Each week, we’ll look at a handful of players who fantasy managers should consider picking up in deeper fantasy baseball leagues. Many of these players will have the most value in larger leagues where waiver wire options aren’t as plentiful. Still, they could also occasionally be useful additions in other, more standard-sized leagues, depending on your options at each position.
All roster percentages mentioned in this column are via FantasyPros as of Friday afternoon.
JP Sears – 10%
JP Sears provided quality production for fantasy managers in deeper leagues last season. While he didn’t overwhelm with strikeouts, the right-hander logged 11 pitcher wins and a 4.38 ERA (plus a 4.71 FIP) in 32 starts and 180.2 innings last year, posting an 18.1% strikeout rate and a 6.5% walk rate.
Sears has been reasonably effective this year for the Athletics, pitching to a 3.46 ERA and a 4.05 FIP in 13 innings spanning two starts, logging quality starts in both outings.
The veteran again hasn’t overwhelmed with strikeout totals, logging just nine so far while also registering a 26.2% whiff rate so far. Still, he’s allowed just two walks so far (good for a 3.9% walk rate that is in the 89th percentile league-wide) helping him to the two quality starts.
If Sears’ strikeout rate continues to stay below 20%, something it’s done in two of the last three seasons, he’s probably more of a streaming option (whether for just a few starts or a number of starts depending on the matchups) than a long-term roster addition in deeper leagues.
Still, the 29-year-old’s upcoming slate of starts – assuming the Athletics’ rotation continues as is without any interruptions – is decidedly fantasy-friendly, even if the strikeouts aren’t as plentiful.
After a tricky start Friday against the Mets, assuming the team’s rotation continues as is, Sears’ next five turns will come against the Chicago White Sox, Texas Rangers (twice, once each home and away) and then at the Miami Marlins.
Entering play Friday, the White Sox were the team’s lowest-scoring team. The Marlins were the fourth-lowest scoring team. The Rangers, meanwhile, have only outscored eight major league teams so far. All three teams are in the bottom third in the league in wRC+ with respective wRC+ numbers below the 85 mark.
Anthony Banda – 7%
Coming off a breakout season in 2024 for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Banda holds plenty of fantasy upside in leagues where holds are part of the scoring.
The 31-year-old pitched to a 3.08 ERA and a 3.67 FIP in 49.2 innings last season, winning three games and adding a pair of saves and eight holds. His strikeout rate for the season was 23.9%. His walk rate? 8.6%.
Banda’s 2025 production, while in a much smaller sample size, has been about more of the same.
Entering play Friday his ERA was 2.84 (in seven appearances and 6.1 innings) and his FIP was 3.61. The right-hander has registered a hold so far to go along with a 26.1% strikeout rate and a minuscule 4.3% walk rate.
The biggest development, fantasy-wise, though is the three pitcher wins in which the right-hander has accumulated so far.
Pitcher wins from relievers who work more in three to six-out stints aren’t the most repeatable or bankable stat year to year. Colin Poche (12) and Mike Baumann (10) led all qualified relievers in pitcher wins in 2023. Poche (three) and Baumann (one) combined for just four pitcher wins this past season in 2024.
Even relying on pitcher wins with regularity from relievers over the course of a season isn’t an exact science.
Still, if there’s a team where relievers can routinely accumulate pitcher wins, it’s the Dodgers.
Los Angeles was second in the league in bullpen pitcher wins last season.
Entering play Friday, they unsurprisingly (considering Banda’s three) led baseball with seven. But even if you take Banda’s three pitcher wins out, the Dodgers would still be tied for second with the respective bullpens of the Red Sox, Guardians, Rangers, Phillies, and Padres.
Moving forward, Banda could be solid source of pitcher wins while helping keep your weekly ERA number down, particularly in deeper leagues where there aren’t as many quality starters available via waivers to add for potential pitcher wins.
Martín Pérez – 27%
Pérez has found plenty of success in the past in limiting hard contact and mistakes. Back in 2022, he enjoyed a career year, pitching to a 2.89 ERA and a 3.27 FIP in 196.1 innings, winning 12 games in 32 starts.
He held batters to a .295 xwOBA and a 34.9% hard-hit rate that season. Batters also managed just a 4.3% barrel rate that season.
So far this season, Pérez has pitched to a .298 xwOBA and a 29.6% hard-hit rate in 12.1 innings. He’s yet to allow a barrel in 2025.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Pérez owns a 0.73 ERA and a 2.33 FIP in those aforementioned 12.1 innings spanning two starts. And while it remains to be seen if Pérez will maintain this production over the course of the entire 2025 season – his FIP has been between 4.90 and 5.00 in the two seasons since 2022, for what it’s worth from a sustainability standpoint – he looks like a quality streaming option in the right matchups in the season’s early weeks and months, particularly if he can keep missing bats at this rate.
Again, we’re dealing with a small sample size here, but Pérez is sporting a 23.5% whiff rate so far in 2025, higher than his full-season whiff rates for any season in the Statcast era.
Graphic by Carlos Leano.
