FANTASY BASEBALL WAIVER WIRE PICKUPS
Kodai Senga (SP Mets): Rostered in 33 percent of Yahoo leagues
While the velocity is back, the results have obviously yet to follow for Senga. Because of his 8.33 ERA through four starts, there have already been calls to pull him from the rotation, and it sounds like the Mets are at least weighing whether to have him skip a start. As a result, Senga is hardly a safe pickup at this point, but he is one with outstanding upside.
⚾️ 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.
For starters, the velocity is back! Senga averaged 95.7 mph with his fastball during his outstanding rookie season in 2023. After missing almost all of 2024, he hovered around 95 mph during his fast start in 2025, but he fell off in June before missing time with a hamstring strain. In his four starts so far this year, he’s at 96.3 mph. That’s probably a little inflated since he hasn’t been able to work deep into games, when velocity tends to wane. But it’s still really encouraging. He’s struck out 27 percent of the batters he’s faced, which is right at his career average. His 8.83 ERA is mostly the product of him having allowed four homers and then a .413 BABIP besides.
It’d be wrong to write off those batted ball numbers as a complete fluke. Senga’s fastball still isn’t great even with the added velocity, and when he’s behind in the count, as he too often has been this year, and can’t rely as much on his forkball, he gets punished. Still, his exit velocity numbers are only a little worse than his career averages. He currently has a 4.03 SIERA and a 3.91 xERA, and he’s always beaten those ERA estimators previously; he entered 2026 with a career 3.00 ERA, 4.15 SIERA and 3.94 xERA because his forkball and cutter are so good at getting him out of jams. The rough spell might last a little longer, and Senga isn’t a great bet to remain healthy. Still, he’s an instant pickup in leagues in which he’s getting dropped.
Jake Bauers (1B/OF Brewers): Rostered in 20 percent of Yahoo leagues
If only Bauers could live up to his Statcast expected numbers. Through 20 games this year, he’s sporting a career-best 52 percent hard-hit rate and a career-best 20 percent strikeout rate, but it’s produced just a .224 average. Statcast thinks he should be hitting .267 and gives him a .356 xwOBA, compared to his actual mark of .326. But that’s sort of par for the course for him. Since the beginning of 2023, he has a .330 xwOBA and only a .307 wOBA. Making up that ground would add about 60 points to his .711 OPS over that span.
I don’t actually think it’s going to all come together for Bauers, but I do think he’s well worth rostering now with Andrew Vaughn and Christian Yelich on the shelf. He’s currently hitting fourth and fifth against righties. He has five homers and three steals already. That Bauers loves to run is one of those things that’s been obscured by his lack of consistent playing time. He actually wasn’t any good at it when he a regular platoon guy at the beginning of his career; he went 6-for-12 in 96 games with the Rays in 2018 and 3-for-6 in 117 games for Cleveland the next year. However, since the beginning of 2024, he’s 24-for-27 stealing bases in 638 plate appearances. He should be pretty useful to have around through at least the middle of May.
Anthony Volpe (SS Yankees): Rostered in eight percent of Yahoo leagues
He’s still probably at least 10 days away from being activated as he completes his recovery from shoulder surgery, but it’s a good time to pick up Volpe. José Caballero has come up with a couple of big hits, but he’s not off to the kind of start that should scare anyone off from Volpe. He’s batting just .233/.282/.329, and his shortstop defense is average at best. He’s a nice fallback, but Volpe should be the better player.
As disappointing as he’s been since his promising rookie year, Volpe still offers hope. He’s just turning 25 next week. After trying to rework his approach to make more contact as a sophomore, he went back to striking out more and hitting for more power last year. It’s what should work best for him. Despite dealing with a labrum tear for much of the year, he had 19 homers and 42 barrels last season. There seemed like some cause for concern that he might steal fewer bases after the shoulder surgery, but he’s already 2-for-2 there four games into his rehab assignment.
Even though he’ll be hitting low in the Yankees lineup, Volpe has more potential in four categories than most shortstops. He’s not going to help in average, but that’s the price to pay for a middle infielder who should maintain a 20 HR/20 SB pace once he returns.
Waiver Wire Quick Hits
– It’s hard to say if Christian Scott, who will start for the Mets on Thursday, is up for good, but I’m really high on the 26-year-old and would have had him as a top-75 starting pitcher coming into the season if I thought there was a chance he’d get a look this early. He’s a really intriguing pickup.
– I assume Tanner Scott has already been grabbed in most competitive leagues, but if not, he’s the Dodgers reliever I prefer with Edwin Díaz scheduled for elbow surgery.
– Lucas Erceg is leaving the door wide open for someone else to step up as the closer in Kansas City. Matt Strahm is probably the reliever there to pick up, but I can’t help but think the Royals would be better off turning to Daniel Lynch IV instead. With his slider looking better than ever, he’s struck out 35 percent of the batters he’s faced. Of course, there’s still the chance that Carlos Estévez reemerges, but as bad his stuff was this spring, I don’t think it’s a good one.
Read the full article here
