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
Andrés Giménez (TOR) – 2B, SS (Yahoo – 30%)
I’m a sucker for Andres Gimenez. Even though defensive stats don’t count in fantasy, the fact that he’s such an excellent defender means he’ll be in the lineup whenever healthy. He’s been chasing more often this year, which you don’t love to see, but he’s also running a 95% zone contact rate, which you do love to see. He’s shortened his swing a bit this year and is making more solid contact than he has in the past, increasing his Statcast squared up rates about 7 percentage points. I don’t think you should be expecting him to continue his 20-homer pace, but if he maintains some of his contact gains, you could easily get 25 more steals and a solid average off the waiver wire. He had a miserable average last year off a .239 BABIP while suffering some injuries; he’s currently hitting .290 with a totally normal .309 BABIP.
Jake Burger (TEX) – 1B, 3B (Yahoo – 26%)
The first of two corner infield-playing Jakes I’m recommending is Burger. He’s doing all the normal Jake Burger things he does: never walking, often striking out, and hitting for power. The big change in his profile so far is that he’s hitting the ball at a 10-degree lower launch angle than he did last year, and 6.5 degrees lower than his career average. That’s often not an advantage for players – the best batted balls tend to be hit hard, pull-side, in the air – but it’s led to a dramatic decrease in how often Burger has been popping up. He’s hitting more grounders, too, but grounders have a higher BABIP than popups and fly balls do on average. This has led him to run a career-high .275 average and .327 BABIP, while his xAVG is still a solid .260. Even if Burger returns to his old ways and starts hitting the ball in the air as frequently as he used to, he’s an incredibly bankable power source who hit .250 with 29 and 34 homers in his last two full seasons, and he’s available for free in three-quarters of leagues.
Jake Bauers (MIL) – 1B, OF (Yahoo – 19%)
Bauers is off to a hot start over his first 18 games of the season, slashing .254/.333/.525 with 5 homers and 3 steals. He’s always had a bit of speed in his game, stealing 8 bases in 218 plate appearances last year and 13 bases in 346 plate appearances in 2024. Bauers has added excellent bat speed over the past year and change, averaging over 76 MPH on his swings as opposed to 73.8 MPH in the first year we have data. His harder swing has led to improvements; he hit the ball 91.7 MPH on average in 2025 and is hitting the ball 92.1 MPH so far this year. The biggest improvement has come from a dramatic drop in his K% to start the season, down from 27.1% to 21.2%. He’s always had good plate discipline, chasing only 22% of the time for his career, and he’s increased his in-zone aggression to start the season, swinging at nearly 74% of strikes. So far, Bauers’ performance appears real: his expected average and expected slugging are 33 and 20 points higher than his actual rates, respectively. The question is going to be whether he can stay in the lineup when Andrew Vaughn, Jackson Chourio, and Christian Yelich get healthy. The Brewers have a few soft spots in their lineup in the outfield and at DH, so Bauers could get extended run even when the injured players return. On the other hand, he hasn’t reached 350 plate appearances since 2019, so teams haven’t been dying to give him opportunities. In the short run, though, he’s hitting the ball hard and hitting 5th.
Yahoo and ESPN Most Added Players
ESPN owners are adding streaming starters for the weekend, with Will Warren, Dean Kremer, and Emmet Sheehan all starting today. Warren is the best of the bunch, with a favorable matchup against a Royals team that’s 27th in wRC+ for the season. Kremer was great in his one start this year, striking out 9 Diamondbacks in 5 innings. He gave up three homers on six fly balls in that start, and while a 50% HR/FB is obviously not likely to sustain for an entire season, each of the homers were struck over 100 MPH and would have left all 30 MLB parks. Sheehan has struggled to start the season, but Nick noted that his velo was back in his last start. Even though the Dodgers have practically an entire rotation on the IL right now, it’s hard to imagine they’d keep running Sheehan out there if they thought something was seriously wrong; they could switch to a 5 man rotation or call up River Ryan from AAA, so they’re not lacking options. Still, Nick has Warren as a good bet and both Kremer and Sheehan as much more questionable choices in this weekend’s pitching streamers. Jeremiah Jackson has been playing every day and hitting at the bottom of the Orioles lineup despite killing the ball to the tune of a .317/.323/.600 line. I don’t really buy this level of performance at all. He’s overperforming his xAVG by 50 points and his xSLG by 105 points. Still, even if he was hitting his expected .267 with a .495 slug, that would be playable in a lot of leagues. The Orioles have a ton of position players on the IL right now, so if you need to fill your lineup out in the short term, riding Jackson’s hot streak is a totally viable way to do so.
Similar adds for Yahoo owners, with the addition of Luis Severino and Oswald Peraza. Paul Sewald, not pictured here but still high on the list of most-added players on Yahoo, has picked up three saves over the past week and appears to have the closer’s job in Arizona locked down for the near future. Juan Morillo also earned a save this week for Arizona, but it came after Sewald had pitched two out of three days, and Morillo had earned a hold in front of Sewald the previous day. Severino is throwing 1 MPH harder to start the season, which has led him to massive increases in strikeouts and walks so far this year. It hasn’t fully warmed up in Sacramento yet, though, so while he might be usable for now, you’re going to want to start dodging his home starts very soon. Pitchers you can’t start at home make for a really awkward player to hold on your roster, so this is at most a short-term move. Oswald Peraza has been playing consistently with a ton of different position eligibility for the Angels. He’s put up 4 home runs and 3 steals so far this year, although you don’t get any of that near-career high HR output if you’re adding him now. He’s swinging the bat slower this year and not hitting the ball harder. He is elevating more, with a 13 degree launch angle, but I’m taking the under and would be expecting something much closer (or lower) than his xSLG of .430 instead of his current .554 SLG.
Speculative Adds
Enyel De Los Santos (HOU) – RP (Yahoo – 11%)
The Astros have turned to De Los Santos for back-to-back saves this week, with his main competition (Bryan Abreu and Bryan King) each earning a hold for him. No one thought De Los Santos would be the interim closer for the Astros, but with the team moving Josh Hader to the 60-day IL on Friday, he could return serious value if he holds the job. He’s not a typical closer, sitting only 94 with his fastball and posting a 91 Stuff+ so far this year, but he has excellent command (116 Location+). Abreu’s fastball velo is down 2 MPH and he’s been unable to locate the ball early in the season as his stuff has declined. King has been excellent this year, but he’s even less of a typical closer, throwing 92 MPH from the left side (De Los Santos is a righty). De Los Santos seems likely to get you at least a couple saves in the short run and could easily get you half a season of closing opportunities before Hader returns.
Deep League Players to Watch
Everson Pereira (CWS) – OF (Yahoo – 1%)
Pereira is a 25 year old former prospect, but the White Sox are the perfect team for 25 year old former prospects to get opportunities. Since coming off the IL earlier this week, he’s hit cleanup twice and 5th twice. Pereira’s been swinging the bat 1.5 MPH harder this season, 75.7 MPH vs an MLB average of 71.7 MPH. He’s chasing a ton so far with the White Sox, swinging at 46% of pitches outside the zone vs about a quarter of pitches in a 176 PA sample with the Yankees and Rays, but the contact is hard when he makes it. Brooks Baldwin is on the 60-day IL and the White Sox shouldn’t have any particular commitment to getting Austin Hays at bats when he returns from his hamstring injury, so Pereira could have some substantial time in the lineup going forward. It’s not likely to come with a high average, but the power potential looks real and could be worth speculating on in deeper formats this year.
Graphic by Carlos Leano
