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
Sam Antonacci (CWS) – 2B,3B (Yahoo – 11%)
Antonacci got the call on Wednesday and has played two games with the ChiSox, going one-for-seven in the early going. Already eligible at two positions, he’s expected to get some time in the outfield as well. Antonacci wasn’t a top prospect at first (he was drafted in the fifth round in ’24), but he showed exceptional on-base skills in College and the Minors with OBP’s in the .500’s. And his 19.6% walk rate in AAA (expect some regression of course) will play in points leagues. Oh, and he stole 48 bases last year.
Based on his early-season stats in Charlotte, it was clear Antonacci was ready for a promotion. He had as many walks as he did hits, and stole five bags in less than fifty at-bats.
Surprisingly, the White Sox batted him ninth on Thursday, but don’t expect that to last as he’s a natural table-setter. If you’re looking for a younger version of Nico Hoerner on your team, Antonacci might be your guy—just don’t expect it to happen right away.
Daulton Varsho (TOR) – OF (Yahoo – 44%)
One of my favorite players to draft this year, watching Varsho stumble out of the gate was tough to take. Fortunately, he didn’t stumble for long. If you’re in a deeper league, Varsho might be long gone, but maybe someone dropped him early on, and his three recent homers haven’t spurned anyone to pick him back up.
Varsho blasted twenty homers last season, which doesn’t sound all that impressive—but he did it in just 71 games. That’s a 45-homer pace during a full season, and his power metrics backed it up (including an elite barrel rate of 15.9% and an xSLG of .494). Netting only two steals last year, Varsho’s also pretty speedy, but some lingering injuries kept him from being aggressive on the basepaths in 2025, so expect him to get up to double-digit swipes if he can stay on the field.
Jorge Soler (LAA) – OF (Yahoo – 44%)
With the same ownership rate as Varsho, Soler might be long gone in a deeper league. But just maybe someone dropped him after his suspension came down.
Soler might lose his title as the American League’s RBIs leader while he serves his time, but an appeal just cut the suspension to four games instead of seven, and he’ll be back in the lineup on Sunday. In the early going, the Angels look like an offensive powerhouse, and they have Soler (and Mike Trout, and Jo Adell, among others) to thank. Now in his thirteenth season, Soler’s always been known to mash when healthy, but an injury-plagued 2025 (he played in just 82 games) kept him under the radar.
As you can see, Soler’s metrics haven’t improved all-that-much from his career averages, but some improved plate discipline (like a 65th-percentile chase rate) has turned a lot of little improvements into a lot of results, namely a 143 OPS+ in the early going. If he (and Mike Trout, and Jo Adell) can stay healthy, expect a lot of long fly balls out of Anaheim this season—Soler hit 36 bombs in 2023, there’s no reason he can’t do it again.
Mick Abel (MIN) – SP (Yahoo – 20%)
A top prospect for the Phillies for a long time, Abel was the surprise centerpiece in their trade for Jhoan Duran last season. Now with the Twins, Abel showed some promise in his handful of starts, but a sky-high walk rate limited his success. In the offseason, Abel refined his secondary offerings and is throwing his sweeper more often than last season. His fastball velocity is actually slightly down from last year, but he’s showing improved command of it and is generating a 37.6% CSW with it (top ten among all pitchers) and a 5.22 PLV. The Twins’ pitching coaches have shown success of late in reforming high-ceiling former prospects (see Taj Bradley as another example).
There are still some warning signs under the hood, however—while his last outing against the Red Sox showed his potential (7 IP, 10 K’s, zero BB’s), he walked ten hitters in just 13.1 innings before that, and still carries a 1.57 WHIP. Perhaps he’s turned the corner, but he could also settle back into bad habits and wear on your ratios.
Aaron Civale (ATH) – SP (Yahoo – 18%)
Like some other players on this list, Civale falls into the ‘good-when-healthy’ category, and he happens to be healthy. Civale’s bounced around a lot of late (the Athletics are his fifth team in three seasons), but he might have found a home in Sacramento.
While he’s not going to light up your strikeouts (career 21.6% K-rate), Civale has good command and keeps the ball in the yard, works efficiently, and can get deep into games. His cutter has a 35.7% CSW so far this season, and he mixes that in with an effective sinker and curve. Some regression is likely for Civale (he’s got a .190 BABIP against, where his career average is .281, and his ERA of 1.72 is a lot different from his 3.65 xERA). His next start’s a great matchup against the White Sox, so he’s worth at least a stream.
Yahoo and ESPN Most Added Players
Yahoo!
All right, let’s talk about Jeremiah Jackson. He tops the Yahoo list after an incredible week at the plate, where he had four multi-hit games and four homers. Alas, there are a few red flags here. First, the playing time: another Jackson (Holliday) will be back at some point, even if he’s having setbacks with his injured wrist, and that will surely curtail this Jackson’s opportunities. Second, the approach: in 58 plate appearances, Jeremiah has zero walks. Zero. And with a second-percentile chase rate (meaning, he swings at nearly everything), it might be a while before he gets that first Base on Balls.
Some more cold water: for a second baseman, Jeremiah Jackson isn’t particularly fast, and has zero MLB steals in his career—but has been caught three times so he’s probably better off just not running. Even with the four dingers, his Hard-Hit Rate is just 31%, and his Average Exit Velo is just 87.8 mph. Some players get hot for a week and then fizzle; Jackson looks like that to me.
Luke Raley has been popular after getting eleven total hits in just four games for the Mariners. While usually a player who struggles to make contact, ‘Big Thunder’ is lighting up the statcast metrics despite a career-worst 35.9% strikeout rate. But he’s barreling the ball 22.2% of the time and has 90th-percentile bat speed to go with it, so maybe there’s something here. Raley barely topped 200 plate appearances in 2025 and struggled to a .630 OPS, but perhaps his newfound health has unlocked something sustainable. Just don’t expect that .328 batting average to last.
Rounding out the top five are a trio of pitchers. Eduardo Rodriguez has been a popular streamer after impressing in both the WBC and in his first handful of starts—he’s another good-when-healthy guy who’s been healthy, and has solid ratios like Civale when he’s cooking.
Foster Griffin’s been another popular streamer with a low ERA in the early going, but he had just one strikeout in his April 11 start against Milwaukee and is a pretty good candidate for regression. He gave up four runs to Pittsburgh on Thursday, three of which came on Marcell Ozuna’s first homer of the season. His next start’s against the Braves, so probably wise to keep him on the wire.
Lastly, Joel Kuhnel is getting attention as the potential closer for the Athletics. At 6’5″, 290 lbs, Kuhnel carries a 0.21 WHIP in five appearances. That’s obviously not sustainable, and his Hard-Hit Rate Against of 58.3% is in the bottom tenth percentile, suggesting some good fortune is at play. But he’s generating very few fly balls, so those hard-hit grounders are turning into outs—and in Kuhnel’s case, three saves in the last week.
ESPN
Jackson tops the list on ESPN as well, with three starters occupying the 2-through-4 spots. Braxton Ashcraft and Parker Messick should be universally owned in all but the shallowest of leagues, and both had impressive starts on Thursday (you’ve probably heard about Messick’s flirt with a no-no by now).
Ramón Laureano’s been a journeyman the last few seasons, but he hit 24 homers last year with Baltimore and San Diego and had a .854 OPS, so he’s a solid entry to fill your last OF spot and won’t hurt you. He can also run a little bit, even at age 31, and batting leadoff is always a plus for points leagues. But a general rule of thumb if you’re looking at a hitter’s Statcast page early in the season: if the top half of their stats are red (which are usually the outcome stats) but the bottom half is blue (which are the actual performance stats), chances are the red won’t stay very red much longer.
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.
Nick Martinez (TBR) – SP (Yahoo – 11%) @ PIT
Martinez started the season with a pair of Quality Starts, and though he made it through just 4.2 IP in his last outing, it’s looking like a solid bounce-back campaign now that he’s out of Cincy. Like Civale and EdRod, Martinez doesn’t miss a lot of bats, but he’s got good command and keeps runners off the bases. Typically among the league leaders in lowest Average Exit Velocity, Martinez should be able to keep the Pirates at bay and get a possible third QS.
Davis Martin (CHW) – SP (Yahoo – 15%) @ ATH
It’s a tough park to pitch in, and Martin’s fastball has a fifth-percentile ground ball rate, but the A’s aren’t quite locked in yet. Martin has shown he can dance around trouble and get outs when needed, and his change-up and cutter are solid second offerings (the cutter with a 35% CSW). Playing a hunch here and there’s a chance he gets blown up, but I think he can give you five solid innings of two-to-three run ball with half a dozen K’s.
