Welcome to the Waiver Wire Picks, our daily fantasy baseball article that looks at the best players in baseball that you should be adding to your rosters. We’ll look at the players that are likely to be available in most leagues, as well as some deep league waiver wire options. We’ll also look at the most added players in fantasy baseball across the major sites and let you know which players to add and which players you can leave on the wire.

 

Top Priority Players to Add

 

Trevor Rogers (BAL), SP (39% rostered on Yahoo, 34% rostered on ESPN)

Who would’ve thought that Trevor Rogers would go on the tear he’s been on?

Rogers was acquired by Baltimore last year as a potential fix for their patchy rotation last season. Unfortunately for them, they gave Miami two young players whom they’d probably like back. Rogers was optioned at the end of last summer, which made the trade look like a disaster, until this year.

Rogers is now one of the hottest arms in the game and is one of the most popular picks to add to fantasy teams coming out of the All-Star break. He’s been on an impressive streak of great starts, and you can say he’s only really had one sub-par outing this season. Is he back to being the hot young stud from his first stretch of games in the Majors? Maybe. The stuff isn’t incredible, but it’s working. He’s executing well, and that’s what matters right now.

Rogers is a great play for ratios and for wins. He’s going deep into games, and the Orioles’ lineup should be performing better than they have so far this year.

Ramón Laureano (BAL), OF (11% rostered on Yahoo, 4% rostered on ESPN)

Another Oriole makes our high-priority players list, though there’s a chance that he finds himself in a different situation by the month’s end.

Ramón Laureano has been great for the Orioles, which comes as a bit of a surprise considering there haven’t been a lot of players exceeding expectations this year in Baltimore. He’s coming off a strong stretch to close out the first half and will look to continue it into the trade deadline. Perhaps a team needing a bat will trade for him, and maybe he will see a bigger role with that squad. Laureano currently slides up and down the lineup, which can be troublesome, especially when the Orioles aren’t hitting well. Either way, he’s become an everyday player, and that’s huge for his value.

Buy Laureano now before people catch on to his bounce-back season.

 

Yahoo and ESPN Most Added Players

 

It was an all starting pitcher day yesterday, with plenty of juicy matchups available for some of the more popular streaming options.

Slade Cecconi had a really bizarre statline. Seriously, how often do you see a near-complete game end with six earned runs? And yet, his WHIP was under 1.00, and he got the win. Too bad it wasn’t a quality start, and it was extra unfortunate he didn’t nab any strikeouts. Still, what a strange outing.

Sean Manaea made his second start of the year, and it was an effective one, though it probably didn’t help managers too much. Manaea only pitched four innings, a bit of a step up from his 3.2-inning outing last time.

Colin Rea had an alright outing for the Cubs against the Red Sox. The Sox came into this game really hot, coming off a sweep of the Rays that was part of a huge winning streak. Rea was able to mostly shut them down, holding them to one run in 5 innings, though he did allow a few too many baserunners compared to what we want to see. Rea is on a bit of a hot streak overall following his blowout against the Mariners at home, so it makes sense to keep riding this wave. He is a solid ratio play who is on an excellent team.

Brandon Walter quietly had an amazing night, which was unfortunately ruined by his bullpen turning his great performance into a blowout for the other side. Walter only allowed four baserunners and one earned run across 6 innings, notching 7 strikeouts in the process. Walter’s best pitch is his cutter, as PLV values it as one of the best offerings in the game. He also features a high-whiff changeup, which has been a staple for lefties like him.

The starter facing off against the White Sox is always one of the top streaming picks, and thus, Bailey Falter was one of the most-added players yesterday. Unfortunately, it was a short outing for him. Falter allowed four earned runs in just as many innings, with a parade of baserunners getting on. Falter has some potential with great extension and the ability to go deep into games, though ultimately starts like this come around and dampen the hype.

The top-added players on ESPN are mostly the same as yesterday, except with Brayan Bello hopping in, taking over the spot of Brandon Woodruff. Bello has been a key cog in the Red Sox’s run to prominence as of late.

The other Red Sox player on this list (and ranked even higher) is Ceddanne Rafaela. He’s been a pretty popular player in these write-ups, so I’ll keep it brief. He’s been ridiculously hot, and his success has coincided with that of the team. He has solid raw power and plays in a hitter-friendly ballpark. He also has a really high sprint speed, which makes him more capable of stealing bases.

Zach McKinstry was an All-Star! That certainly brought some attention to him, as he was one of the most added players over All-Star weekend. It’s always awesome when a multi-position player is able to squeeze out value like McKinstry has. He’s a great contact/speed threat who can up your ratios and give you a few stolen bases in the process. I’m not sure if he deserves to be one of the hottest names on the market, as regression is sure to hit, but hey, he’s been great this year!

It feels amazing to say that Eury Perez is back to cooking again. With the struggles of Sandy Alcantara, the Marlins needed an ace. By year’s end, he will be a player rostered everywhere, with his electric stuff that gets whiffs and a Marlins team surrounding him that is able to fight its way to surprising wins. Perez could possibly be the best player talked about in today’s article.

 

Category Specific Players to Add 

 

Josh Smith (TEX), 1B, 3B, SS, OF (39% rostered on Yahoo, 21% rosterded on ESPN)

Josh Smith is becoming one of the more popular players for this category, and it makes sense. He provides a fair bit for fantasy teams, but you can’t help but feel something is missing. He hits pretty well, which makes him a good play for the average category, and he also steals bases at a decent rate, routinely outperforming his measured sprint speed in that category. Smith also leads off often, which makes him a good play for runs. Of course, the positional versatility also helps.

 

Streaming Pitchers

 

WAIT! You haven’t read Nick Pollack’s starting pitcher streamer rankings for today? Get on that pronto. He ranks every expected starter for each day, highlighting who you should start, sit, and claim off waivers. The whole series of these can be found here: https://pitcherlist.com/category/fantasy/sp-streamers/

In terms of whom I would recommend you pick up? One name comes to mind.

Janson Junk (MIA), SP (21% rostered on Yahoo, 11% rostered on ESPN)

Janson Junk has been a lot of fun so far this year, with him putting together some really satisfying starts for fantasy managers. He’s also been a bit of a risk, as he does fill up the zone way too much. While the Royals’ offense definitely has the potential to be scary on the road, they haven’t delivered consistently this season, which makes me have a bit more faith in Junk and his pound-the-zone gameplan.

 

Speculative Adds

Luis Gil (NYY), SP (42% rostered on Yahoo, 27% rostered on ESPN)

It looks like Luis Gil is gearing up to return soon, which makes him worth looking at. He’s the reigning Rookie of the Year, and he plays for an excellent team. He also has high strikeout potential, as he had a 29% whiff rate and a 27% K rate last year.