Welcome to the first Waiver Wire Watch article of the season. We’ll be doing things a little bit differently this season, with Eric Samulski publishing the initial waiver wire article on Friday afternoon and then James Schiano updating 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 is a fit for what your team needs. Not every “trending” player will be a good addition for your specific roster.
For a player to qualify for this list, he 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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Cleanup man Sal Stewart climbs further and Mets rookie Carson Benge debuts.
Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Hitters
Caleb Durbin – 3B, BOS (38% rostered)
(BATTING AVERAGE, STEALS UPSIDE)
Durbin makes an elite level of contact and shows a tremendous understanding of the strike zone. He is now moving from a park that ranked 19th for right-handed hitters, according to Statcast’s Park Factors, to one that ranks 8th. It would not surprise us if the Green Monster helps improve his batting average from .256 to something over .270. Considering he’s also a threat to steal at least 20 bases and play almost every day in a good lineup, that makes him a solid target if you need steals or batting average from a corner infielder.
Chase DeLauter – OF, CLE (35% rostered)
(PROSPECT PEDIGREE, POWER UPSIDE)
We initially drafted this before his Opening Day two-home run bonanza, so his roster rate is sure to jump. Even before that performance, the argument for Chase DeLauter was that he was a fringe top-50 overall prospect in baseball the past few years, but has struggled to stay on the field. He suffered foot fractures and hamstring strains in college, then had a sprained foot, sprained toe, and sprained hamstring in 2024 with Cleveland. In 2025, he had sports hernia surgery but returned in time to make his MLB debut in the postseason. He had a nearly 52% Hard-Hit rate in Triple-A last year and has shown the ability to hit for average as well as power. The injuries may limit his desire to run, as well as his total plate appearances, but that performance on Opening Day showcases exactly the kind of pure upside he has.
Francisco Alvarez – C, NYM (29% rostered)
(BOUNCEBACK SEASON, POWER UPSIDE)
Alvarez went back to his old batting stance after his demotion to Triple-A last year and then returned to the Mets to slash .276/.360/.561 with eight home runs and a 25 percent strikeout rate in 40 games to finish the season. Perhaps a full season of that re-adopted stance, with a slight shift toward pulling and lifting, will lead to better overall production. He’s just 24 years old and also came into camp 10 pounds lighter this season. He has had terrible luck with hand injuries over the last few years, but there could be a major buying opportunity here in fantasy baseball leagues, and he got off to a hot start with a massive blast and a 2-for-4 day on Opening Day.
Matt Shaw – 3B, CHC (16% rostered)
(POTENTIAL STARTING JOB, SPEED UPSIDE)
Despite the Nationals throwing a right-handed pitcher, it was Shaw in right field on Opening Day and not Michael Conforto. Shaw has struggled with his outfield defense this spring, so he may not have a long leash in the outfield, but his offensive production improved drastically in the second half of last season, hitting .258/.317/.522 with 11 home runs and six steals in 61 games. He also carried over into spring training, which should give us some optimism. Playing time in Chicago remains a mystery when Seiya Suzuki (knee) is healthy, but that could be a few weeks away, and Shaw is worth adding in case his super utility role leads to three to four starts per week.
Jake Burger – 1B, TEX (15% rostered)
(POWER, RBI UPSIDE)
Burger struggled to get started last season and then put tremendous pressure on himself to produce for his new team, which led to mechanical changes in his swing that he identified in the offseason while watching tape. He spent the offseason simply trying to get back to the swing path and contact point he had in 2023 and 2024 when he put up back-to-back seasons with a .250 batting average and at least 29 home runs. We don’t have to argue that Burger will be better than that. We just have to say that the real version of Burger is what we saw in those two seasons, and he showed that on Opening Day with three hits and a home run.
Jordan Lawlar – 3B, ARI (14% rostered)
(PROSPECT PEDIGREE, STEALS UPSIDE)
Lawlar was once a top-five prospect in all of baseball and slashed .313/.403/.564 with 11 home runs and 20 steals in 63 games at Triple-A last season. I know that hasn’t carried over to MLB at-bats yet, but he has looked good this spring, and ripped a double off Yoshinobu Yamamoto in his first at-bat of the season. Perhaps more importantly, he also looked really good out in left field, which means the Diamondbacks won’t feel inclined to get him out of the lineup for defensive purposes. I think he has the chance to be a 20/25 guy in a full season. Considering he is also likely to pick up outfield eligibility soon, that’s a strong profile to add off your wire.
Brett Baty – 2B/3B, NYM (11% rostered)
(PROSPECT PEDIGREE, COUNTING STATS UPSIDE)
Baty looked great in 110 games last season after his early demotion to Triple-A. He hunted his pitch more often and got behind in the count less, which caused his overall swinging strike rate to drop, and his barrel rate to jump to 13%. He’s the starting designated hitter for the Mets against right-handed pitching. When you add his ability to play second base, third base, and potentially even left field if the Mets need to give somebody an off day, there is still a path for Baty to push for 500 plate appearances this season, which makes him a real value at his draft price.
Coby Mayo – 1B, BAL (7% rostered)
(PROSPECT PEDIGREE, POWER UPSIDE)
The Jordan Westburg injury means that Mayo is going to be the starting third baseman in Baltimore at least until the middle of May. He’s another former top prospect who, despite his struggles, had a 10% barrel rate last season in 294 plate appearances. He seems to have settled in at the plate a bit this spring, and while I’m not convinced he’ll ever post a really high batting average, I think he could push for 20-25 home runs if he’s able to hold onto the job for the majority of the season.
Nasim Nunez – 2B/SS, WAS (2% rostered)
(STARTING JOB?, STEALS UPSIDE)
I took a lot of shares of Nunez in deeper formats because he has elite speed and figures to be the starting second baseman for the Nationals this year. However, he also had just a 4.7% barrel rate and 42% hard-hit rate last season, so he’s not making tons of authoritative contact. Yes, he does make a fair amount of contact overall, but a 9% swinging strike rate is also a bit high for somebody who is really a speed-only play. Still, if he hits .240 and plays most days, he could steal 40 bases this season, and he got it started with a walk and a stolen base on opening day. No hits though.
Jake Bauers – 1B/OF, MIL (2% rostered
(STARTING JOB, STRONG SPRING TRAINING)
With Jackson Chourio (hand) on the IL, it was Bauers who got the Brewers’ first start of the season in left field. The 30-year-old had a tremendous spring, hitting .462/.571/1.154 with seven home runs and three steals in 49 plate appearances. It’s obviously a small sample size, but it’s pretty eye-opening, even though it’s not at all in line with who Bauers has been over his career. Still, he carried it over into Opening Day, when he went 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBI. Bauers figures to start against most right-handed pitchers for the next month, with Blake Perkins starting against lefties, so he could be worth a gamble in deeper formats.
Miguel Andujar – 3B/OF, SD (2% rostered)
(STARTING JOB, BATTING AVERAGE UPSIDE)
Andujar, not Nick Castellanos, will begin the season as the primary designated hitter. Andujar hit just .220/.305/.420 in spring, but he did have three home runs and a manageable strikeout rate. He’s a career .282 hitter in 467 MLB games and could have some deep league fantasy value if he’s going to hit in the middle of the Padres’ lineup.
David Hamilton – 2B/SS, MIL (1% rostered)
(STARTING JOB?, STEALS UPSIDE)
It’s only one game, but it seems that Hamilton may have beaten out Luis Rengifo for the third base job in Milwaukee. Hamilton did enjoy a good spring, slashing .333/.393/.510 with one home run and seven steals in 56 plate appearances, but he’s also a .222/.283/.359 career hitter in 550 MLB plate appearances. What’s more, he graded out as an above-average defender at second base during his time with the Red Sox but a below-average one at shortstop, so it remains to be seen how he can handle third base and how long he lasts as a starter. All that being said, his speed puts him on fantasy radars if he’s going to start against right-handed pitching because we have seen him go on stretches where he can single-handedly carry you in that category. He also got on base three times and stole a base on opening day, which demonstrates exactly the kind of upside we’re talking about.
Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pitchers
Cody Ponce – SP, TOR (39% rostered)
Ponce is locked into this Blue Jays rotation with all the injuries they have. He is also another pitcher who came back from Korea throwing two mph harder. He also added a kick-changeup, which has been a real weapon for him against left-handed hitters in Korea and this spring. I have some concerns about his ability to get consistent strikeouts against righties, and he has yet to really succeed in the Major Leagues, so there are some questions, but I’m willing to take a gamble because his first two starts are against the Rockies at home and then the White Sox.
Matthew Liberatore – SP, STL (32% rostered)
This offseason, he modified his change-up into a kick-change that’s kind of a hybrid between a splitter and a traditional change-up. As a left-handed pitcher, a good changeup is crucial for Liberatore, but he posted a 8% SwStr% to righties last year with a nearly 40% Ideal Contact Rate (ICR) allowed, which was below league average. In his first start on Thursday, the changeup had zero whiffs, but it did grade out well in terms of its movement profile, so perhaps that pitch continues to improve. He also changed his cutter, which is now almost three mph harder and is a pitch he can use to get ahead against righties to set up the slider and new changeup. Yet, he threw just two of those against the Rays. I think we’ll get a better version of Liberatore this season, but it may not happen overnight and he gets the Mets next, so be cautious here.
Paul Sewald – RP, AZ (31% rostered)
I think Sewald opens the season as the Diamondbacks’ closer. He’s back to throwing 92 mph, and while that may not seem like a lot, that’s what he was throwing in 2022 and 2023 when he saved a combined 54 games in two seasons. He simply needs his fastball to be good enough to set up his slider, and that hasn’t been the case the last two seasons. The Diamondbacks will be good enough to win games, but not so good that they blow teams out, which could mean plenty of save chances.
Andrew Painter – SP, PHI (30% rostered)
Painter is a pitcher I covered in a post-hype article earlier this offseason. He returned from Tommy John surgery in 2025 but had a 5.40 ERA, 1.55 WHIP, and 23.4% strikeout rate in 106.2 innings at Triple-A. Not being on the mound for two years and then pitching poorly when he did return has a lot of people questioning just what kind of upside Painter has. However, he still showed off that big fastball that can touch triple digits while pairing that with a plus changeup, a hard slider, and a slower curve. The command of everything was a little off in 2025, but the movement profiles were similar enough to what we saw before the surgery, and his arm held up to over 100 innings of professional baseball again. Those are all positive signs. In spring, we saw that his fastball remains a work in progress, and I think it may just be an average pitch, but the secondaries have looked pretty solid.
Brandon Sproat – SP, MIL (26% rostered)
Sproat has won a spot in the Brewers’ rotation. The 25-year-old had a mediocre four-start debut for the Mets in 2025, but he was emerging as a solid prospect in 2024 and 2025 in the minor leagues. He has a six-pitch mix that gives him plenty of ways to attack hitters, and that’s a profile that the Brewers really know how to get the most out of. He faces the White Sox on Sunday, so if you can add him before that, that’s great, but I think he could be in play against the Royals after that as well.
Mick Abel – SP, MIN (24% rostered)
Abel won a spot in the rotation over Zebby Matthews, and his value started to skyrocket in the final drafts of the spring. I was a fan of his in Philadelphia after he did a lot of work with a mental skills coach before last season and had a few really elite starts with the Phillies. I think that mental skills work unlocked a strong approach and demeanor on the mound. His fastballs are great, and his breaking stuff flashes upside, but he needs to be more consistent with the breaking balls. His first two starts against Kansas City and Tampa Bay don’t scare me too much.
Jordan Romano – RP, LAA (16% rostered)
I know it’s really hard to trust Jordan Romano after the last two seasons, but he didn’t allow a run in five innings this spring and had a 23.5% K-BB%. Then he came out and locked down a save on Opening Day against the Astros. It’s been a rough two years for him, and his fastball velocity is still not back up to what it was before his surgery in 2024, so there is a chance that this blows up in our face again. But maybe it doesn’t, so that’s worth a gamble early on.
Justin Steele – SP, CHC (16% rostered)
Justin Steele has already begun working his way back from Tommy John surgery, which he had in May of last year. There is a good chance he’s back in May or early June, which is earlier than a lot of starting pitcher stashes will return.
Kyle Harrison – SP, MIL (15% rostered)
Harrison seemed to unlock a changeup that worked for him over the summer. Apparently, the Red Sox worked extensively with him on it, but he didn’t find a grip he liked. He spent the offseason with some former Giants teammates and found a changeup grip that felt comfortable, and the pitch has looked electric this spring. I still need to see more of that cutter that the Red Sox added before they traded him, and we also need to see some health because he picked up a blister issue this spring, but Harrison is an upside starting pitcher you can stash on your bench.
Matt Strahm – RP, KC (13% rostered)
This is simply because Carlos Estevez looks really bad this spring, and his velocity is down. Estevez has pitched around that over the last two seasons, but he has always seemed to be walking a tight rope as a closer, and there is a strong chance that he simply falls off this season. If he does, I think Strahm could be the guy because he has looked good this spring, and Lucas Erceg (7% rostered) has also seen his velocity decrease. However, we may just see a combination of the two.
Zach Eflin – SP, BAL (12% rostered)
I’ve written about Eflin basically everywhere, and he’s one of my most drafted players this season. After undergoing a “minimally invasive” procedure in the offseason to fix a slipped disc in his back that was causing nerve issues, I think we’re going to see a more precise Eflin this season. He still missed plenty of bats last year on his sweeper and curve, but they performed poorly in two-strike counts, which tells me that the movement may be fine, but the precision of the command was off. That’s thanks to the back injury. Eflin has a deep pitch mix and has shown a bit of a velocity uptick in spring training. Add to that his plus team context, and I’m buying all the way back in.
Grant Taylor -RP, CWS (12% rostered)
Oftentimes, I’d rather roster an elite multi-inning reliever like Taylor than speculate on saves for a bad team like the Twins or Rockies. Taylor wants to throw 100 innings this season, and he posted an elite 34.4% strikeout rate last season. He has overpowering stuff and could even find himself getting some saves or cheap wins for the White Sox. I like having those ratios buffers late on my roster.
Max Scherzer – SP, TOR (10% rostered)
Scherzer faces the Rockies at home in Toronto. It’s as simple as that. We know he can still be an effective pitcher when he’s healthy, and he’s healthy now, so you can ride the wave in deeper formats.
Chris Martin – RP, TEX (6% rostered)
The Rangers came out and said that Robert Garcia will not be their full-time closer. That has created speculation that Chris Martin will be the right-handed complement. I have to say, Martin has never really closed in his career, and he was on Texas last year, and they didn’t make him the closer, so I have some doubts here. However, he’s a talented reliever, so I’d rather add him fo rnext to nothing on the chance he becomes the closer and just swap him out in two weeks if it doesn’t happen.
Ben Joyce – RP, LAA (4% rostered)
Everybody is wondering whether Kirby Yates, Jordan Romano, or Drew Pomeranz will close for the Angels, but instead of those veterans, I’d try to stash Joyce on the IL. He had shoulder surgery last May, but he made a spring training appearance and will start the season at Triple-A. He could be up with the Angels by the middle of April, and it wouldn’t be a shock to see him pitch his way into the ninth-inning duties. Edwin Uceta – RP, TB (11% rostered) is in a very similar situation and would be another good IL stash.
Justin Wrobleski – SP/RP, LAD (2% rostered)
This is a bet against Roki Sasaki. Sasaki made the rotation, but half of the batters he faced in spring training reached base. I don’t think his new cutter is a difference-maker, and his fastball still is getting hit a lot. If Sasaki gets chased from a start early, it’s going to be Wrobleski that comes in for him. If Sasaki gets sent down to Triple-A, it’s going to be Wrobleski that takes his spot in the rotation. I’m not saying it’s a lock to happen, but I’ll take the chance on it in deeper formats.
Gregory Soto – RP, PIT (2% rostered)
The Pirates have already said that Dennis Santana won’t be their strict closer, which means they’ll very likely play matchups at the end of games. I know people love Mason Montgomery, but I think, for right now, Soto will get the save chances when lefty-heavy parts of the lineup are coming up in the ninth. That’s a similar situation to Hogan Harris – RP, ATH (2% rostered), who I think is the left-handed part of a committee in Sacramento.
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