Welcome to Waiver Wire Watch, our weekly fantasy baseball waiver wire guide. We'll be doing things a little differently this season, with Eric Samulski publishing the initial waiver-wire article on Friday afternoon. Then James Schiano updates it every Sunday to make sure you get the most up-to-date information.
The premise of the article is pretty straightforward. We'll give you some recommended adds each week based on recent production or role changes. When we list a player, we'll list the category where we think he’ll be helpful or the quick reason he’s listed. We hope it helps you determine if the player fits what your team needs. Not every "trending" player will be a good addition for your specific roster.
To qualify for this list, a player needs to be UNDER 40% rostered in Yahoo! formats. We understand you may say, “These players aren’t available in my league,” and we can’t help you there. These players are available in over 60% of leagues and some in 98% of leagues, so they’re available in many places, and that can hopefully satisfy readers who play in all league types.
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Fantasy-relevant batting order notes from every MLB team.
Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Hitters
Casey Schmitt - 1B/2B/3B, SF (40% rostered)
(REGULAR PLAYING TIME, HOT STREAK)
Two weeks ago, we had Schmitt on here with the headline "hot streak coming." Since then, Schmitt has hit .318 with four home runs, seven runs scored, and 10 RBI in 13 games. No, he's not going to keep up that pace for the entire season, but he's 27 years old and has shown some intriguing skills in a part-time role before. This year, he's improved his barrel rate to 16.7% and his hard-hit rate to 46.7% by looking to pull and lift the ball more often and being a bit more selective. His zone contact rate is up to 91%, and his swinging strike rate is under 10%. Kudos to you if you were able to scoop him before the hot stretch.
Adolis Garcia - OF, PHI (34% rostered)
(REGULAR PLAYING TIME, POWER UPSIDE)
We created this narrative that Garcia was washed back when he was dealing with knee injuries in Texas, so perhaps we're not noticing what he's doing this season. His hard-hit rate is up to 53%, and he's posting a career-high average exit velocity. He's squaring the ball up more than he ever has and seems to be focused on peppering line drives and not just trying to lift the ball. His swinging strike rate is the lowest it's ever been, and he's chasing less than he has since 2020. Oh, and his zone contact rate and contact rate are the highest they've ever been. He may not be a 30-home-run bat anymore, but he could easily hit .245-.255 with 25 home runs this season, hitting in the middle of an offense that's beginning to heat up. That deserves more love.
Bryson Stott - 2B/SS, PHI (33% rostered)
(REGULAR PLAYING TIME, BATTED BALL QUALITY)
Earlier this season, Stott was really struggling, but Eric had him in a do-not-drop article and said, Stott "still has a 95% zone contact rate, a 6.6% SwSt%, and the quality of contact he is making has been good. His hard-hit rate is 50%, which is up 20.5% from last year, the 4th-biggest improvement of any hitter in baseball. His average exit velocity is up two mph, his bat speed is up one mph, and he is pulling the ball 12% more. His attack direction, which measures the horizontal angle of the bat’s sweet spot at the point of contact, has gone from two degrees towards the opposite field to four degrees to the pull side, which is tied for the 4th-biggest change in baseball. So what we’re getting is a player who is making elite levels of contact, hitting the ball harder than ever, and making a conscious change to pull the ball more. He’s also a player who has stolen at least 24 bases in three straight seasons. All of that should entice us." While the batting average hasn't improved yet, Stott has three home runs and eight RBI in his last seven games, so the quality of contact is starting to lead to impactful hits as the weather is warming up. Ryan McMahon - 3B, NYY (2% rostered) was also in that same article, and he's hit .311 with two home runs and eight RBI over his last 13 games. Perhaps that can continue if you need corner infield help.
Brooks Lee - 2B/3B/SS, MIN (31% rostered)
(HOT STREAK, BATTING AVERAGE UPSIDE)
Few hitters are hotter than Brooks Lee, who is actually a top 40 player in Yahoo formats over the last two weeks because he's hitting .326 with two home runs, eight runs scored, 11 RBI, and two steals. He has just a 5% barrel rate and 33% hard-hit rate, so he's likely overperforming from a power standpoint right now, but he makes a lot of contact, doesn't take a lot of called strikes, and squares the ball up regularly. That should lead to a good batting average, but he also only had three steals all of last season, so it's hard to know exactly how much he's going to run this year. Another multi-position option for deeper formats is Ezequiel Duran- 1B/2B/3B/SS/OF, TEX (12% rostered), who has hit his way into a (pretty much) every-day role in Texas. Over the last two weeks, he's hitting .345 with one home run, one steal, five RBI, and six runs scored. This is more about playing the hot streak here, but if you need a multi-position guy to fill in gaps in your roster in a deeper format, he'll do the trick.
Samuel Basallo - C, BAL (30% rostered)
(PLAYING TIME OPPORTUNITY, POWER UPSIDE)
Basallo probably deserves a look in more one-catcher formats. Yes, he's going to sit against left-handed pitchers, but most catchers are sitting out two or more games a week. Basallo has a 10.5% barrel rate, a nearly 50% hard-hit rate, and has started to heat up a bit at the plate, hitting .293 over the last 20 games with four home runs and 13 RBI. Over the last 30 days, he's the 11th-ranked catcher on FanGraph's Player Rater and likely needs to be rostered in all 12-team formats.
Spencer Jones - OF, NYY (25% rostered)
(PROSPECT CALL-UP, POWER UPSIDE)
The Yankees called up Spencer Jones on Friday with Jasson Dominguez on the injured list. Understandably, there is a lot of hype around a hitter who's 6'6" and has light tower power. Jones has a .258/.366/.592 slash line with 11 homers, 41 RBI, and seven stolen bases in Triple-A. However, he also has an astonishingly low 59% contact rate overall, with a 32 percent strikeout rate. It’s incredibly difficult to be a starter at the MLB level if you make that little contact. He may get off to a hot start and smash a few home runs early on, and we understand adding him if you're in an OPS format or are desperate for power, but we would be really careful spending big FAAB dollars on a hitter with this profile. Plus, Giancarlo Stanton (calf) is not expected to be sidelined too much longer and would most likely take Jones’ spot on the roster.
Cole Young - 2B, SEA (24% rostered)
(REGULAR PLAYING TIME, POTENTIAL BREAKOUT)
As we said last week, second base is a trainwreck, so why are so few people rostering Young? He’s hitting .276 on the season with a .342 on-base percentage, three home runs, two steals, 20 runs scored, and 20 RBI. He’s doing a little bit of everything and was a guy Eric highlighted this offseason in his second-year hitters article. In fact, over the last two weeks, he's the 8th-ranked second baseman on the FanGraph's Player Rater.
Carlos Cortes - OF, ATH (22% rostered)
(GREAT SCHEDULE, BATTING AVERAGE UPSIDE)
Over the last 30 days, Cortes is the 27th-ranked outfielder in the FanGraph's Player Rater. He's hitting .365 with four home runs, 10 runs scored, and 12 RBI over that span. His swing is compact and helps him generate more power than his below-average bat speed would suggest. His elite power metrics right now are likely to trend down, but elite bat-to-ball skills and great swing decisions give him a better floor than most would assume. Even with Brent Rooker’s return to the Athletics’ lineup, Cortes is still starting in the corner outfield and hitting near the middle of their order against right-handed pitching. Even when Denzel Clarke (foot) eventually returns, it's going to be hard to take Cortes' bat out of the lineup.
Spencer Steer - 1B/OF, CIN (16% rostered)
(REGULAR PLAYING TIME, PAST SUCCESS)
We’ve seen Steer be a useful fantasy contributor before, and we like having any member of the Reds lineup who is getting regular playing time. Over his last 30 days, Steer is a top 40 outfielder on FanGraph's Player Rater. Over that stretch, he is hitting .291 with five home runs, 11 runs scored, and nine RBI. We called this out last week, but the Reds' inability to get anybody on base is leading to a pretty depressed RBI total, given the amount of home runs Steer is hitting. We would bet on that changing.
Nasim Nunez- 2B/SS, WAS (12% rostered)
(BATTING AVERAGE SURGE, STOLEN BASE UPSIDE
The batting average is bad for Nunez, but he has been collecting more hits lately. Over his last 15 games, he's hitting .262/.360/.310 with nine RBI and six steals. He also has a 9/7 K/B ratio over that span. He doesn't hit the ball hard, so there will be no power, and he relies a lot on placement and speed to collect hits, but if he's going to make this kind of contact and run a 50% groundball rate and 21% line drive rate, he's going to have a passable batting average and then try to steal bases whenever he's on. Brayan Rocchio - 2B/SS, CLE (12% rostered) also has four steals over that same 15-game stretch with a .273/.322/.309 slash line, so he's giving you a little bit of what Nunez is with a higher batting average floor and less stolen base upside.
Carson Benge - OF, NYM (11% rostered)
(PROSPECT PEDIGREE, HOT STREAK)
Sometimes prospects just need a little bit of time to figure things out. Carson Benge got off to a slow start to his MLB career, but over his last 15 games, he's hitting .302/.348/.512 with two home runs, nine runs scored, seven RBI, and one steal. He also has an 8/3 K/BB ratio over that span and a 51.4% hard-hit rate, so we like that he's not striking out much and is making firm contact. He's not going to hit for big-time power, but he already has six steals this season, so if the batting average can continue to be solid, Benge is going to help a lot of fantasy managers. Another option would be Zack Gelof - 2B/OF, ATH (1% rostered), who has hit .269/.309/.519 in 21 games since being called up, with three home runs and two steals. We may remember the version of Gelof that went 14/14 with a .267 average in 69 games in his rookie season in 2023, but that version is still likely fictitious. However, Gelof has made some changes to his contact profile that should prevent him from being as bad as he was the last two seasons. His swing rate and chase rate are both down this season, but he's swinging far more often in the heart of the zone. Also, despite chasing LESS outside of the zone, his contact on pitches outside of the zone is up 36%, which should be a good indication that when he is offering, it's on pitches he knows he can foul off or put in play. It's just a 21-game sample size, so who knows if this will continue, but it might be worth a gamble given his power and speed and the fact that second base is a black hole in fantasy right now.
Sam Antonacci - 2B/3B/OF, CWS (11% rostered)
(HOT STREAK, SPEED UPSIDE - MAYBE)
After a slow start, Antonnaci is hitting .311/.407/.511 in his last 15 games with one home run, eight RBI, and eight runs scored. He doesn't have much power and has just a 37% hard-hit rate over that span, but he's trying to lift the ball and drive it into the gaps, which we like. He has also started to play against lefties, which the White Sox weren't letting him do early on. I'm not sure why he has just one steal despite stealing almost 50 bases last season, but you'd have to think that the speed will also come and be paired with an elite contact profile. Another speed option would be Caleb Durbin - 2B/3B, BOS (11% rostered). The Red Sox have been running a little more since they fired Alex Cora. In 12 games since then, Caleb Durbin is hitting .250/.302/.375 with one home run, six runs scored, seven RBI, and four steals. That's not exceptional, but Durbin should still steal 20 bases this season and hit .250-.270, so that has some value in deeper formats.
JJ Bleday - OF, CIN (10% rostered)
(APPROACH CHANGE, PLAYING TIME OPPORTUNITY)
Bleday has come back from the minors on a mission, hitting .303/.410/.727 with four home runs, six runs scored, seven RBI, and a 7/6 K/BB ratio in 10 games. It's a small sample, but his bat speed is up from 71.7 mph to 75 mph, and his hard-hit rate is surging to 61.5%. That has helped his average exit velocity go from an 88.4 mph career rate to 94.5 mph. He's also running just a 19% groundball rate, so much of what he's hitting is on a line or in the air. He's also being far more aggressive in the "shadow" area of the strike zone, which is the fringes of the zone, swinging 11% more often there than he has in his career. That aggression has caused his contact rate to drop a bit, but if it allows him to hit for more power, then we're all for it.
Nathaniel Lowe - 1B, CIN (9% rostered)
(REGULAR PLAYING TIME, HOT STREAK)
Another Cincinnati player, which is weird for a team that isn't hitting well. Lowe has started pretty much every game for the Reds since Eugenio Suarez went on the IL, and is hitting .270 with six home runs and 16 RBI in 27 games. He’s pulling the ball more than he ever has and hitting with a higher launch angle than he ever has, while also hitting in a hitter-friendly environment. Oh, and his bat speed is up 1.5 mph from last year. I don't know if this will last, but I'll roster him while I wait to find out.
Isaac Collins - OF, KC (3% rostered)
(HOT STREAK, MODEST SPEED UPSIDE)
Over his last 50 plate appearances, Collins has seen the biggest increase in xwOBA (Expected Weighted On-Base Average) in baseball. If you even go back to his last 75 plate appearances, Collins is hitting .286/.387/.429 with two home runs, nine runs scored, nine RBI, and two steals. He has a 19/10 K/BB ratio over that span, while also posting a nearly 45% hard-hit rate (the league average is 39.7%). On the season, Collins now has a 7.9% barrel rate, which is up from his 5.4% career mark. That could be the result of a massive increase in fly ball rate from 34.3% last year to 49.2% this year. He has just a 9.1% HR/Fly ball rate, which is below league average, so it’s unclear if elevating the ball that much will really pay off for him in the long run, but the approach change appears to be working for now.
Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pitchers
Robbie Snelling - SP, MIA (33% rostered)
Snelling got the call and will start on Friday, so by the time James updates this on Sunday, he's going to have way more information on what Snelling could do at the MLB level. For now, we acknowledge that he's a top pitching prospect in baseball, who was crushing Triple-A and is worth an add in most formats. Also, James recorded a video on him this week, so check that out for more details.
Gregory Soto - RP PIT (32% rostered)
Heading into Friday, Soto is coming off back-to-back save opportunities and conversions. He's thrown 6 1/3 scoreless with six strikeouts, two saves, and two wins in recent weeks, which has provided tons of fantasy value for your teams. However, we have seen this happen before. He got his first save on April third, and then didn't record another one until this week. It's hard to see him being "the closer" on the Pirates, but he's certainly in the mix, and his ratios are good enough to provide value even if the saves don't come.
Jacob Latz - SP/RP, TEX (31% rostered)
Since April 14th, Latz has recorded the only saves for Texas, and Jakob Junis has the only other save opportunity, which is just one opportunity that he blew. Lats has also only pitched once since May 1st, and it was in a non-save situation, so this remains a bit of a fluid bullpen. We assume that Latz is the closer, but there haven't been many save chances of late, and he's still a left-handed former starter who throws 94 mph. That's not really the profile of a lockdown closer. We're hapy to add him but not assuming this is a rest of season type of thing.
Rico Garcia - RP, BAL (28% rostered)
Last week, Ryan Helsley became yet another closer who is on the IL, as the Orioles' closer hit the injured list with elbow inflammation. Since then, the Orioles have had one genuine save chance, which went to Garcia, and he converted. Andrew Kittredge was also charged with a blown save, but he did not enter in the 9th with a lead. Garcia has also been far better than Kittredge this season, so he's the player we're looking to add, but we also just saw all of Jhoan Duran, Daniel Palencia, and Raisel Iglesias get hurt and return in like three weeks, so we can't just assume Garcia is going to have this role for a month-plus.
Jack Perkins - RP/SP, ATH (27% rostered)
If somebody gave up on Perkins because he had a rough outing on Wednesday, we would scoop him up. The reliever has a 3.68 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, and 19/4 K/BB ratio in 14.2 innings. That also comes with three saves. He's simply the best reliever in the Athletics' bullpen, and it's hard to see them moving away from him in the late innings.
Logan Henderson - SP, MIL (27% rostered)
Henderson was promoted to start for the Brewers last Sunday in the wake of Brandon Woodruff’s concerning drop in velocity and ensuing trip to the injured list. Henderson had a great season debut Sunday against the Nationals despite squandering a one-run lead in the fifth inning. Nevertheless, his trusted changeup was sharp, and his cutter was intriguing when he was able to bury it in on the hands of left-handed hitters. He also showed off a new sweeper that would be a crucial pitch for him against right-handed hitters. Woodruff got fluid drained from his shoulder this week, so we're still not convinced he's going to be healthy in a couple of weeks, which means we're comfortably adding Henderson in most places.
Tony Santillan - RP, CIN (26% rostered)
It was Graham Ashcraft - RP, CIN (14% rostered), who got the first save opportunity with Emilio Pagan on the injured list. He did blow the save, but somebody from this Reds bullpen is going to emerge as the closer for the three months that Pagan is going to be sidelined. Terry Francona likes to use one guy in the back-end of the bullpen, so it might be worth trying to figure out who it is. Eric recorded a video going into detail on that this week.
Griffin Jax - SP/RP, TB (25% rostered)
The Rays are stretching Jax out as a starter, and with Steven Matz on the IL with elbow inflammation, there is a rotation spot for Jax to take. On Thursday, Jax pitched four innings, struck out three and walked one while throwing 59 pitches in this one. The former reliever showed off a six-pitch mix in this one, using five pitches at least 14 percent of the time. He threw plenty of strikes with his sinker and four-seamer and was able to use his changeup for whiffs against both righties and lefties. However, no other pitches really missed many bats, and he had just a 10 percent swinging strike rate. We’ll need to see a little more strikeout upside from Jax if he’s going to be relied on in fantasy leagues, but he could be worth a speculative add in deeper formats.
Janson Junk - SP, MIA (20% rostered)
Junk just continues to produce with a 2.82 ERA and 1.04 WHIP across seven starts. Of course, that comes with a 17% strikeout rate and 10.1% swinging strike rate, so this is not a slam-dunk add. We have seen him get better recently, using his fastball up in the zone more often and then keeping the changeups, sweepers, and sliders low in the zone. We still consider him a streamer, but he's one of the better ones for now.
Griffin Canning - SP, SD (19% rostered)
Canning was pretty good in his debut with the Padres, allowing one run on three hits in five innings while striking out seven. The velocity is up on his four-seam fastball, and he actually went to his changeup way more than we're used to seeing, but it got plenty of whiffs. His command was a bit all over the place, but it was his first start off the IL so he deserves some grace. We still consider him more of a deep league add.
Connor Prielipp - SP, MIN (12% rostered)
Meanwhile, Prielipp should be rostered in far more places. No, he hasn't gone deeper than five innings in any of his starts, which is an issue, but the Twins are pushing him past 90 pitches, so it's going to happen. Mick Abel is also dealing with continued soreness in his arm and needed a cortisone injection, so Prielipp's spot in the rotation seems secure. He has a solid enough fastnall and a wicked slider. I also think his changeup will continue to improve versus righties because it has the makings of a good pitch.
Christian Scott - SP, NYM (11% rostered)
Scott was electric in his second start of the season last week, striking out eight Angels in five innings of work. He was not as good in Coors this week, but that start was actually encouraging for us because he looked fine in a bad environment. His fastball has tremendous life and is electric working up in the zone. His sweeper moves like a frisbee and his cutter has nice bite. It's unclear how good he will be against lefties, so his next start against Detroit is a bit unnerving, but he has plenty of upside and a good schedule coming up, so we love him as an add.
Peter Lambert - SP, HOU (11% rostered)
We recommended Lambert after his first two starts, so we're going to keep him on here now, especially after a solid outing against the Dodgers. He's probably just a streamer or a deeper league add, but he has shown a 95 mph four-seam fastball with good vertical movement that he keeps up in the zone. He has also shown the ability to keep the changeup low/away from lefties, while the cutter looks like a decent pitch. It's unclear if this production will stick, but we like the four-seam, cutter, change combination, and the breaking balls are just fines, so we're going to keep rolling him out there.
Ryan Zeferjahn - RP, LAA (1% rostered)
Did you know Zeferjahn has increased his fastball velocity more than any other pitcher in baseball? There are some command issues here, but he has good Stuff+ numbers, is being used in high-leverage spots, and can miss bats. Somebody needs to close for the Angels.
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