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, and 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 you can leave on the wire.
Top Priority Players to Add
Josue De Paula (LAD) – OF (Yahoo – 12%)
These kinds of impact call-ups don’t usually happen this late in the season, but with Shohei Ohtani hitting the IL, the Dodgers decided to bring De Paula straight out of AA. As the team’s number one prospect, De Paula has been crushing minor league pitching all season with a nearly 1:1 K:BB ratio, a .300 batting average, and 30-homer power. And though his sprint speed is less than top-tier, he’s an opportunistic baserunner and has nabbed over 30 steals in 124 games played.
So he’s a five-category guy with a ton of potential. But will he see playing time? According to Dave Roberts, that’s the plan. De Paula should slot in every day as either the Dodgers’ DH or in the outfield (so the red-hot Teoscar Hernandez can DH instead). De Paula’s not known for his fielding, but he can handle both corner OF positions.
This one’s an easy call. De Paula should top your waiver wire priority list if you need an outfielder, and you should spend whatever remaining FAAB you have to get him.
Jake Burger (TEX) – 1B (Yahoo – 10%)
Jake Burger is like when you pick Donkey Kong or Bowser in Mario Kart—they take a long time to get going, but their top speed is special. Burger was traded to Texas before last season, and struggled with both injuries and performance in a choppy year. But he’s been healthy in 2026, appearing in 140 of Texas’s 147 games, and could reach thirty homers by season’s end.
He’s especially been a reliable masher against lefties, as 12 of his 26 homers have come against southpaws (and he’s averaging a dinger in every 11 at-bats when facing them). He’s also a great source of run production with Seager, Nimmo, and Langford hitting ahead of him, and has a .914 OPS in September with three homers. If you have a banged-up first baseman and need a cheap power option, this Burger’s for you.
Anthony Volpe (NYY) – SS (Yahoo – 3%)
Volpe got recalled to the Majors with Jazz Chisholm landing on the IL for the Yankees, and as I’m typing this sentence on Thursday night he just hit a grand slam. Volpe had been lagging in the power department when he was with the big club earlier (he had one homer in almost 200 PA’s), but he hit 11 in 148 AAA at-bats and has been a 20/20 guy in the past, so he could chip in a handful of bombs between now and season’s end.
Volpe has been known to be a batting average killer (he hit .209 and .212 in ’24 and ’25), but he focused on contact skills in the Minors and hit over .260, so maybe there’s been some development there. It seems like he’s been around forever, but he’s still just 25 and there’s yet room to grow. As he settles into playing second base (and should gain 2B eligibility quickly), Volpe could help you in at least four categories.
A.J. Ewing (NYM) – 2B,OF (Yahoo – 17%)
Carson Benge has been getting a lot of the attention as the Mets rookie to own, but Ewing has quietly had nearly as solid of a season. While he’s not a power bat and would be lucky to top 15 homers in a full season, he’s got solid plate discipline, good speed, and should be hitting for a higher average than he is. Ewing is only 21 and his profile fits the points league format better than categories (solid gap power, decent OBP), but he’s scoring a lot of runs and can steal bases.
Ewing had a miserable August (.171/.219/.462) but was still playing every day even as he lost his role in the leadoff spot. But he’s found a comfort zone in September is has hit .423 on the month with a 1.082 OPS, and most importantly has only four K’s to three walks. I’m pegging him as a major sleeper next season but he could also help you at second base if you can’t wait for Volpe to qualify.
Mason Montgomery (PIT) – RP (Yahoo – 44%)
There are two dominant closers named Mason in the National League, and at this point I’m not sure which one I’d rather have (okay I am, but it’s closer than you think!). This Mason has a 99th-percentile K-rate at 38.2%, and the hitters he doesn’t strike out are hitting grounders (92nd-percentile GB rate).
The 26-year-old sixth-round pick didn’t start the season as Pittsburgh’s closer, but added a sinker to his arsenal early in the spring, and it’s unlocked a new tier in his arsenal. Once he collected his first save on July 11, he hasn’t looked back. His numbers since the All-Star Break are as elite as they get: in 23 IP, he’s got a 0.63 WHIP, a .111 BAA, and is 4-0 with ten saves. And he’s only given up two runs in more than two months. He’s not just the second-best closer in baseball named Mason—he might be the second-best closer in baseball, period.
Cristian Javier (HOU) – SP (Yahoo – 11%)
You might not remember that in 2022, Cristian Javier was an absolute stud who struck out 194 batters in just 148 IP with a 2.54 ERA and 0.95 WHIP. He even got a fair amount of Cy Young votes that year. Injuries have derailed him the past three seasons, but we might be seeing some glimpses of the once-dominant arm that had one of the best BAA’s in all of baseball.
Javier struggled through much of this year (he’s got a 5.50 ERA and the worst ground-ball ratio among all pitchers), but he may have turned a corner. In his past two starts in September, he’s got a 1.64 ERA, .114 BAA, and a 0.73 WHIP—along with 13 K’s in 11 innings. And he wasn’t pitching against cupcakes; these were starts against the Diamondbacks and Phillies.
Javier projects to face the Royals at home in his next outing, and then likely will face the Braves and Athletics to close out the year. I’m willing to see if this is the Javier we and the Astros have been waiting for.
Yahoo and ESPN Most Added Players
Yahoo!
Jared Jones gets the top spot on Yahoo, and I can’t argue with it one bit. He’s got an elite arm, and really the only question with him is how many innings is he allowed to go. He rewarded anyone who picked him up with an absolute gem against the White Sox where he threw 5.2 innings of no-hit baseball, but was pulled after 90 pitches.
Hagen Smith was on an even stricter pitch count, so I’m not sure why all the frenzy. He lasted just 33 pitches, or two full innings, but pitched well. He’s got a tremendous arm and great ratios, but the former fifth-overall pick in 2024 won’t be stretched out as a full-length starter by the time the season’s over. I’d stash him like crazy in keeper leagues, though.
And it looks like the next three guys—De Paula, Burger, and Javier—have all been covered. So let’s move on to…
ESPN
There are just two new names here. Martin Perez has been consistently undervalued as he can go deep into games and has a low WHIP, even if his K-rate is minimal. He pitched seven strong innings last night, allowing just six baserunners and striking out four. He gets more love on Yahoo, where he’s 30% owned, but you should not underestimate his points league potential.
Cade Cavalli has been a strong contributor all season and could top 200 K’s. He’s currently ranked #63 among all players on Yahoo (where he’s 84% owned), and is equally solid in ESPN’s points format. There’s not much to say about him other than if he’s available in your league, he shouldn’t be.
Streaming Pitchers
Check out Nick Pollack’s SP Streamer Rankings for the complete breakdown on every start for the next few days. There are two pitchers to highlight.
Matthew Liberatore (STL) – SP (Yahoo – 12%) vs CHW
There aren’t a lot of great options Friday—I almost went with Kumar Rocker, but he’s terrible against lefties, and the Diamondbacks have three switch-hitters at the top of their lineup; and I almost went with Scherzer or Bassitt as their two teams face each other, but that game feels like an offensive shootout. So that leaves Liberatore, who has not fared well in the Win/Loss column of late but did have a 1.18 ERA in August. Liberatore does have solid K:BB numbers, and the White Sox strike out as much as any team in baseball. As long as he can keep the ball in the park, there should be 5-7 K’s here.
Gage Jump (ATH) – SP (Yahoo – 8%) vs SEA
Jump seems to be either great or terrible, with little room in between. But he gets a rematch against the Mariners on Saturday, where he K’ed seven in his outing against them last weekend. The issue with Jump is his efficiency, as he walked 20 batters in less than 30 innings in August, but he didn’t walk a single Seattle batter last time and they’re not a patient group. If Jump can contain his pitch count and throw first-pitch strikes, he should be good for 5-ish solid innings with at least as many strikeouts.
