Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Picks: 5/1

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

 

Luis L. Ortiz (CLE), SP, RP (12% owned in Yahoo!)

Ortiz is fresh off a dominant outing of 6.1 innings of scoreless ball Wednesday against the Twins. I’ve written about the strides Ortiz has made in the whiff department and how that potentially changes how we should view him. Factor in improved control and command, and we can see Ortiz becoming more of a complete pitcher each time out on the bump.

Luis Ortiz is getting more whiffs than he ever has

His four-seam currently has the 3rd highest Whiff% (32.7%) in the zone

He is the #1 improver in Z-Contact% from 2024 to 2025 thus far (87.7% >- 78.8%)

His SIERA (3.88) is more than 2 runs lower than his current ERA (5.96) pic.twitter.com/HCV9YsrwR1

— Kyle McCarthy (@KyleStats1738) April 28, 2025

As noted, he’s been a bit unlucky so far this season, but he should see some better days ahead. Now could be an opportune time to buy in before the results start to follow.

Lucas Giolito (BOS), SP (12% owned in Yahoo!)

Giolito made his season debut Wednesday, returning from Tommy John surgery. It was a solid start as his fastball sat at 93.3 mph, and he racked up seven Ks in six innings. It’s a great sign to see his fastball stuff look crisp early on. The changeup whiffs weren’t there just yet, but could come in due time.

Lucas Giolito sitting 93/94 holding 7.0 feet of extension with 18” of vert?!

STRAIGHT INTO MY VEINS

— Nick Pollack (@PitcherList) May 1, 2025

Ben Casparius (LAD), RP (8% owned in Yahoo!)

Casparius has nasty stuff, and with word that the Dodgers are looking to stretch him out as a starter, he becomes very intriguing. He has one of the best sliders in baseball by Stuff+ (136) in addition to a plus cutter (112) and curveball (115). The four-seam is about average, but sits at a good velocity at 96.6 mph. So it’s a solid four-pitch pix that has the looks of a starter’s kit.

Francisco Alvarez (NYM), C (32% owned in Yahoo!)

Alvarez made his season debut last week and should be scooped up wherever available. He’s a promising young talent at the catcher position with prodigious power. Hitting in a strong Mets lineup, he has the skillset to be a top 8 catcher in fantasy for the rest of the season.

Victor Scott II (STL), OF (31% owned in Yahoo!)

The speedy Scott is making a lot of contact (87.7 Z-Contact%), and if he can keep his K% in the low 20% range, he will rack up the stolen bases to go with an acceptable AVG. He’s one of the few speed-only profiles worth investing in.

Jesus Sanchez (MIA), OF (4% owned in Yahoo!)

Sanchez has come back and continued his hard-hitting ways in Miami. He’s put up a 12.9 Barrel% and 0.368 xwOBA while keeping the K% in order and walking at a career-best clip. His projections paint a favorable picture for power as long as he gets plenty of opportunity.

 

Yahoo! and ESPN Most Added Players

 

 

Matthew Boyd has pitched to a 2.54 ERA in 28.1 innings so far in 2025. The command-oriented lefty has increased his fastball velocity by more than a tick, but has also seen his K% fall from 27.7% last season to 19.5%. When his command is on, he looks good, but I’m skeptical of buying into this mold of pitcher.

Andy Pages has been on a heater of late with a 0.387 xwOBA and just a 10.4 K% in the last two weeks. He was someone I touched on a few weeks ago as someone to keep tabs on, as he showed us a strong Barrel% as a rookie and continues to play every day for the Dodgers. He goes through peaks and valleys and can run hot when he is making adequate levels of contact.

Tony Gonsolin pitched well Wednesday with nine Ks in six innings. Stretched out to 77 pitches, it was nice to see him be efficient in his first start. He drew 17 swings and misses, which is tied for the second most by a Dodger starter in 2025. We saw what he was capable of in 2022 and he is worthy of an add.

Jorge Polanco is blistering the baseball and is your current leader in xwOBA (0.503) this season (min. 70 PAs). Polanco has the track record of big-time production with the Twins and could be on his way to replicating that in some fashion as he’s gotten more comfortable in his second season in Seattle.

Tobias Myers returned from the IL last week and didn’t get off to a hot start. However, he is someone who will be relied on in the Brewers’ rotation and demonstrated consistency as a rookie last season. It’s not a super exciting profile, but he can still provide value.

 

 

I dug into Noelvi Marte this week and assessed his first two stints in the majors and his white-hot start in 2025. It’s an exciting blend of power, speed, with contact in one of the most hitter-friendly ballparks in baseball.

Andrew Heaney has shoved in 2025 and looks like someone who can be relied on at home for the foreseeable future, while he is pitching like this.

Pete Crow-Armstrong should be universally owned as he is one of the most electric players in baseball. Lightning speed and flashing incredible quality of contact recently, with a mammoth 26.3 Barrel% and 0.440 xwOBA in the past two weeks.

Tylor Megill has been highlighted in this column as a priority add and should also be owned everywhere. He has excellent stuff and has put up the results to back it up.

 

Category Specific Players to Add

 

Trevor Larnach (MIN), OF (7% owned in Yahoo!)

Larnach had a breakthrough season in 2024 as he significantly improved his K% to right around league average, which enabled him to tap into his great raw power more. He’s maintained those contact strides into this season and looks like he could be heating up with four homers in the past two weeks. We’d like to see his GB% drop below the 50% mark, and that hasn’t been an issue for him in the past.

 

Streaming Pitchers

 

Be sure to check out Nick’s daily SP streaming article!

Jordan Hicks (SF), SP, RP (12% owned in Yahoo!)

Hicks gets the lucky draw of facing the Rockies away from Coors Field on Saturday. Hicks has a bloated 6.12 ERA, but the peripherals point to better days with a 3.70 FIP. The Rockies have also just been miserable away from home against right-handed pitching this season. They hold both the worst K% (29.3%) and the worst xwOBA (0.252). It is shaping up to be a good get right spot for Hicks.

 

Speculative Adds

Logan Evans (SEA), SP, RP (4% owned in Yahoo!)

Evans is a guy to keep an eye on as the Mariners deal with some injuries to the rotation. He made his MLB debut on Sunday against the Marlins and pitched decently across five innings. Evans flashed some intriguing pitch characteristics with two high Stuff+ breaking balls (141 slider, 136 curveball) to go with a near-average sinker and cutter. In total, it is a deep six-pitch mix as he threw every pitch in his arsenal at least nine percent of the time. Pitching in one of the most pitcher-friendly ballparks, he could be a streamer type in the near future.

Logan Evans utilized his entire six-pitch arsenal en route to a ‘W’ in his MLB debut.

More on the big day for the @Mariners‘ No. 10 prospect: https://t.co/qwbTZLKbVa pic.twitter.com/ZjI31Hlb5V

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) April 27, 2025

 

Deep League Players to Watch

 

Edgar Quero (CWS), C (2% owned in Yahoo!)

Quero has been playing mostly every day at catcher for the White Sox and has some promising traits. He’s come up to the majors and not struck out hardly at all (9.3%) and walking 14% of the time. There isn’t a ton of power in his bat with just a 107 mph MaxEV in the minor leagues, but it could be a Keibert Ruiz type of profile that could provide value so long as he continues to get plenty of run.