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

 

Rhys Hoskins (MIL), 1B (47% rostered on Yahoo, 15% rostered on ESPN)

Well, this is surprising. No, not Rhys Hoskins being great, but rather, the fact that he still hasn’t been picked up in a lot of leagues. If you look at that ESPN rostership number, people are not getting the memo that he’s back.

Hoskins is firing on all cylinders right now. His batting average is way up from where it’s been in the last two seasons he’s played, and he’s still a reliable source of power for teams that need home runs. This jump in success rate largely stems from his launch angle management this year, as he went from a horrific sweet spot percentage last year to one that’s in the 96th percentile. This has allowed him to become one of the better first basemen this year, and he’s available in a surprising number of leagues, so make sure to pounce if you can.

J.P. Crawford (SEA), SS (12% rostered on Yahoo, 8% rostered on ESPN)

Is it going to be a good year or a bad year for J.P. Crawford? This is what fans and fantasy managers alike have been asking for years. It’s certainly looking like this year will be one where you can get value from Crawford, especially because the team around him is actually … good? Yeah, it’s crazy that Seattle is an offense that you can trust to put up runs, but they’re doing it. Crawford leads off for the Mariners, and this is a prime spot for him to do what he does best: get on base. Crawford is a contact hitter who also walks a lot, over 15% of the time. The result is an on-base percentage currently flirting with .400. There are few better sources of runs that you can find readily available in leagues, especially because Crawford is in a great situation to keep producing. The OBP + the fact that he’s batting first in a productive lineup is a great recipe.

 

Yahoo and ESPN Most Added Players

 

Oops, all streamers!

Yesterday’s top 5 added players on Yahoo were all streaming pitchers, and if you scrolled down the list, you’d see that the trend continued, as the entire top 10 were guys starting that day. Wowza.

Zack Littell was the most added player yesterday, and he pitched really well. He’s had a lot of buzz around him following a ridiculous 9-inning complete game against Houston, in which he threw 117 pitches and allowed 10 hits. Littell got the Marlins and made the most of the outing, going 6 one-run innings, notching 4 strikeouts, earning the win, and keeping the WHIP at 1.00. Littell is not the best pitcher to stream all the time, but he’s had some juicy matchups lately and has been able to excel in many of his starts despite sub-standard stuff. He’s no ace, or even a guy worth keeping after one start, but he’s a workhorse for the Rays who is capable of having valuable outings for fantasy teams.

Chad Patrick has quietly been awesome this year, putting together some really valuable starts. There was definitely a bit of concern to be had when starting him against a Padres lineup that has a fairly high ceiling, but Patrick was ready for the challenge. He put up a really solid 6-inning performance that saw only one run come home, while he also notched 6 strikeouts. Patrick is definitely on the radar of the fantasy baseball world, as he’s looking to be one of the surprise breakout pitchers of the season.

Dean Kremer was coming off two great starts that made him a bit of a hot commodity. There is plenty of reason to start him against a cold team like the Athletics, though their ballpark is definitely not one that is fun for pitchers to hurl in. Kremer, unfortunately, felt the heat of Sacramento, as he allowed 5 runs on 8 hits and only 2 strikeouts, unfortunately giving fantasy managers nothing. He will likely be one of the most dropped pitchers today and perhaps won’t be as coveted in his next matchups moving forward.

Edward Cabrera faced off against Littell and the Rays and didn’t do quite as well. He’s a pitcher who’s shown plenty of flashes throughout the year with his incredible stuff, and he’s coming off a short stretch that was one of the best in his career. Against the Rays, he only allowed 1 earned run (and 2 unearned runs), but only went four innings with a not great WHIP and 5 strikeouts. It’s certainly not the worst outing you can have, and if this is a blowup outing by the new Cabrera standards, we’ll take it.

Ben Brown was coming off an excellent start, where his results were golden for the few fantasy managers who chose him as a streamer. Due to this, he became extremely popular on the waiver wire for his start against Detroit. While he did lose, he went toe-to-toe with the legend himself, Tarik Skubal.

Let’s check in on Jac Caglianone, shall we! He hasn’t been lights out like some overzealous managers might have expected. But he’s still an incredible hitter with a lot of potential. The exit velocities have been insane, and with balls smoked at 110 on the regular, the BABIP is certain to stabilize. He will be an excellent player, though the classic young man’s floor might make it so he isn’t the band-aid your team needs if you’re struggling with offensive categories.

Drew Rasmussen is one of the better pitchers in baseball right now. He’s also been one of the better pitchers since the Rays converted him to a starter in 2021. He is a master run preventer who always seems to improve from start to start. His recent start against the Rangers had everybody optimistic, as he was getting swings-and-misses and strikeouts like crazy. Rasmussen’s Achilles heel is the workload, as the Rays are limiting him to lower pitch counts due to his return from his third elbow procedure last year. Though Rasmussen is incredibly efficient, perhaps he will still be able to go deep into games even on a pitch count. He’s a good ratio play, is on a team capable of winning games, and has racked up strikeouts in some outings. He’s a top 30 pitcher, maybe even top 20.

We already spoke about Zack Littell in the Yahoo section, he did well for everyone who streamed him.

Andy Pages is the new name on here today. Well, not new, he’s been in and out of these top 5s all year, but he wasn’t on there yesterday. Pages has been really hot lately, smoking home runs like crazy. He’s been quite the hot-and-cold player, but playing in the stacked Dodgers lineup certainly adds to his value.

Mick Abel has now had two great starts on the year. His first spot start against the Pirates was electric, as he absolutely carved through the lower-tier offense. Against the Blue Jays, Abel was very solid, only allowing a single run in 5.1 innings. He did only have 2 strikeouts, though, but overall, it’s what you want in a matchup against a pretty stacked offense in Toronto. Now, we wait to see if Abel sticks around in the rotation with Aaron Nola possibly coming back. If he stays for now, he gets the Cubs, which may not be the best matchup to start him in.

 

Category Specific Players to Add 

 

Isiah Kiner-Falefa (PIT), 2B, 3B, SS (11% rostered on Yahoo, 9% rostered on ESPN)

It’s pretty surprising how well IKF has done for the Pirates. They’re a team that notably struggles year in and year out to generate any offensive production. With over two months of the season completed, IKF has been one of the more consistent hitters in terms of average. He, unfortunately, sees his value cratered somewhat by hitting 9th, as he misses out on the chance for runs and RBIs. Though he’s also a menace on the basepaths, as there are few better options for stolen bases readily available on the wire than IKF.

 

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? A couple of names come to mind.

Shane Smith (CWS), SP, RP (24% rostered on Yahoo, 17% rostered on ESPN)

We love some Shane Smith around here.

The Rule 5 draft pick has been really solid this season, and it’s felt that he’s made serious strides towards improvement. His changeup is still ridiculous, and we’ve seen the velocity of his fastball climb as he’s looked more confident out there. He’s still pretty raw and on a bad team, but we’re going to ride with Smith, as the gains have been too good to ignore. Also, he gets the Royals, who aren’t that formidable of an offense this year.

Michael Lorenzen (KCR), SP (9% rostered on Yahoo, 4% rostered on ESPN)

Oh look, it’s another head-to-head matchup for the streamer picks. I promise I’m not doing this intentionally; it just so happens that we’ve been seeing a lot of lower-tier offenses playing each other on weekends lately.

Choosing Michael Lorenzen is a good idea for one simple fact: it’s the White Sox. There are admittedly some questions to be had about Lorenzen’s effectiveness, especially with Ragans returning from injury and Noah Cameron showing up in the starts he’s pitched. Still, the floor is high considering the opponent, so start him for this one match and watch your team bear the fruits of a great matchup.

 

Deep League Players to Watch 

 

Kyle Teel (CWS), C (9% rostered on Yahoo, 3% rostered on ESPN)

One of the main pieces of the Garrett Crochet trade, the White Sox’s number 1 prospect, was promoted yesterday. He looked incredible in the minors, which made his journey to the big leagues with his new club a fairly quick one. The White Sox are a struggling offense that is desperate for a spark, and this might be Teel. Unfortunately, the floor is a bit low, which makes Teel not the best target in more shallow leagues. He has that start-of-the-career-slump potential to go along with the fact that the players around him will not be hitting. But if you’re in a deeper league and need help at the catcher position, if this works out, it’s an incredible steal.

 

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