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

 

Lucas Giolito (BOS), SP (47% rostered on Yahoo, 27% rostered on ESPN)

My New Year’s resolution for 2026 should be to stop featuring Lucas Giolito. It’s true, I talk about him A LOT. But after watching some Friday early afternoon baseball yesterday, I couldn’t resist talking about him again.

Giolito tore up the Nationals yesterday, going 7 and two-thirds innings, notching 7 strikeouts in the process and only giving up one earned run. He helped managers in every single category, so it was a huge plus for anybody who streamed him. Honestly, he’s looking more like the guy many people drafted him to be. He may not be the insane swing-and-miss pitcher that he was earlier in his career, but he’s becoming a reliable member of the Red Sox rotation with his solid arsenal.

Ronny Henriquez (MIA), RP (24% rostered on Yahoo, 6% rostered on ESPN)

While the situation is unstable per Rick Graham’s reliever rankings depth chart, it looks like Ronny Henriquez gets the closer role in Miami!

The Marlins have been a dream team for managers looking at the waiver wire, as so many Marlins have come through for those who needed it, especially in offensive categories. Henriquez is a player on the pitching side who stands out though, as he has been awesome.

The key to Henriquez’s success is the fact he throws four pitches that get whiffs. His four-seamer is elite, as it has great vertical movement while coming in at a flat attack angle. His sweeper is also incredible, as it has a crazy whiff rate that you don’t often see from sweepers.

Henriquez has been a huge acquisition for the Marlins this year, ironically being acquired off waivers. Now is the time for your team to acquire him.

Yahoo and ESPN Most Added Players

 

It was almost an all starting pitcher day with the Yahoo’s most added players, which has become expected. The one non-pitcher pick is Addison Barger, who has played a major role in the recent offensive success of the Blue Jays. The power related stats on his Savant page are bright red, as he’s always shown excellent bat speed. It’s just been a question of can he put it together, and with a solid average and 11 home runs, it looks like he has. He’s playing like an all-star, and not a player

Adrian Houser faced off against the Rockies in Coors, a somewhat dangerous stream due to the environment despite the opponent being historically bad. With that said, this was an incredibly successful stream. Houser went eight full innings, nabbing a 0 earned run win and keeping the WHIP under 1. This Rockies lineup is REALLY bad, even in the most offensively friendly atmosphere in the sport.

Quinn Priester has been a somewhat popular streaming pick at many points throughout the year, and he especially turned some heads last week when he absolutely obliterated the Rockies. Unfortunately, he ran into trouble against the Marlins, as he wasn’t able to get through 5 innings, allowing four earned runs and only getting four strikeouts in the process. It was a rough night for him, and unfortunately he couldn’t capitalize on a poor start from his opponent Sandy Alcantara.

Eduardo Rodriguez was a bit of a disaster last night. He allowed eight runs in under five innings, with 12 hits. The saving grace is that he was able to get 7 strikeouts, so this might’ve actually helped someone if that was the category they were desperate for help in. Overall though, this was an unfortunate outing from a pitcher who feels like a frequent one step forward, two steps back guy.

The top player again in ESPN fantasy leagues for recent adds is Otto Lopez. He’s been killing it again lately, as he has been a key player in the team’s hot streak. He’s a huge play for ratios, as his expected stats show that his average should likely be higher. He rarely whiffs and rarely strikes out, so the floor is high. With solid sprint speed and okay pop, he’s definitely a player who makes sense as a popular add.

Agustín Ramírez has been featured at various points in the year as a high priority add, and it makes sense why. He has A LOT of pop I that bat, with great exit velocities and a solid barrel rate despite not hitting too many fly balls. This is someone you want to add to your team, as the catcher eligibility makes him a top option at the position and the expected stats show that we could see even stronger performance from him. Grab him and run if you can.

Zack Littell is a fascinating pitcher, as it’s hard to pinpoint what’s made him so successful. This dude eats innings like crazy, as he had a three-run, 117 pitch complete game a few weeks ago to the surprise of everybody. He’s kept the ratios down and has been one of the better guys for win probability considering how hot the Rays have been and how likely it is that he will go deep into games.

 

Category Specific Players to Add 

 

Colt Keith (DET), 1B, 2B, 3B (14% rostered on Yahoo, 6% rostered on ESPN)

The best team in baseball has found their leadoff man in Colt Keith, who after looking lost early in the year has caught fire and has become a key piece for this team. He has been hitting really well as of late, boosting his average while upping his walk rate and decreasing his strikeout rate. This, combined with the fact he’s hitting first, makes him a good target for runs in your league. Also, the fact he is so positionally versatile in fantasy helps, especially for people who missed out on the productive second and third basemen.

Dane Myers (MIA), OF (3% rostered on Yahoo, 1% rostered on ESPN)

Today’s stolen base fiend is Dane Myers who is part of the red-hot Marlins lineup. Myers doesn’t get super consistent playing time, and he hits down the lineup, which hurts his value in fantasy. But there are two things that make him worthy of consideration, especially in deep leagues. The first being his 13 stolen bases, and the second being his solid hitting ratios. He’s not a league winner, but he’s a guy who can give you production on a hot team.

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.

Chad Patrick (MIL), SP (32% rostered on Yahoo, 14% rostered on ESPN)

I chose Chad Patrick against the Rockies last time out, and he gave us everything we wanted and more. Now, he’s facing off against a Marlins team that has been ridiculously hot lately, with tons of members of their lineup performing at a high level. Still, I’m taking Patrick here. The slider was cooking last time out, which allowed him to get 8 Ks in 5 innings. He hasn’t been the most efficient pitcher, but if he’s getting whiffs, he can get through five easily with some strikeouts and solid ratios to boot.

Jacob Lopez (ATH), SP (21% rostered on Yahoo, 15% rostered on ESPN)

Jacob Lopez is another player I have featured previously in one of these articles, though the last time I had him on here it didn’t go so well. He now faces the Giants, who really have not had it together as an offense lately. While it is in his home ballpark in West Sacramento, I still see it going well for Lopez, as the bounceback might be inevitable. He’s the ultimate command guy who makes the most out of a low velocity four-seamer/slider combination.

Â