MLB Second-Half Waiver Bats: Kyle Karros and Cam Smith Are the Young Hitters to Add Now

The All-Star break is over and the season resumes with an 18-day sprint to the August 3 trade deadline, which means fantasy rosters are about to churn. Injuries, call-ups and deadline moves will scramble depth charts across the league, and the managers who win the second half are the ones already holding the young bats that the market has not fully rostered yet. Two names lead the board, and neither should be sitting on your waiver wire much longer.

Kyle Karros is forcing the issue in Colorado

Kyle Karros, the Rockies third baseman and son of former Dodgers slugger Eric Karros, has turned a quiet rookie season into one of the more productive month-long stretches in the league. Over his last 30 games he has slashed roughly .352/.441/.625 with four home runs and 14 RBI, the kind of run that drags a rostership number from near-nothing to must-add territory. Just a few weeks ago he was rostered in a small single-digit percentage of leagues; now he is one of the most-added hitters in the game.

The context helps and hurts. Karros plays half his games at Coors Field, which inflates counting stats and batting average and makes him a friendlier real-life bet than his road numbers alone would suggest. His overall production has hovered around league average by rate stats, so this is not yet a superstar breakout. But for fantasy, a hot young hitter locked into everyday at-bats in the best hitting environment in baseball is exactly the profile you want to ride while it is warm.

The play: add Karros in all formats deep enough to use a corner-infield bat with upside. He offers batting-average help and a home-park boost, and even a modest power output plays up at altitude. Start him at home without hesitation and pick your spots on the road.

Cam Smith is trending up in Houston

Cam Smith, the 23-year-old Astros right fielder, is a different kind of add: a former top prospect working through big-league adjustments whose underlying contact is starting to translate. His full-season OPS sits in the .670s, unremarkable on the surface, but his last 15 games tell a better story with a .755 OPS, four home runs, and a slug climbing back toward respectability.

The encouraging signal is under the hood. Smith has dramatically raised his average exit velocity against four-seam fastballs, jumping into the upper tier of the league in that split, which suggests his swing decisions and bat speed are catching up to premium velocity. That is the developmental step that separates a hitter who survives against fastballs from one who punishes them, and it is the leading indicator that his surface stats are about to follow.

The play: Smith is a speculative add in deeper leagues and dynasty formats, and a hold-and-watch in shallower ones. The Astros need offense from the outfield, so his leash is long, and a young hitter with rising exit velocity in a good lineup is a classic second-half buy-low before the batting average and power fully arrive.

Don't forget the catcher stash

Among the higher-upside names filtering into second-half conversations is a premium catching prospect who profiles as one of the best hitting backstops in baseball once he settles in. Catcher is the position where a hot bat is most valuable in fantasy because the replacement level is so low, so any young catcher trending toward everyday reps with real offensive tools is worth a roster spot in two-catcher and deeper one-catcher leagues. Monitor playing time closely, because the path to at-bats is the whole ballgame at the position.

The Verdexed model take

Verdexed's hitter model weights recent batted-ball quality more heavily than surface results, which is why both Karros and Smith grade out ahead of their season lines. Karros gets a park-and-playing-time bump that makes him a top-added corner bat in the model's second-half projections, with the caveat that his road splits keep his true-talent grade closer to average than his Coors numbers imply.

Smith is the model's preferred long-term buy of the two. The exit-velocity gains against four-seamers are the kind of stabilizing signal that predicts a coming production jump, and the model projects a meaningfully better second half than his first. In a redraft context, ride Karros for the immediate average and counting stats; in dynasty, buy Smith while his price is still anchored to a slow start.

The DFS and deep-league angle

Both Karros and Smith carry daily-fantasy appeal that goes beyond season-long rosters. Karros is a strong tournament play in home games at Coors Field, where run environments spike and his salary likely lags his production, giving you leverage in large-field slates. Stacking Rockies bats at home is a classic DFS strategy, and a hot young hitter batting in the middle of the order is exactly the kind of correlated, underpriced piece that pays off when Colorado puts up a crooked number.

Smith is more of a cash-game and deep-league consideration, a hitter whose rising exit velocity suggests his batted-ball luck is due to turn. In points-based formats that reward total bases and hard contact, his underlying quality of contact makes him a sneaky value even during the stretches when his surface line lags. For managers in shallow leagues, the move is to monitor rather than roster; for anyone in a 15-team or deeper format, both are ownable now, and the cost of being early is far lower than the cost of being late once the production becomes obvious to everyone.

What to do this week

With rosters resetting after the break, spend your waiver budget on the young bats with everyday jobs and improving contact rather than chasing one hot week from a bench player. Karros is the add for right now, especially with a favorable home schedule. Smith is the add for the manager who can be patient a few more weeks. Both are the type of pre-deadline pickup that looks obvious in September and costs almost nothing today.