Welcome to the Waiver Wire Picks, our daily fantasy baseball article that looks at the best players 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 tell you which players to add and which to leave on the wire.
Top Priority Players to Add
George Lombard Jr. Jr. (NYY) – 2B, 3B, SS (Yahoo – 43%)
Yahoo may be going overboard giving Lombard tri-position eligibility after 11 minor league games at third and just 3 at second this season, but that’s just the cherry on top of this prospect promotion. After the Yankees appear to have decided to end the long Anthony Volpe saga, Lombard is poised to be the everyday shortstop down the stretch. Lombard stole 39 and 35 bases in his previous two minor league seasons, although he’s slowed down a bit this year, stealing 14 in 81 games. He’s added more power than ever before, though, with 13 homers after setting his career high at 9 homers in 580 plate appearances last year. The Yankees will have some roster reshuffling to do when Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, and Giancarlo Stanton all come off the IL, but Lombard shouldn’t be affected by any of that, and the lineup should only get better.
Kaelen Culpepper (MIN) – SS (Yahoo – 8%)
While he hasn’t had the action that Lombard has in fantasy leagues, Culpepper ranked second on this week’s edition of the Stash List. He’s a power-and-speed middle infielder who reached the 20-20 mark last year in the minors and was on pace to surpass it this year after he got the call. He probably won’t wow you in many Statcast metrics, but he swung the bat 72 mph in his debut, which is right around MLB average. He’s a good defender at shortstop, important for keeping his bat in the lineup, and has consistently maintained sub-20% strikeout rates in the minors. He hit 7th in the Twins’ lineup in his debut, behind Luke Keaschall and his .355 OBP, which will give him some opportunity for RBIs as well.
Moisés Ballesteros (LAA) – C (Yahoo – 4%)
Ballesteros appears to be the primary DH and an occasional catcher for the Angels down the stretch, starting all four games since being traded for Ryan Zeferjahn. Ballesteros has had excellent numbers at the plate in the minors. He’s an aggressive hitter, swinging at nearly 69% of strikes and chasing about 35% of the time. Despite that, he’s managed a 9.5% walk rate and kept his strikeout rate to 20.5% thanks to strong contact ability. The Angels don’t seem to care that much about catcher defense (see: Logan O’Hoppe), and there isn’t much competition for Ballesteros behind the plate even if he somehow gets pushed off DH. There’s a lot of upside here if you’ve been struggling to find a reliable second catcher in two-catcher leagues.
Yahoo and ESPN Most Added Players
Culpepper is discussed above; even though he’s a big mover in ESPN leagues, he’s still available in nearly all of them. Payton Tolle is the latest in a long line of starters to dominate the Athletics away from Sacramento. You won’t get the 14 strikeouts from last night’s start by adding him today, but he’s been excellent all season. Nick has him 26th on the most recent edition of The List, and he should be rostered in every league.
Walbert Ureña is a big riser on The List. There are some warts on his profile, particularly his elevated walk rate. He’s not getting as many strikeouts as you might expect from a starter averaging 97.7 mph on his fastball either, but his 11.9% swinging strike rate hints at more strikeouts in his future. He’s starting at Miami today, which has only gotten more appealing after the Marlins dealt Liam Hicks at the deadline.
Clay Holmes is scheduled to return from the 60-day IL today. He’s starting for the Cubs in Kansas City, which is about as soft a landing spot as you could hope for. We should always take yearly defensive metrics with a grain of salt, but Holmes is moving from a slightly below-average defense in New York to a Cubs team that Statcast gives nearly twice as many fielding runs saved as the second-best defense in baseball. Cubs’ pitching has a .272 BABIP despite allowing the largest Barrel% in baseball. If you are ever going to be in on Holmes, now’s the time.
Peter Lambert starts for Houston in San Diego today. He’s had a very successful return to the majors with the Astros thanks in part to a .253 BABIP that should grow over time. San Diego is a great place to pitch, though, especially in the middle of the summer. As the rest of the country heats up and balls fly further, San Diego stays pristine (79 degrees at first pitch). Nick has both Lambert and Urena as good starts on his most recent streamer rankings, and no disagreement here.
A bunch more streaming starters top the Yahoo most-added list. Matthew Liberatore is hosting Colorado today. The stream is mostly appealing for the opponent, notwithstanding his excellent turn last time out. Liberatore has been a bit unlucky on balls in play this season (.334 BABIP), and improved his K-BB to 13.9%, but all of his ERA estimators still think he’s a back-end starter at best. I think it’s a reasonable stream if you need the volume, but I’d rather find one of the previously mentioned pitchers if possible.
Robert Gasser draws a start at home vs the Twins. His extreme fly ball approach could probably work against the Keaschall, Alan Roden, and Austin Martin–type hitters in the Twins’ lineup, but Royce Lewis and Kody Clemens could feast here. With the start-to-start variance that comes from pitchers like Gasser, this is really about whether you enjoy gambling.
Anthony Kay is in the Liberatore tier of back-end starters for me, albeit with a better offense supporting him. Kay, frankly, is miscast as a starter by the White Sox. He has a 22.6% K-BB and .549 OPS allowed vs lefties, and a 5.0% K-BB and .833 OPS allowed vs righties. Sure, it might work against Steven Kwan and Chase DeLauter, but the Guardians will send 7 righties to the plate when the average righty vs Kay has an OPS slightly better than Jordan Walker. Desperation-only stream here.
Jackson Jobe makes his return after a long stay on the IL following Tommy John surgery in 2025. Jobe wasn’t great in his first 53 major league innings, with a disappearing strikeout rate and a 12% walk rate reminiscent of his worst minor league season. Still, he’s had a 20% K-BB during his rehab assignment, and he sits 97. I don’t love the first start back after missing this much time, but the matchup is great at San Francisco. If he deals in this one, the hype will explode.
Deep League Players to Watch
Osleivis Basabe (SFG) – 2B, 3B, SS (Yahoo – 8%)
Basabe is the principal beneficiary of Luis Arraez’s departure to Philadelphia. He’s started the last four games at second base, with two matchups against righties and two against lefties. Basabe isn’t the most exciting profile, with sparse power in the minors and an unfriendly home park, but he’s averaged one steal every 6.67 games in the minors. He’s a slappy contact hitter, putting the ball in play in around three-quarters of his plate appearances. That can play in a cavernous park like Oracle.
Graphic by Carlos Leano
