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

 

Parker Messick (CLE), SP (27% rostered on Yahoo, 13% rostered on ESPN)

When you get to this point in the season, it becomes about the matchups. Parker Messick is the perfect play when you want to take advantage of weak competition.

Messick gets the White Sox today, who, while they have been scrappy in the second half of the year, still have a limited ceiling and a very, very low floor. They then get Minnesota, who have been awful since the trade deadline, which is to be expected when they lose a good chunk of their roster. He finishes against the Rangers, who are his toughest matchup, but still can be taken down.

Messick has found success in his starts thus far by being a control freak. He is especially good at avoiding non-competitive fastballs, as both his sinker and four-seamer have a 90th percentile strike rate. His offspeed stuff also gets strikes, which this combination has led to a walk rate hovering around 3%.

Messick may not have the nastiest stuff, but he has some juicy matchups to close out the season, which means the ratios and win chance are sure to be solid.

 

Harrison Bader (PHI), OF (19% rostered on Yahoo, 7% rostered on ESPN)

Harrison Bader has been on quite a few teams in the last few years, but he just feels at home with the Phillies.

I’ve had Bader as a candidate for waivers in a few of these articles, as he’s a pretty toolsy guy. He’s upped his OBP by a crazy margin this year, walking a bit more and making more contact. He is also an extreme pull hitter, which has led to him smashing 14 home runs into left field. Adding to this is his excellent sprint speed, which has made him a stolen base threat.

The key to Bader’s value being high now is that he’s now in the Phillies’ leadoff role. Hitting in front of Bryce Harper and a hot Nick Castellanos is huge, especially when you have the sprint speed to manufacture runs if needed to.

 

Yahoo and ESPN Most Added Players

 

As it often has been, yesterday’s group of adds featured nearly a crop of pitchers all throwing that day.

Mitch Keller had an excellent matchup yesterday, as righties often feast against the dull Nationals lineup. Indeed, he put up a pretty solid stat line, keeping the WHIP under one and only allowing two earned runs in 5.1 innings. He also grabbed four strikeouts, so all in all, it wasn’t a bad outing. Unfortunately, he couldn’t pick up the win he was in line for, as the bullpen blew up, ending in a Nationals win.

JP Sears is back for the Padres, coming into the rotation to replace the injured Nestor Cortes. Unfortunately, this was not his night, as he allowed four earned runs and didn’t even get through five innings. At least he got 8 strikeouts? It’s the little things, I guess.

J.T. Ginn had a somewhat similar night to Sears, though he didn’t allow any earned runs. The tough part is that he didn’t make it through five, which made him ineligible to pick up a win. He notched six strikeouts, which will certainly help in that category, especially considering the low volume that Ginn pitched. It’s hard to call it a successful stream, though, as again, he couldn’t get through five.

Brandon Pfaadt was a bit of a mess. He was yet another pitcher who couldn’t get through five innings, and to top it all off, he allowed five earned runs. The WHIP was high, the strikeouts were low, and there was obviously no win to be had. It was a tough outing for sure, and one that makes you wary of Pfaadt to close out the year.

Quinn Priester has been a huge success in the Brewers’ pitching lab this year. He was traded early on from the Red Sox to Milwaukee, and he was filling in for a few injured pitchers who were working their way back to the rotation. Now that the dust is cleared, he still has a rotation spot. Priester has been the definition of solid, racking up wins and solid quality starts. His ceiling isn’t the highest, as his strikeout-to-walk ratio isn’t incredible, but it isn’t awful either. He’s a fine pitcher who gets a boost playing for a winning team. He had a great line yesterday against the Cardinals, only allowing two earned runs and nabbing five strikeouts for the win over the Cardinals.

 

ESPN’s group of player adds is quite an interesting bunch, featuring mainstays, young breakout players, and veterans in the midst of bounceback stretches.

Daylen Lile has been one of the hottest players in MLB recently, finally finding his groove after a pretty rocky first half to the year. The 22-year-old rookie is really proving his worth as a piece of the Nationals’ future plans, despite the lower floor and lower ceiling that his profile has. He’s a great play for batting average, and with him hitting cleanup, he could bring you RBIs if those hitting in front of him can get into scoring position, though that is rare. I picked up Lile, and he’s been great in the fantasy playoffs, but be careful here. If he gets cold, move on.

Did you know that by Fangraphs’ WAR model, this is the best season that Trevor Story has had since 2020? Well, actually, maybe you did know that, considering how much he has struggled as a member of the Red Sox. Story looked rough at plenty of points this year, but he’s now really settled in and has become a shortstop worth rostering (85% on Yahoo!) Story is hitting right in the heart of the order for the Red Sox and has stolen a career-high 28 stolen bases. He’s gone from being a do-not-draft player to being a solid shortstop option, especially with him flexing his wheels.

It’s been awesome to see Colson Montgomery really live up to his prospect pedigree after a couple of rough stints in AAA. He is hitting at a 52 home run pace over a full season! That’s nuts. Obviously, it’s difficult to imagine this ever happening, as hitting 50 bombs is an incredible feat. But it’s been awesome to watch him make the most of his incredible bat speed. Where will he go in drafts next year?

Jorge Polanco was looking like an extreme bounce-back candidate early in the year, as he was hitting like Aaron Judge for a few weeks. He unsurprisingly regressed, somewhat falling victim to the difficulty of hitting at T-Mobile. He’s back on a tear, though, and either way, he’s looking much more like the player he was when he was with Minnesota compared to last year, when his strikeout rate was almost double what it is this season.

 

Category Specific Players to Add

 

Jake Burger (TEX), 1B, 3B (34% rostered on Yahoo, 24% rostered on ESPN)

It looks like Jake Burger has finally become an average hitter. I know, I know. It sounds harsh, but he was optioned earlier this year, and we really wondered if that was it for him and his incredible power. It was not. Burger is now hitting in the cleanup spot every night for the Rangers and is nearing the 20 home run mark. He’s also been really hot recently. He’s not a great play for your ratios, but he will hit them out of the park, and he will rack up RBIs if his teammates get on base.

Jake Mangum (TBR), OF (5% rostered on Yahoo, 3% rostered on ESPN)

There’s a lot to like and a lot to dislike about Jake Mangum in terms of fantasy. The lack of power and hitting near the back of the lineup tanks his value and is a big reason why he has such a low rostership number. If you can get past that, though, he is a solid play for batting average and for stolen bases. He strikes out infrequently and is able to turn routine plays into singles. It feels like he’d get more attention in this category if he weren’t teammates with Chandler Simpson, the most extreme example of this profile.

 

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.

Yu Darvish (SDP), SP (42% rostered on Yahoo, 16% rostered on ESPN)

There are few things in life better than facing the Rockies on the road. Yu Darvish gets them on Sunday, and it’s sure to be a fun matchup for Darvish fantasy managers. Darvish hasn’t looked amazing this year, as he has struggled at times to go deep into games, and his ratios aren’t where we’d want them to be. It’s hard to doubt Darvish, though, as his deep arsenal still confuses hitters even if he isn’t getting the swing-and-miss stuff he used to. The Rockies outside of Colorado are sure to struggle against him, just as they have many other pitchers.