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 this helps you determine whether the player fits your team’s 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 Baseball Waiver Wire Hitters
Esmerlyn Valdez – OF, PIT (38% rostered)
(STARTING JOB, HOT STREAK)
During First Pitch Arizona this year, a few of us got really into Esmerlyn Valdez, and Eric wound up blurbing him a bunch as he won the Offensive Player of the Year in the Arizona Fall League. He then proceeded to hit 13 home runs in 56 games at Triple-A this year while also posting a 21.5% strikeout rate and 17.3% walk rate. Since being promoted, he’s hitting .316/.375/.737 with six home runs and 15 RBI in 19 games. He’s playing every day in the outfield with Ryan O’Hearn moving back to first base, and we can totally see why people are rushing to add him. While we like Valdez, we do want to pour a tiny bit of cold water. For one, when Oneil Cruz and Spencer Horwitz return from injury, the playing time may be a little harder to come by. Secondly, he’s currently sporting a 16.5% swinging strike rate and 32% strikeout rate in his MLB at-bats. Even in Triple-A, he had just a 78% zone contact rate and a 71% contact rate overall. There is swing-and-miss in his game that could be exposed quickly at the big league level. You should add him for sure, but don’t be surprised if a cold stretch comes.
Dylan Crews – OF, WAS (35% rostered)
(STARTING JOB, HOT STREAK)
Last week we mentioned that we were buying into Crews because we were making a bet on the quality of contact winning out over the poor June stats. Well, in his last 13 games, Crews is hitting .320/.382/.440 with one home run, nine RBI, and three steals. That has come with a 50% hard-hit rate, and he has a 45.5% hard-hit rate since being promoted. Yes, he is still chasing more than we’d like to see, and there remain some contact issues in his game. We’re not suggesting he’s “figured it out,” but he’s a former top 10 prospect in baseball who is getting regular playing time and is starting to see some results. These are the gambles you take on the wire. Also, if you’re in a league where somebody dropped Mickey Moniak – OF, COL (39% rostered), you should go and pick him up. He was producing before getting hurt and has gone 9-for-32 (.281) since returning with three home runs and nine RBI in 10 games. He should be rostered in like 80-90% of leagues.
Nasim Nunez – 2B/SS, WAS (29% rostered)
(STOLEN BASE UPSIDE, HOT STREAK)
Nunez barreled a ball this week and also hit a home run, so he can do it. Beyond that, he remains a priority add if you need speed and is also bringing the batting average with it. In 26 games since June 1st, he’s hitting .329/.400/.447 with 12 runs scored, 12 RBI, and 10 steals. He’s not going to continue to run a .490 BABIP, but his bat speed is up, he’s hitting the ball harder, and he runs fast, so there’s a good chance he always has a higher-than-average BABIP. There’s a good chance that he’s at least a .250-.260 hitter the rest of the way, and that’s going to be massive for people who need stolen bases.
Samad Taylor – 2B/OF, SD (21% rostered)
(STARTING JOB, STOLEN BASE UPSIDE)
Samad Taylor is not really slowing down. In the last two weeks, he’s hitting .326/.426/.370 with six runs scored and two steals in 13 games. Yes, that’s not the pace you were getting from him right when he was called up, but the batting average and stolen base production have been there. We knew he wasn’t going to hit for power – he had just a 27% hard-hit rate in Triple-A – but he hits the ball and uses his speed to get on base and then create problems once he’s there. You don’t have to hold him through any prolonged cold streak, but he has five hits in four games entering Friday, so he is still getting on base.
Francisco Alvarez – C, NYM (21% rostered)
(HOT STREAK, POWER UPSIDE)
Alvarez has cooled off a little bit of late and is hitting .250/.289/.486 in 20 games since coming off the injured list, but that does come with five home runs and nine RBI. Nine RBI on five home runs? Thanks, Mets. There is swing-and-miss in Alvarez’s game, and he will go through some rough stretches, especially as this lineup looks to try and lock in and produce, but if you want power and playing time from your catcher, we still think Alvarez is a fine option in one-catcher formats. Another sneaky one-catcher option could be Endy Rodriguez – C, PIT (2% rostered), who has grabbed the starting job and hit .269/.398/.495 over 33 games since being promoted with five home runs, 16 RBI, and two steals. He also has a 13.6% barrel rate and 45.5% hard-hit rate over that span. Rodriguez was a former top prospect before two years of injuries and could be worth a gamble. He, for sure, needs to be added in all two-catcher leagues.
Tommy Edman – 2B/3B/OF, LAD (21% rostered)
(BATTING AVERAGE UPSIDE, GREAT LINEUP)
Look, you’re probably not getting much speed from Edman anymore due to his myriad lower-body injuries. He had just nine steals in 134 games in 2024 and 2025 combined, and he has one steal in just one attempt in 13 games this season since being activated from the injured list. However, he is also hitting .378/.451/.556 in those 13 games with nine RBI because he hits in the Dodgers’ lineup. That’s going to be production that helps if you need average and counting stats. Cole Young – 2B, SEA (13% rostered) was a player we highlighted earlier in the season and remain fans of. Over the last 20 games, he’s hitting .293/.329/.520 with five home runs, 11 runs scored, and 10 RBI. He doesn’t hit the ball overly hard, but he gets to the pull side frequently and makes lots of contact. We buy him as a .270-or-better hitter with 15-18 home run power over a full season. That’s a solid MIF target.
Javier Sanoja – 2B/3B/SS/OF, MIA (18% rostered)
(STARTING JOB, BATTING AVERAGE UPSIDE)
At the beginning of April, Eric wrote an article on hitters who had clearly changed their swings or approaches, and Sanoja was among those listed. (Hey, Cole Young was on there too). In that article, Eric mentioned that Sanoja had the fifth-biggest jump in Ideal Attack Angle rate, up to 53.1% from 32.3%, and his overall Attack Angle is up to 5 degrees from 2 degrees. We just covered above that an Ideal Attack Angle is between 5 and 20 degrees, so Sanoja is now in that range far more often, which is beneficial for him. He also mentioned that Sanoja’s stance was more open, and his feet were wider apart, which was giving him a strong foundation and allowing him to turn on the ball quicker, which was why he was intercepting the ball out in front of the plate. Well, some of those numbers have stabilized, but his Ideal Attack Angle rate is still 51.5%, and his pull rate is up at 49%, from 38.6% last year. Sanoja has also now earned a starting job and is hitting .317/.344/.500 in his last 20 games with 10 runs scored, 10 RBI, and two steals. This is more of a deeper league play for batting average and some counting stats, but if you had a multi-position player like Ezequiel Duran, who has cooled off, then swapping him for Sanoja makes some sense.
Dominic Canzone – OF, SEA (16% rostered)
(STRONG SIDE PLATOON, POWER UPSIDE)
Since June 1st, Canzone is hitting .301/.378/.616 with six home runs, 12 runs scored, and 11 RBI. This is a guy who hit .300 with 11 home runs in 82 games last year and has a career 13.6% barrel rate and 47% hard-hit rate in 284 MLB games. There will be some cold stretches because he also has a 13.5% swinging strike rate for his MLB career, but he has evened those cold stretches out over the last two seasons. He’s going to play against all righties and is a solid add for power. If you’re in a daily moves league or a mid-week lineup leagues where you can bench him if he faces lefties, he’s that much more valuable.
Blaze Alexander – 2B/3B/SS/OF, BAL (13% rostered)
(STARTING JOB, STATCAST DARLING)
Blaze Alexander might live on this list because his roster rate never seems to climb. He hit his way into a near full-time role around May 25th, supplanting Coby Mayo at third base. Since then, he has led the Orioles in wRC+ (196) and is slashing .398/.449/.614 in 30 games with three home runs, 13 runs scored, 20 RBI, and three steals. Over that stretch, he has a 9.5% barrel rate, 46% hard-hit rate, and 92.3 mph average exit velocity. He has also been far more aggressive, raising his zone swing rate from 68% last year with Arizona to 81.6% this year. He’s still swinging and missing about 13% of the time, but because he is swinging more often, his overall contact rate has gone up from 71.5% to 76.2%, and he is making harder contact than before. This looks more real than what Jeremiah Jackson was doing in Baltimore earlier this season.
Owen Caissie – OF, MIA (11% rostered)
(TOP PROSPECT, POWER UPSIDE)
Owen Caissie still swings and misses more than we’d like, and strikeouts will always be part of his game, but the rookie is starting to figure things out at the plate a bit. In his last 20 games, he’s hitting .291/.323/.618 with five home runs, 10 runs scored, and 17 RBI. That comes with a 29% strikeout rate and 74% zone contact rate, so we’re not out of the woods with his contact concerns and may never be. However, he is being far more aggressive in the zone in recent months, and his 72% zone swing rate during this stretch is up from the 63% mark he had prior to it. By being more aggressive in the zone, he’s giving himself more chances to do damage on pitches he can handle and minimizing some of the risk that comes with his whiff profile. We prefer him in an OPS format, but if you need power, he’s probably the best name on the waiver wire.
Victor Caratini – C, MIN (10% rostered)
(HOT STREAK, BATTING AVERAGE UPSIDE)
Not sure what Caratini needs to do to be rostered more. Maybe everybody is worried about Ryan Jeffers coming back, but that hasn’t happened yet, and Jeffers is a trendy trade deadline name, so maybe Caratini sticks around as the starting catcher in Minnesota. In 21 games since June 1st, he’s hitting .338/.432/.618 with five home runs, 14 RBI, and 13 runs scored. That’s with a 14% barrel rate and a 44% hard-hit rate. I might drop a struggling catcher like Salvador Perez for that production now and figure things out in a few weeks if I need to. If you need a stopgap at catcher, he’s a good one. Carson Kelly – C, CHC (10% rostered) has also been producing lately, hitting .333/.471/.593 in his last 10 games with one home run, 9 runs scored, and 11 RBI. He’s not a long-term solution, but would be an injury fill-in or two-catcher league option.
Trevor Larnach – OF, MIN (9% rostered)
(HOT STRETCH, DAILY MOVES PICK-UP)
Much like Dominic Canzone, Larnach is a good option if you’re in a daily moves league or a mid-week lineup change league since he won’t play against lefties. Since June 1st, Larnach is slashing .358/.416/.531 in 24 games with two home runs, 14 runs scored, and 13 RBI. His barrel rate and hard-hit rates are not impressive, but he has seemingly shortened his swing and changed his bat path, which is giving him a little more lift and getting him to be a bit less oppo-focused. He has only played over 112 games once in his career, so we’re not banking on this being a rest-of-season add, but it’s working right now. Another veteran, oft-injured outfield option in a strong side platoon is Michael Conforto – OF, CHC (1% rostered). Over the last two weeks, he has just 25 plate appearances, compared to 52 for Dansby Swanson and 54 for Nico Hoerner, so you can see how his playing time stacks up against everyday guys. However, Conforto has gone 8-for-23 in that span with three home runs, seven runs scored, and eight RBI. If you’re in a deeper, daily moves league, he could be worth a gamble right now.
Jacob Gonzalez – 1B/2B/SS – CWS (7% rostered)
(STARTING JOB, POWER UPSIDE)
We had Jacob Gonzalez here when he first came up because we liked the profile in Triple-A, but the results didn’t materialize. They may be coming now. Over the last two weeks, Gonzalez has gone 12-for-38 (.316) in 12 games with one home run, eight runs scored, and 12 RBI. The strikeouts have been reined in a bit, and he’s playing against all right-handed pitchers. We know that Munetaka Murakami will need a rehab assignment once he’s ready to play, and we also know that he’s not yet ready to play, so we still could have a few more weeks with Gonzalez. It’s just a bit of a bummer that we haven’t seen much of his Triple-A power carryover.
Garrett Mitchell – OF, MIL (6% rostered)
(POWER/SPEED UPSIDE, STREAKY PLAYER ON HOT STREAK)
We featured Mitchell a bunch earlier in the season, and he’s back to putting up really solid numbers. Over his last 20 games, he has a .350/.400/.650 slash line with four home runs, 12 runs scored, and nine RBI. That’s with a 13.6% barrel rate and a 50% hard-hit rate. The tools have always been loud, but the plate approach has been the question. Over this stretch, he has a 34% chase rate, 68% zone swing rate, and 16% swinging strike rate. Those are all up from his season averages, so he hasn’t really “fixed” anything. He’s a streaky player who is seeing the ball well right now and producing. It may last one more week. It may last another month. If you have an outfield spot, it might be worth a gamble
Lars Nootbaar – OF, STL (6% rostered)
(SOLID BATTING AVERAGE, RUNS UPSIDE)
People really don’t want to pick up Nootbaar. We know he’s another boring outfielder who is set to come off the injured list following offseason surgery on both of his heels. We know that you’ve been waiting for that Nootbaar breakout for a long time, but he remains a solid/productive player who should be in an everyday role on a solid Cardinals team. In 23 games since coming off the injured list, he’s hitting .300/.387/.463 with two home runs, 13 runs scored, and eight RBI. That might be more of a 15-team league profile because of the lack of power and RBI, but it’s just solid production overall. Andrew Benintendi – OF, CWS (3% rostered) is another perennially overlooked outfielder who has hot stretches every season. Over the last three weeks, he’s hitting .275/.315/.569 with four home runs and 10 RBI in 17 games. He has a double-digit barrel rate for the season straight season and his 48.3% hard-hit rate is his best ever. His bat speed is up a bit, his swing is steeper, and he’s pulling the ball more than he ever has. This isn’t some late-career breakout, but this may just be a solid veteran who can hit .250-.260 with 7-10 home runs the rest of the way in a decent lineup. That has value.
Griffin Conine – OF, MIA (1% rostered)
(OFF OF INJURED LIST, POWER POTENTIAL)
Conine has flashed potential in the last three seasons, but injuries always seem to ruin our fun. He’s now played in eight games since coming off the IL and has gone 8-for-27 (.296) with one home run, six RBI, and a 9/4 K/BB ratio. Conine has good plate discipline and a career barrel rate of 11.8% in 75 MLB games. He’s swinging and missing a lot right now, but we also think that could be a small sample in a return from injury where he is trying to get his timing back. He starts against all right-handed pitching and could be a solid add for the remainder of the season. Another small sample size add could be Victor Bericoto – OF, SF (1% rostered) who might see a decent chunk of playing time this upcoming week with Casey Schmitt sliding to third base while Matt Chapman is out. In 43 games at Triple-A this season, Bericoto hit .299/.355/.449 with six home runs, 32 runs scored, and 30 RBI. That came with a 50% hard-hit rate but also a 13% swinging strike rate. He does make average zone contact, so the issue is that he expands the zone, which he is doing in his MLB sample too. However, he also has a 52% hard-hit rate and four home runs in his 40 MLB plate appearances too. If you wanted to take a flyer because the Giants play seven games next week, including four against Rockies pitchers, we wouldn’t be opposed to it.
Ty France – 1B, SD (1% rostered)
(HOT STREAK, STARTING JOB)
Ty France is the Padres’ first baseman now. With Ramon Laureano out, Gavin Sheets is now a DH or a left fielder, but has opened up consistent playing time for France. Over the last three weeks, he’s hitting .288/.377/.577 in 16 games with four home runs and 12 RBI. We’ve seen France have hot streaks before, like earlier this season, but he also has a career-high 11.2% barrel rate and 47% hard-hit rate this year. His bat speed is up, and he’s looking to pull the ball far more than he did the last two seasons. We’d add and see what happens in deeper formats. Josh Bell – 1B, MIN (15% rostered) is on another hot streak, hitting .302/.362/.603 in 18 games over the last three weeks with four home runs, 11 runs scored, and 18 RBI. We know he’s a streaky player, and he may also be traded at the deadline, but in deeper formats, you can for sure add him when he’s seeing the ball like this.
Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pitchers
Ian Seymour – SP, TB (29% rostered)
Last week we were excited that this might be happening, and now it seems like it finally is. We’ve had Seymour on this list for three weeks, but it had been a bet on the future because Eric wrote about him as one of his favorite late-round starting pitcher targets this offseason, which you can read here for full thoughts on his arsenal. It all seemed like it might be starting to click last Thursday, but it was a start against the Royals without Bobby Witt Jr. Then Seymour went out and delivered again on Thursday (yes, also against the Royals). Seymour threw 83 pitches in six innings and had a 66% strike rate and 18% swinging strike rate. His sweeper was really good in this one and got swings and misses to both righties and lefties. We still have some concern that his changeup, which had been his best pitch, is not as good as it was last year. Even in this start, it was his third most-used pitch against righties, which is rare for Seymour, and three of the 11 that he threw to righties were pretty awful – up and away out of the zone. We’d be more convinced that this was a full-on breakout if he got that pitch working, but he’s pitching well enough that you need to add and take the gamble.
Cade Cavalli – SP, WAS (28% rostered)
Cade Cavalli just had an electric start against the Red Sox where his fastball velocity was up, his curveball was harder, and he started to mix in a cutter. It’s unclear if he can keep those changes from here on out, but if he does, he’d be a great starting pitcher in fantasy leagues. Eric recorded a video on him this week with more details. Oh, but his suspension means he probably only makes one start this week, which is a bummer.
Jared Jones – SP, PIT (24% rostered)
Yes, we still believe in Jared Jones. His Location+ is actually above-average despite coming off Tommy John surgery, and the 14.5% K-BB% and 16% swinging strike rate show that he is missing bats. It’s not so much that he’s consistently missing his spots, but that he seems to have a few poorly executed pitches every game that just get teed off on. That’s not uncommon for a pitcher coming off elbow surgery, and we understand if he’s too inconsistent for you to trust right now, but we do think there will be much better days ahead.
Brandon Sproat – SP, MIL (21% rostered)
Sproat was featured in Eric’s article this week on starting pitchers to buy or sell as one of the better buy targets. That’s now five straight games where Sproat hasn’t issued more than two walks, as the Location+ grade is creeping up. As Eric mentioned in the article this week, Sproat is doing a better job of commanding his fastball up in the zone and his secondaries at the bottom for whiffs. He had a 17% swinging strike rate in four starts heading into last night and then had a 12% mark last night, so it’s been a solid five-start stretch for him. We would encourage you to read the article for the six paragraphs about him, but we think Sproat is starting to figure things out with his arsenal, optimizing his pitch mix for more whiffs and locating his secondary pitches more consistently.
Jake Bennett – SP, BOS (21% rostered)
Bennett appeared in that same article as Sproat. He is coming off two outings against the Rockies in Coors and the Yankees at Fenway. In those outings, he showed the ability to be what Nick Pollack and Eric refer to as a SWATCH (Southpaw With a Tight Changeup). He has been locating the changeup down and away from righties really well and also peppered the top of the strike zone with four-seamers. He doesn’t throw hard, but he has a five-pitch mix that, if commanded well, could be successful from the big left-hander who has elite extension. There will be some ups and downs, but Bennett gets the Angels, White Sox, and Rays next, which could be a decent run.
Grant Taylor – RP/SP, CWS (17% rostered)
Yes, Taylor blew the save against the Guardians on Thursday with a walk-off home run, but, on the upside, Taylor was allowed to remain in the game after one inning to be used for a save on Thursday night. Seranthony Dominguez has been bad lately, and we have always believed that the White Sox may WANT to use Taylor as their fireman, but he may NEED to be used to close games. Even with the blown save, we think he’d be a stud as a closer. We’ve also mentioned Yoendrys Gomez – RP, MIN (26% rostered) a few times, but he remains a good closer option available in a lot of leagues.
Reynaldo Lopez- SP/RP, ATL (12% rostered)
With JR Ritchie down in the minors, Lopez is getting another chance in the starting rotation, and he even went five innings in his last outing, which will give him a decent shot at wins going forward. We know what he did for Atlanta when he was healthy in 2024, and so, with the starting pitching landscape what it is, he’s not a bad gamble right now. He gets the Cardinals at home in his first start next week.
Noah Schultz – SP, CWS (11% rostered)
It wasn’t an elite start from Schultz in his return from the IL, allowing three runs on two hits and four walks over 4.1 innings. However, he did strike out seven. We don’t usually start pitchers coming off the injured list in their first start back, and Schultz has had some issues with command throughout the season that make him hard to trust. However, he did throw 87 pitches in that one and has a decent two-start week this week, so we can see trusting him if you want to take a shot on upside.
Caleb Kilian – RP, SF (9% rostered)
Kilian is now the clear closer for the Giants after some missteps earlier in the year. He has three saves in the last two weeks, which puts him tied for fourth in baseball. His 4.00 ERA and 11.1% walk rate on the season are not ideal, but he has a solid 12% swinging strike rate and is probably the best pitcher in that bullpen. We’d rather have him than somebody like Alex Lange. Clayton Beeter – RP, WAS (11% rostered) would be another low-rostered closer option. He has similar walk rate concerns to Kilian and an equally fine but not great 11.7% swinging strike rate. However, he pitches for a better team than Kilian and has allowed fewer hits on average this season. He still makes us nervous, but we can see taking the gamble.
Elvis Alvarado – RP, ATH (6% rostered)
Alvarado was Eric’s featured relief pitcher in last week’s MLB Notebook. In that article, Eric said that Alvarado has battled command issues in the past and then posted an 8.38 ERA in his first 10 appearances this season before being sent to Triple-A. Since being recalled on June 6th, he has a 3.38 ERA and a 39% strikeout rate in 13.1 innings. Since Alvarado has returned, he has showcased a better command of his four-seamer but also has been able to get ahead in the count with his slider and sinker. He’s started to use his slider more as an early-count called strike pitch in addition to a whiff pitch, which has given his pitch mix another dimension that he didn’t have last year. We know there have been some bad outings recently, and he has only had two saves since being recalled, but we think the pure stuff here remains good and could be worth a gamble if you are hunting for saves.
Jack Perkins – SP, ATH (6% rostered)
Perkins was another pitcher in Eric’s article this week. Perkins has a flat four-seam fastball and a good sweeper, but had some struggled against lefties, so his cutter and new gyro slider could be crucial for him. The cutter finds the zone often, and the gyro slider can miss bats. He can also mix in his four-seam fastball, which is not a great pitch for lefties. At the time, I said I could see how this CAN work, but it hasn’t yet. Well, we’ve seen two more starts since then, and things have started to click. Since May 15th, Perkins has a 3.76 SIERA, 18.4% K-BB%, and above-average Stuff+ and Location+. When you pair that with the analysis of his overall pitch mix, Perkins is one of Eric’s favorite picks for a “breakout” second half.
Connor Preilipp – SP, MIN (6% rostered)
We loved Prielipp when he debuted because we think his slider is a legit elite pitch. The issue is that his four-seam fastball is just average, and his changeup wasn’t taking the step forward I wanted. However, he has seemed to settle in lately with a 4.05 SIERA, 14.3% K-BB%, and above-average Stuff+ and Location+. A big part of that has been that his curveball has improved in command and execution of late, which has done the job we wanted the changeup to do. With Mick Abel out for the season, Prielipp should remain in the rotation and is worth an add for his upside.
Read the full article here