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 players you can leave on the wire.
Top Priority Players to Add
Luke Jackson (TEX), RP (45% rostered on Yahoo, 13.4% on ESPN)
Drafting closers early can be a dangerous game. Sure, the top closers in baseball will help with your peripherals, but the real reason you’re drafting these guys is because of saves. It’s why the best set-up men in baseball are routinely left on the waiver wire while questionable closers are added all the time.
It was unclear who would emerge as the Rangers’ closer this season, but near the end of spring training, it was becoming more apparent that Jackson was going to be the guy. Sure enough, he’s run with the job out of the gates, and he currently leads the league with four saves.
Despite his production, Jackson is still available in the majority of leagues. Can he hold down the job all season? That remains to be seen. His underlying metrics are concerning, but the only thing that matters is that Bruce Bochy appears to trust him for the time being. The Rangers are a quality team, and Kirby Yates finished seventh in the league with 33 saves for the Rangers last season. Jackson is definitely not the same caliber of pitcher as Yates, but if you’re looking for saves, Jackson is definitely someone worth adding for the time being.
Kyren Paris (LAA), 2B (9% Yahoo, 4.2% ESPN)
Paris has had our attention for a while now. He entered spring training as an afterthought, with a middling prospect profile and minimal production in two cups of coffee at the MLB level. However, he broke out with a 190 wRC+ with two homers and four steals in spring training, and he’s managed to carry that production into the regular season. He’s hitting a blistering .429 across his first seven games with one homer, three steals, and six runs scored.
Paris is not going to hit like this all season, but the underlying metrics are good enough to suggest he’s not going to turn into a complete pumpkin either. His expecting batting average sits at .281, while his expected slugging percentage is at a respectable .427.
The biggest development for Paris is what has happened to a few of his teammates recently. Yoán Moncada and Luis Rengifo were both forced to exit Friday’s game vs. the Guardians, and Moncada was out of the lineup again on Saturday. Paris could pick up some additional playing time if Moncada is forced to land on the IL. He’s only started in three of the seven games he’s appeared in this season, so that’s a big development.
Ultimately, it’s enough to make Paris a priority add for the time being. He may not finish the year on your roster, but it’s worth riding out his hot streak to see if it’s legit.
Yahoo and ESPN Most Added Players
The future is now. Chase Dollander was the ninth pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, and as a former collegiate pitcher, he’s breezed through the minors in a flash. He made just one start at Triple-A this season before the Rockies determined he was ready for primetime. He was promoted to the majors and will make his first career start Sunday vs. the Athletics. It’s a phenomenal first matchup, and as one of the top pitching prospects in baseball, optimism is predictably high for his fantasy prospects. He’s going to have to navigate pitching roughly half his starts at Coors Field—which is always a major concern—but he should be a solid source of strikeouts at a bare minimum.
Geraldo Perdomo has been red-hot to start the year, posting a .379 average with two homers and a steal through his first eight games. That’s enough to make fantasy players interested, but the injury to Ketel Marte could also give him a boost in value. He moved up to the leadoff spot in the Diamondbacks’ order for Saturday’s game vs. the Nationals, putting him directly ahead of the Diamondbacks’ most dangerous hitters. That start did come against a southpaw, so it will be interesting to see where he bats against right-handers with Marte sidelined.
JP Sears pitched well in his first start of the year, posting a 2.70 ERA with seven strikeouts against the Mariners. That was apparently enough to put him on the fantasy radar as a streaming option for Saturday. That matchup was against the Rockies in Coors Field, which is one of the worst pitching environments in baseball. His first start was in Seattle—one of the most pitcher-friendly parks in the league—so it’s a massive step up in competition. Sears managed to secure the win, allowing three earned runs over 6.1 innings, but he added just two strikeouts.
Jorge Polanco is another player off to an outstanding start at the dish and stands out as a priority add for those needing infield help. He hit his second home run of the year on Friday, but he’s been making elite contact all season. It’s obviously very early, but he currently ranks in the 95th percentile for xwOBA, 99th percentile for xBA, and 91st percentile for xSLG.
Mitchell Parker was another streaming option for Saturday’s slate after picking up a win in his first. He fired 6.1 scoreless innings vs. the Phillies, but his underlying metrics weren’t nearly as favorable. He doesn’t bring a ton to the table from a strikeout perspective, and his batted ball data is also subpar. That’s not a great combination, but he managed to walk the tightrope against the Phillies. He did it again Saturday vs. the Diamondbacks, pitching six innings of one-run ball, but his underlying metrics were unimpressive once again. He’s not someone who needs to be added.
Most of these players have been featured repeatedly in this section this season, and there’s not much left to say about them. Kristian Campbell and Wilyer Abreu have both been phenomenal for the Red Sox, and both deserve to be owned in basically every league at this point. Eugenio Suárez has a proven track record as a power hitter, and he’s absolutely crushing the ball to start the year. Lars Nootbaar has solidified his spot as the Cardinals’ leadoff hitter and appears poised for a breakout after posting years of solid underlying metrics.
Otto Lopez is the only new addition compared to yesterday’s list, but he’s also someone who has garnered plenty of attention in these columns this season. He has a .370 xBA to start the year and is a legitimate stolen base threat, so he’s another player who should be rostered at a much higher frequency.
Category-Specific Players to Add
Brandon Lowe (TB), 1B/2B (59% Yahoo, 17.2% ESPN)
Lowe feels like a pretty proven commodity at this point. He broke out in 2021, launching 39 homers with a 136 wRC+, but injuries have hampered him since then. He played just 65, 109, and 107 games over the past three seasons, but he’s still been a pretty impactful hitter when in the lineup. He has exactly 21 homers in back-to-back years, so he still has plenty of power upside.
Lowe has already sent two balls over the fence in 2025, and his batted-ball data to start the year looks fantastic. He’s ninth in the league in xSLG, ranking in the 89th percentile in barrel rate, 94th percentile in hard-hit rate, and 95th percentile in average exit velocity. He doesn’t swing the bat as hard as you’d expect for a power hitter, but if he can stay healthy this season, he has a chance to get back to 30+ homers. Ultimately, he’s one of the best sources of power production that’s likely to be available in your league.
Brendan Rodgers (HOU), 2B (1% Yahoo, 0.4% ESPN)
Rodgers is a former top prospect, topping out at No. 31 overall in 2020 per FanGraphs. Unfortunately, he was unable to translate that into any major league success with the Rockies.
Flaming out at Coors Field is not a particularly promising sign, but perhaps a change of scenery will make a difference. Rodgers has started five of the first eight games for the Astros this season, and he’s hitting .313 over that sample. Part of that is due to an inflated .417 BABIP, but his .283 expected batting average is nothing to sneeze at. As long as he continues to get at-bats for the Astros, he could help teams looking to improve their batting average.
Max Meyer (MIA), SP (24% Yahoo, 9.8% ESPN)
Meyer made his second start of the season on Friday, and it came against a desperate Braves lineup. They started the year 0-7, but they were able to put together their best offensive performance of the year vs. the young left-hander. They ultimately tallied eight hits against Meyer in just six innings, and they pushed three runs across the plate.
Still, it was a pretty encouraging result for Meyer, all things considered. His 1.75 FIP was significantly better than his 4.50 ERA, and the Braves had a .444 BABIP. In other words, his performance was better than the final results showed.
Most importantly, Meyer continued to pile up the punchouts. He had eight more vs. Atlanta, bringing his tally to 15 through his first 11.2 innings. He may not contribute many wins, but he should be a big help to any squad looking for Ks.
Streaming Pitchers
Be sure to check out the great Nick Pollack’s SP Streamer Rankings to see his favorite choices in the opening week. He’s highlighted Jordan Hicks for Sunday’s slate, but he’s far from the only viable option.
Jackson Jobe (DET), SP (60% Yahoo, 23.3% ESPN)
Jobe is owned in exactly 60% of Yahoo leagues, but he’s well below that figure on ESPN. Regardless, it’s hard not to get excited about his prospects for a matchup vs. the White Sox on Sunday.
Jobe has the potential to be a future ace at the MLB level. He entered this season as one of the top pitching prospects in baseball, and he was ranked No. 9 overall by FanGraphs. Things didn’t go particularly well for him in his first outing this season, but that was the first MLB start of his career. There were always likely to be some growing pains.
If he’s more settled in for his second, he has the potential to mow through one of the weakest lineups in baseball. He pitched to a 2.36 ERA across 21 minor-league starts last season, and he averaged 9.43 strikeouts per nine innings. The White Sox had the worst wRC+ by a comfortable margin against right-handers last season, so it’s a great spot for Jobe to put his talent on display.
Speculative Adds
Zach Neto (LAA), SS (66% Yahoo, 17.6% ESPN)
Neto is likely still a couple of weeks away from returning to major league action, but he made an important step in that direction on Friday. He played six innings at shortstop on a rehab assignment at Triple-A, so he’s clearly ramping up his activity.
Neto was a solid asset for fantasy players last season, racking up 23 homers, 30 steals, 70 runs, and 77 RBIs in an underwhelming Angels lineup. If you have an IL spot available and need help at shortstop, Neto is an appealing stash.
Nick Kurtz (ATH), 1B (5% Yahoo, 1.3% ESPN)
Rostering prospects is always difficult in leagues with minimal bench spots. Unless you have an idea of when a player is going to be called up to the majors, you’re wasting a valuable roster spot for someone who might not even give you much production when their time finally comes.
However, Kurtz might be worth making an exception for. He’s one of the top hitting prospects in the league, and a call-up to the Athletics could be right around the corner. They need something to get whatever fans they have left excited, and Kurtz is absolutely tearing the cover off the ball at Triple-A. He’s hitting .462 with three homers and 11 RBIs through six games, and he has four multi-hit efforts over that time frame. Even his outs are exciting: he had a groundout clocked at 107.9 miles per hour on Friday.
Kurtz has 65-grade raw power, and he has a solid hit tool as well. He hit .368 across two minor league levels last season in his first taste of pro ball, so he has the potential to be a special hitter right out of the gates.
Deep League Players to Watch
Tim Tawa (ARI), 2B (0% Yahoo, 0.1% ESPN)
With Marte hitting the IL for the Diamondbacks, Tawa is going to have an opportunity to try to make an impact at the big-league level. He was promoted from Triple-A after launching three homers in his first six games, and he clubbed 31 homers across Double-A and Triple-A last season. He added 14 steals and batted .280, so he has a fantasy-friendly profile overall.
Tawa isn’t considered a can’t-miss prospect by any stretch, but there’s enough upside here to warrant an add in deep leagues.
