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
Gavin Williams (CLE), SP (40% owned in Yahoo)
Williams was a trendy breakout pick and has underwhelmed so far, as his control and command have been shaky. However, the right-hander still has awesome stuff and has been trending positively lately. He has a monster 35.9% strikeout rate in May with a 2.57 ERA. Although the strikeout rate is dragged down a bit by his ballooned 15.6% walk rate.
🚨Gavin Williams is throwing Cutters as his #2 pitch. 🚨
THIS IS NOT A DRILL pic.twitter.com/OZ9zxuFz3B
— Nick Pollack (@PitcherList) May 21, 2025
Williams has the worst walk rate of his professional career and one of the worst Location+ marks in baseball at 89. Implementing a cutter could be a huge development for the Cleveland starter moving forward. We’ve seen what the impact of adding a pitch can do for some pitchers. He should be owned everywhere, but if he happens to be available, he is certainly worth grabbing.
Hayden Birdsong (SF), SP, RP (35% owned in Yahoo)
Birdsong is another pitcher with excellent stuff and recently transitioned to the Giants rotation. He shut down the Royals on Tuesday with five scoreless innings. With his strikeout upside and a friendly home ballpark, he is worthy of an add in standard leagues. He boasts a high velocity fastball and a kick-change that is nasty coming off of it.
Hayden Birdsong, 98mph ⛽️ pic.twitter.com/VwGeBgdHNq
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 21, 2025
Jack Leiter (TEX), SP (34% owned in Yahoo)
Leiter has returned from his early-season blister injury and has had some ups and downs. The 25-year-old looks more comfortable on the mound this season, while he will be volatile at times, there is an exciting ceiling if he puts some pieces together. And he gets the White Sox in his next start.
Jack Leiter, Back-to-Back 98mph Fastballs.
Messing with Timing with a slide step on the 2nd one (borrowing from Nate Eovaldi) pic.twitter.com/hAPHbx5gkH
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 14, 2025
Nolan Schanuel (LAA), 1B (9% owned in Yahoo)
Schanuel has posted a .424 xwOBA in May while also walking more than striking out. The 23-year-old increased his bat speed by nearly three miles per hour (65.2 MPH > 68.1 MPH). While still below average, he’s starting to show better contact quality with a 39.7% HardHit% and 8.6% Barrel%. Those sorts of power numbers combined with his strong swing decisions and contact ability make him much more appealing and worthy of adding in standard leagues.
Drake Baldwin (ATL), C (24% owned in Yahoo)
Baldwin has been on a tear recently with a 1.406 OPA in May. He’s posted a low 15.6% strikeout rate with a .388 xwOBA on the season. The only players with a 60% HardHit% in 2025 are the great Shohei Ohtani and Drake Baldwin (min. 75 PA).
In-Zone Hard-Hit Rate Leaders, Min 90 PA
Yes, this is partially a Drake Baldwin post. pic.twitter.com/XFppcBObyq
— Eric Cross (@EricCrossMLB) May 21, 2025
Jake Burger (TEX), 1B, 3B (45% owned in Yahoo)
Burger homered twice last night and has been on a heater since being recalled to the majors on May 12, slashing .290/.333/.452 with three homers in nine games. He’s striking out less than 20% of the time, to go with strong quality of contact. The slugging first baseman goes through peaks and valleys, and we shouldn’t forget his second half last season when he had a 147 wRC+ with 19 homers.
Yahoo and ESPN Most Added Players
Logan Evans was picked up in a spot start situation against the White Sox on Wednesday. It was a decent outing as he allowed four runs on six hits and a walk with seven strikeouts over six innings. His slot in the Seattle rotation is secure until Logan Gilbert returns.
Taijuan Walker was scooped up in a similar streaming spot at Coors Field, and it was a mixed bag. The Rockies have been so miserable offensively this season, which has presented the rare opportunity to stream at Coors Field, but the risk is still obvious with that.
Will Warren has been included in the most-added section a few times now. Nick Pollack highlighted the right-hander in Tuesday’s SP Roundup, and I dove deep into him last week. His progression is promising and makes him worth picking up universally.
Matt Shaw was recalled on Monday and has looked comfortable in his second stint in the majors, going 5-for-11 across three games in Miami. Shaw was crushing in the minor leagues before the recall, hitting five homers in his last five games and walking more than striking out. The top prospect has enticing power and speed traits in a loaded Cubs lineup.
Brady Singer disappointed in his favorable matchup against the Pirates, with an inefficient outing. He threw only 57 of 102 pitches for strikes and fell flat against a poor Pittsburgh lineup.
AJ Smith-Shawver has taken a step forward in his age-22 season with a 2.33 ERA and 1.24 WHIP through 38.2 innings. The SwStr% is improved from last year to this year (10.3% > 12.4%), and the peripherals look solid. He should be owned in most standard leagues.
Merrill Kelly has given up only five runs over 25.1 innings in May with a 27:3 K:BB. He can go on prolonged stretches of quality innings when his command looks like this.
Logan Henderson has had a historic start to his career and looks like a mainstay in the Brewers’ rotation.
Logan Henderson of the @Brewers is the only MLB pitcher in the modern era to strike out 7+ batters and earn the win in each of his first 3 career appearances. pic.twitter.com/HNux4ffsrJ
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) May 21, 2025
Matthew Boyd has been one of the most effective starters in baseball in May with a 2.12 SIERA. That only trails fellow left-handed starters Tarik Skubal and Cole Ragans. His velocity is up, and his slider has the best Stuff+ of his career at 112.
Will Benson won NL Player of the Week as he had a 1.959 OPS with five homers in 19 at-bats. This is a classic heater that are tough to predict, but perhaps Benson has turned a corner. Some of the contact metrics are improved, so time will tell if it is real.
Streaming Pitchers
Be sure to check out Nick’s daily SP streaming article!
Michael Soroka (WAS), Yahoo Positions (5% owned in Yahoo)
What if I told you that Michael Soroka has a top 10 SIERA (2.44) in May? In 14.2 innings, he has a 27% K-BB% along with a strong 57.9% groundball rate. The fastball velocity is the best of his career, and he gets a decent matchup at home against the Giants. San Francisco is middle of the pack in most stats against right-handed pitching. Soroka built up to 82 pitches last outing, and should have a good chance of earning a quality start.
Speculative Adds
Ronny Mauricio (NYM), 2B (1% owned in Yahoo)
Mauricio has been crushing at Triple-A Syracuse with homers in back-to-back games. After missing last season with a torn ACL, the 24-year-old is slashing .270/.341/.514 in May. There are whispers that Mauricio could be coming up to the majors sometime soon. The exit velocity numbers are super exciting with Mauricio combined with his strong hit tool make for a really promising package. Similar in a way to Michael Harris.
Ronny Mauricio is actually a very good hitter. It’s not a flawless profile, but those exit velos are ENORMOUS and his contact skills are sublime *even when he chases*. I think he’s the rare hitter who can succeed, even with poor discipline. Going to headline with him this weekend pic.twitter.com/hlz8RwHjUC
— Eli Ben-Porat 🇨🇦 (@EliBenPorat) May 21, 2025
Deep League Players to Watch
Edward Cabrera (MIA), SP (3% owned in Yahoo)
Quietly, Cabrera owns the best walk rate of his career (9.2%) as he has significantly reduced his four-seam usage to 8% on the season. Reducing four-seam usage has been part of an organizational philosophy with the Marlins. While the results and whiffs aren’t there for Cabrera, he has the best Stuff+ and command that he has ever shown in the big leagues. He is someone to keep tabs on in his next few starts.
