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
Travis Bazzana (CLE) – 2B (Yahoo! – 29%)
Bazzana had himself a great game last night, going 2 for 4 with 2 home runs. Bazzana has been flashing his first-overall-pick pedigree over his last 15 games, batting .326 with a 1.153 OPS and four home runs. He’s proving himself to be the prototypical Guardians player; probably better in real life than in fantasy, but more than capable of contributing. This seems like a hot streak worth investing in for the fantasy playoffs, especially against the Athletics‘ middling pitching corps this weekend.
Connor Norby (COL) – 1B, 2B, 3B (Yahoo! – 8%)
The Rockies will play the rest of the week at Coors, hosting the Padres today and tomorrow, and the Mariners over the weekend. Nobody in Colorado is setting the world on fire right now, but Norby is on the upswing and widely available. His xwOBA is trending upwards, and he’s the type of mid-power, lift-and-pull hitter who benefits from playing in Coors. Any of the Rockies regulars — Core Carrigg, Kyle Karros, Mickey Moniak, Adael Amador, or any of the non-alliterative options like TJ Rumfield — should do just as well. Still, Norby strikes a great balance of upside, availability, and recent performance.
Walbert Ureña (LAA) – SP (Yahoo! – 54%)
I can’t beat The List when it comes to starting pitcher recommendations. I can highlight auto-start pitchers who are widely available. I’ve been banging the Ureña drum all season, and he keeps delivering in spades. Sure, he was roughed up a bit in his last start, but the two prior were both QSes. Even in his last loss, he survived six innings and notched seven strikeouts. The Twins are one of the easier streaming targets, and it’s easy to imagine that Ureña and his 2.88 ERA should excel here.
Yahoo! and ESPN Most Added Players
Yahoo!
I’m up way too late writing this anyways, so here’s a more up-to-date Most Added than I can usually do:
Cristian Javier has been tearing it up, and the Royals seem like an easy target. He hasn’t been able to go six innings often, but he’s a solid option in wins leagues.
Jared Jones looks like his best self. The Brewers could be a tough matchup, but Jones hasn’t given up a run in 13 innings. He’d be my number one streaming pitcher pick by a wide margin.
Yusei Kikuchi should be a solid option against Seattle. He failed to make it out of the fourth last time out, but he had back-to-back quality starts leading up to it.
Jake Bennett has a good matchup against the Rangers at home and is coming off a good outing. There’s concern that he’s running up to pitch limits, but he’s a reasonably safe streamer.
Nick Martinez hasn’t failed us yet. No reason not to trust him against the A’s, even if his entire season doesn’t make a ton of sense.
ESPN
Jared Jones looks like his best self. The Brewers could be a tough matchup, but Jones hasn’t given up a run in 13 innings. He’d be my number one streaming pitcher pick by a wide margin.
Griffin Jax cruised through five clean innings against the A’s, notching seven Ks along the way. He’ll see the Red Sox on Sunday, and he should be an excellent option there as well.
Carlos Rodón looks to be back to his old self after returning from the IL. He’s an ace; go get him while you can. He’s the best option on this list.
Cristian Javier has been tearing it up, and the Royals seem like an easy target. He hasn’t been able to go six innings often, but he’s a solid option in wins leagues.
Nick Martinez hasn’t failed us yet. No reason not to trust him against the A’s, even if his entire season doesn’t make a ton of sense.
Streaming Pitchers
Check out Nick Pollack’s SP Streamer Rankings for a complete breakdown of every start over the next few days.
Today (Wednesday): Jared Jones (PIT) (50% on Yahoo!) Jones has been too good to turn our noses up now. I wouldn’t pick the Brewers as his opponent, but Jones looks like a very startable stud.
Tomorrow (Thursday): Dustin May (MIL) (28% on Yahoo!) It’s been up-and-down for May, but his last outing against the Reds was a six-inning shutout. The Pirates shouldn’t prove any more formidable, making May an excellent streaming candidate.
