FANTASY BASEBALL WAIVER WIRE PICKUPS
Spencer Steer (1B/OF Reds): Rostered in 34 percent of Yahoo leagues
I thought about highlighting Steer here in those first couple of weeks after Noelvi Marte went down. That’s not because I thought he was good, but because he was locked back into regular playing time in a great situation in Cincinnati. But I didn’t. And now something kind of odd has happened… Spencer Steer actually has been quite good.
⚾️ Baseball is back! MLB returns to NBC and Peacock in 2026! In addition to becoming the exclusive home of Sunday Night Baseball, NBC Sports will broadcast MLB Sunday Leadoff, “Opening Day” and Labor Day primetime games, the first round of the MLB Draft, the entire Wild Card round of the postseason, and much more.
The 28-year-old Steer was very fortunate to still be in the Reds’ plans for 2026 after three straight mediocre seasons, each a little worse than the one before. It seemed like he might fall into a part-time role against lefties after the Reds signed Eugenio Suárez and decided to keep non-roster first baseman Nathaniel Lowe, but manager Terry Francona still believed in him enough to make him the regular left fielder. A poor first three weeks followed, but Steer is hitting .320/.404/.500 with four homers in 28 games since Apr. 18, and Statcast thinks he’s been quite unlucky, giving him a .550 xSLG way ahead of his actual .454 mark. In fact, Steer is currently 16th in the majors with a .393 xwOBA.
Aside from the 19 barrels, Steer’s exit velocity numbers are more good than great. He hasn’t stunned like J.J. Bleday. But everything is a little better than usual, and that should make him fairly valuable going forward. The Reds play in one of baseball's best ballparks for right-handed hitters, and Steer rarely finds himself hitting lower than sixth in the Reds lineup (he's hit fifth or higher the last eight games in a row). He's still not a particularly exciting pickup, but he's useful.
Dylan Crews (OF Nationals): Rostered in 32 percent of Yahoo leagues
Potentially more exciting is Crews, who is back in the majors after hitting .258/.345/.432 with five homers and seven steals in 41 games for Triple-A Rochester. More importantly for the Nationals, he spent enough time in Triple-A to ensure that he'll finish this season with less than two years of service time, pushing his free agency back by a year.
Crews' Triple-A stint saw him hit the ball harder than ever before but also whiff more than usual. He averaged 94.7 mph off the bat for Rochester, a huge improvement on his MLB average of 89.5 mph. However, that came with a 24.9 percent strikeout rate, which is worse than his MLB average of 22.5 percent. He struck out in just 17.3 percent of his plate appearances during his Triple-A stints in 2024 and '25. If he continues to chase as many pitches in the majors as he was in the minors, it's not going to work out well for him.
Still, Crews rates as an instant pickup in mixed leagues. He's stolen 29 bases in just 116 games as a major leaguer, and it seems like he'll hit for more power now, even if it comes at the expense of batting average. His total of five homers for Rochester wasn't stellar, but he had 10 doubles and was pulling the ball in the air more often of late. He'll probably wind up as the Nationals' No. 3 hitter in short order, partly because they need one right-hander there to break up their string of lefties (Brady House was mostly hitting in the spot before his demotion Monday night). It's probably not going to happen this year, but it's still easy to see him blossoming into a top-20 fantasy outfielder in time.
River Ryan (SP Dodgers): Rostered in 11 percent of Yahoo leagues
One of 2024's biggest breakthrough prospects, Ryan required Tommy John surgery that August just four starts after debuting for the Dodgers. Back this year, he impressed this spring before suffering a hamstring injury with Triple-A Oklahoma City in April and missing a month. Returning to the mound Friday, he touched 100.9 mph on the gun while pitching four innings of one-run ball for the Comets, leading to speculation he might soon join a Dodgers rotation that's lost Blake Snell (elbow) and Tyler Glasnow (back).
Before that happens, though, Ryan still needs to be stretched out a little more. He threw 53 pitches in Friday's outing. He's pitched a total of 11 innings in his three starts for Oklahoma City this season, maxing out at 63 pitches. Encouraging is that he's walked only three batters, since control often lags behind stuff as pitchers return from Tommy John. Ryan is 27, so he might not be treated quite as carefully here as a 23-year-old returning from Tommy John. However, a late bloomer who focused more on hitting than pitching in college, he's never thrown more than 104 innings, and the Dodgers would surely like to see him contribute in October, even if it's as a reliever.
So, Ryan probably will have some mixed-league value this season, but it might be for only a couple of months as the Dodgers try to manage his workload. It's not a bad idea to stash him now in the hopes that he's up in early June. There's no telling whether he'll stay healthy in the long run, but he's an elite talent with multiple strikeout pitches and a strong groundball rate.
Waiver Wire Quick Hits
- Austin Martin is playing regularly for the Twins following Matt Wallner's demotion, and he's looked like a legitimate leadoff option while hitting .303/.425/.387 through 146 plate appearances. There's no power on the way, but he has had some luck on the basepaths lately, converting three straight steal attempts since May 8 after opening the season 4-for-8. He's a decent enough short-term outfield option in leagues in which Steer and Crews are unavailable.
- First baseman Kyle Manzardo seemed like a candidate for a Triple-A demotion last month, but the Guardians chose to stick with him, and after Sunday's two-homer game, he's hitting .295/.367/.591 this month. His .428 xwOBA backs it up, too. His bat speed is up a little, and his average exit velocity has jumped from 87.0 mph in April to 92.2 mph this month.
