospect pedigree and what we saw from him in spring, I’m surprised his roster rate is so low. He started on Opening Day against a left-handed pitcher, which makes it pretty clear that he’s an everyday guy in Cleveland now. I had the chance to talk to him this spring about his adjustment to the big leagues that led to a strong finish to the 2024 season, so I’d encourage you to read that to see why I’m in on Manzardo this year. Another option at first would be Spencer Torkelson – 1B, DET (28% rostered); although, I’d much rather have Manzardo. Torkelson is off to a better start, going 4-for-9 with a home run and a stolen base, in addition to five walks in three games. However, I have less confidence in his contact profile overall. Additionally, he was challenged a lot last year with high fastballs and it limited his power output, and I need a bit more sample size to believe that’s fixed. If you just wanted power, I think Torkelson is the better play over Manzardo, but I’d take Manzardo for everything else.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29