We’re now officially more than one quarter of the way through the MLB season and it’s getting increasingly difficult to find standout players on the waiver wire.
So, we need to look a bit deeper to find gems. Fear not, because there are still a handful of available players that have the chance to be difference makers in both the short and long term.
The Tigers claim the top spot and the red-hot Twins crack the Top 10.
D.J. Short
D.J. Short
Here are three players that are under 40% rostered on Yahoo leagues that you should strongly consider adding.
If you want a larger list, Eric Samulski wrote his extended waiver wire piece on Sunday.
Jordan Beck, OF Rockies
(30% Rostered on Yahoo)
A chaotic start to Beck’s season has turned into what appears to be a sustainable breakout that’s put him on our radar in 12-team leagues.
Beck made the Rockies’ opening day roster, but was sent down on April 6th after going 3-for-23 and striking out in nearly one third of his plate appearances. While it was a terrible week of play, it was inconceivable for Colorado to give one of their better prospects such a short leash. Alas, their rampant dysfunction is well known.
Ironically, Beck was recalled from Triple-A just 13 days later after going 5-for-37 down there and showing absolutely no signs of improvement.
Of course, he immediately hit the ground running upon his return with a five-homer barrage across three games. That surge pushed him to the top of the lineup because again, the Rockies are just managing their team based on vibes, and he hasn’t looked back.
Beck has hit either first, second, or third in each of the Rockies last 22 games and has eight home runs, two stolen bases, and a .992 OPS since being recalled. If nothing else, his power is legit with 80th percentile bat speed, consistent hard contact, and a knack for both lifting and pulling the ball.
Most importantly for Beck, his strikeouts are in check at the moment. He had an untenable 35.3% strikeout rate through 55 games as a rookie last season which halted any chance he had to be productive. That’s come all the way down to 26.7% since he came back from the minors.
That shrinking strikeout rate is supported by a chase rate that’s drifting towards league average. He’s ‘improved’ there by swinging less often, so we’re still waiting on better swing decisions from him in the zone and a better contact rate in general since his swing is so long and lends itself to plenty of whiffs.
Yet, even nominal improvements in these areas have made him much more productive. Those along with loud tools and a top-of-the-order spot makes him a fun waiver wire option
Just be mindful of the Rockies’ schedule. They just began a six-game homestand that ends this coming Sunday and will give way to a nine-game road trip. Beck hasn’t shown a strong home/road splits – .871 OPS in Coors Field, .928 OPS on the road – so far though in a small sample.
Addison Barger, 3B/OF Blue Jays
(4% Rostered on Yahoo)
What’s long been an intriguing profile for Barger looks even better at the moment at the same time he has steady playing time in Toronto.
Most notably, he has some of the best raw power in the league. He’s already hit a ball 116.5 mph this season – one of just 12 players in the league to hit a ball that hard – and is near the top of practically every Statcast Leaderboard regarding power. Often times, he accidentally finds his way into conversations that include the best power hitters in the game.
Moreover, Barger has drastically improved his swing decisions so far this season compared to last. He was a bit of a mess at the plate in 2024 during his first go-around as a big leaguer chasing too many pitches out of the strike zone and not swinging at nearly enough when they were in it.
This season, he’s totally flipped the script on each and is currently far better than league average in both regards. The sample isn’t very large yet at just 80 plate appearances, but he showed high-end plate discipline through the upper minors which makes this huge adjustment believable.
So, we have plus swing decisions and plus-plus power. That’s a strong foundation for a waiver claim. Barger has also played 10 games in a row at third base, making him someone that’s well worthy of our attention.
Those 10 consecutive starts began when Andrés Giménez went on the injured list with a quad strain. While he still has no timetable to return, he’s expected to begin running again this coming weekend which won’t put him too far off from being activated.
Of course, Giménez’s return isn’t guaranteed to put Barger back on the bench. He’s a capable corner outfielder and the Blue Jays have willingly played him there both this season and last. Right now, Nathan Lukes, Jonatan Clase, and Myles Straw are getting regular reps out there. If Barger can hit enough, he’ll remain a regular.
His underlying stats are too good right now to leave on the waiver wire in deeper leagues. There’s a strong chance production will follow.
Slade Cecconi, SP Guardians
(1% Rostered on Yahoo)
The Guardians made a somewhat strange move to acquire Cecconi this offseason as well as a Competitive Balance Round B draft pick from the Diamondbacks in exchange for Josh Naylor. They were fresh off a division championship and ALCS appearance with Naylor as a key contributor.
Yet, their starting pitching depth wore thin as the season went on and they’re not the type of organization to spend big money on pitching in free agency.
So, they took the opportunity to dump Naylor and his one remaining year of team control to take a shot on the 26-year-old Cecconi and his 6.06 ERA across 104 major league innings.
Cecconi had always exhibited solid command and a true four-pitch mix with Arizona, just without much swing-and-miss to his game. He was set to compete for their opening day rotation before allowing 10 ER in five spring innings and then wound up on the injured list with an oblique strain.
He worked his way through a trio of rehab starts over the past few weeks and had a strong season debut last weekend against the Reds where he struck out eight without walking a batter through five-plus innings and allowed three runs. All three of those runs came against the final six batters he faced.
Those strikeouts were encouraging as well as some subtle changes he made to his repertoire. Cecconi showed a new cutter that was a tick harder than his slider with tighter movement that he threw regularly against right-handed batters. Also, he drastically reduced his fastball usage against lefties in exchange for more changeups and curveballs. That fastball averaged just above 95 mph too, up from 94 mph last season.
In all, Cecconi forced 15 swings-and-misses including five each with his fastball and slider. He showed enough to believe in as a potential streamer moving forward.
The only catch is his upcoming schedule: he’s set to face the Tigers this week followed by the Dodgers, Yankees, and Astros over the next few weeks. Those are not matchups we’d be running to stream him in.
So, Cecconi is worthy of a speculative add at the moment because the changes he’s made makes him seem like someone who will wind up trustworthy, it just may take a few weeks before that trust is built.
