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
Chase DeLauter (CLE), OF (Yahoo – 66%)
It’s a bit shocking to be able to list DeLauter here, as he obviously should be rostered in every league. His roster rate on Yahoo comes as a real surprise, but it was a great excuse to start my article with him. After a hot start to the season, he cooled down and kind of faded off everyone’s radar. Those who kept the faith and stayed patient have been rewarded in the past week. He’s still stuck on five home runs, but has kept up being an on-base machine, with a .296 average and 17 walks to only 14 strikeouts on the season. In the last week, he’s batting .632 with four walks and only one strikeout.
His home run output is not something to be concerned about. When having watched him, he’s just missed having at least three more home runs. More than anything else, the concern continues to be whether he can stay healthy for a full season or not. To me, if the only question mark for a hitter is his health, then he’s an auto-start as long as he’s on the field. He should be treated like any good player. Even if he is going to get hurt, you want as many of his at-bats in your lineup as possible before that day comes. Obviously, the hope is he finds a way to stay healthy, but it’s hardly a problem that should be held against him here.
Casey Schmitt (SFG), 1B/2B/3B (Yahoo – 17%)
For fantasy purposes, Casey Schmitt is a utility player, although in real life, he’s settled in as the designated hitter for the San Francisco Giants due to his struggles at first base. With that said, he’s really the only player in the Giants offense whose doing something worth talking about at the moment. If you look at his baseball savant page, he’s been good in every area except the walk rate, which has been very low so far this season. With that said, I still like his profile as a guy whose not overly aggressive at the plate, who rarely swings and misses. So far this season, he has an impressive 91.4% zone contact rate and is showing his ability to be an all-around good hitter with a .300 average and 143 wRC+.
Yahoo and ESPN Most Added Players
Griffin Canning had an impressive debut on Sunday for the San Diego Padres against the Chicago White Sox. In his return from a torn Achilles, he struck out seven over five innings while allowing only one earned run. He also generated an impressive 16 whiffs on only 73 pitches and earned the win. He’s in a good situation where he should have a good shot at a win each time out.
As the schedule is turning more favorably towards Tyler Mahle, it’s a good time to bring him up. He delivered his second scoreless outing in three starts on Sunday, going 5.1 innings and only allowing four hits and a walk with five strikeouts. He also would have finished six innings and earned a quality start if not for a botched double play by Willy Adames. Mahle should be productive going forward with a more favorable schedule.
Braxton Ashcraft struggled on Tuesday in his return from the bereavement list, and I’m more inclined to chalk that up to a break in his rhythm after he delivered 7.2 scoreless innings on Sunday. He only allowed four hits and two walks while striking out six, and he cruised in this one. He continues to look like a breakout this season, and he now owns a 3.02 ERA and 1.08 WHIP across 41.2 innings this season.
Justin Wrobleski can’t continue getting away with this, but he did on Sunday, where he managed to throw six more shutout innings without recording a single strikeout. It’s an obvious one to point out that regression will come for him sooner rather than later. Last season, he showed an ability to command a larger arsenal while throwing closer to 97-98, but he’s reverted back to what he was before that, which is a two-pitch pitcher who throws 94 and doesn’t show an ability to miss bats.
Streaming Pitchers
Be sure to check out Nick Pollack’s SP Streamer Rankings, which he releases every day before any games have been played. It’s a great resource to use all season long. Check them all out here.
Randy Vásquez (SDP), SP (Yahoo – 58%)
It’s no surprise that my favorite streaming pick for Monday is Randy Vásquez, the starter who’s facing the San Francisco Giants in San Francisco. It’s honestly becoming one of the best spots to stream a starting pitcher this season. The Giants’ offense this year has been bad, and there’s especially not much fear that they will hit home runs at home either. Randy Vásquez has also been a vastly improved pitcher this season. He struggled in his last start, where he allowed five earned runs to the Chicago Cubs, and this makes for a great chance for him to get back on track.
Nick Martinez (TBR), SP (Yahoo – 35%)
Nick Martinez and his changeup have been on a roll over his last two starts, which span an impressive 15 innings where he has only allowed a single run. He’s in a groove right now and a good bet to pitch deep into games. He will face the Toronto Blue Jays, but it will be in Tampa, which will work to Martinez’s advantage. The Blue Jays have not been as scary as you would have expected going into the season, and I’m confident he comes through with a productive start here.
