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
Maikel Garcia (KC), 2B/3B (57% Yahoo, 72% ESPN)
Maikel Garcia has dipped below the 60% rostered threshold in Yahoo leagues, but he’s proving why that isn’t justified. He went 3-for-5 at the plate on Sunday with two home runs, bringing his season slash line to .319/.379/.496 with four home runs, 14 runs, 14 RBIs, and seven stolen bases. His counting stats are lagging due to the Royals’ entire offense underperforming so far this year, but his batting average, stolen bases, and home runs suggest that this is going to be a breakout season for the 25-year-old.
This isn’t completely out of nowhere, as he was also a popular breakout pick heading into 2024 before ultimately disappointing. The main contributor was his 50.6% hard-hit rate in 2023, which ranked in the 93rd percentile. He only hit four home runs that season due to his ground ball rate hovering around 50% for his career, so the thinking always was that more power could come if he could simply hit the ball in the air more often. While it didn’t work out last season, he’s doing exactly that so far in 2025. His 43.8% groundball rate is a career-best, down about 6% from last season. Combine that with his once again excellent 53.1% hard-hit rate, and you can see how he is already over halfway to his 2024 home run total. He’s on pace for 35 stolen bases, which gives his value a solid floor in roto leagues, but he has huge upside if he can also keep up his current pace for home runs and batting average.
Jackson Holliday (BAL), 2B/SS (49% Yahoo, 34% ESPN)
Jackson Holliday is a young player who came into the season with a lot of hype, but has been dropped from many fantasy teams due to a slow start. He has finally shown signs of life lately, as he is currently on a five-game hitting streak that includes a two-homer game on Sunday. This is a great reminder of how early in the season we still are, as just that one game raised Holliday’s slugging percentage from .357 to .443. He is now slashing .273/.340/.443 with four home runs and two stolen bases, which all of a sudden doesn’t look too bad. It’s too early to give up on a player with this elite of a prospect pedigree who plays the weakest position in fantasy, so don’t let him sit on your league’s waiver wire.
Agustín Ramírez (MIA), C/1B (46% Yahoo, 18% ESPN)
For how exciting of a player Agustín Ramírez is and how weak the catcher position is for fantasy, it’s surprising that he is still available in so many leagues. He has been an extra-base machine through the first 11 games of his career, hitting three home runs and five doubles. The youngster has also stolen one base so far, but he already had five in 19 games in Triple-A before his promotion. He has also seen time at first base and designated hitter for the Marlins, which gives him a safety net of playing time that many others at the position don’t have. He has the skillset to be a potential difference maker even in shallow one-catcher leagues, so take the shot on him if you don’t have a reliable starter.
Iván Herrera (STL), C (47% Yahoo, 28% ESPN)
Iván Herrera recently began a rehab assignment with Triple-A Memphis and immediately blasted a three-run home run in his first game. This would put him on pace to return at the end of this week or early next week, and you don’t want someone else to add him before you can. After being touted as one of the best breakout options at the position all offseason, he hit .381 with four home runs in his first seven games of the season before going down with a bone bruise in his left knee. He has legitimate top-5 upside at the position, and he should be universally rostered by the time he is activated off the injured list.
Tony Gonsolin (LAD), SP (36% Yahoo, 17% ESPN)
Tony Gonsolin made his season debut this past Wednesday, allowing three runs on six hits while striking out nine over six innings against the Marlins. He induced 17 swinging strikes on 77 pitches, which is about as good as you could have hoped for in his first start since 2023. With the best offense in baseball giving him run support, he could be a very valuable asset for fantasy. That’s especially true in weekly leagues this week, as he’s in line for two starts against the Marlins and Diamondbacks.
Lucas Giolito (BOS), SP (14% Yahoo, 6% ESPN)
Coincidentally, Lucas Giolito also made his first start since 2023 on Wednesday night, allowing three runs over six innings with seven strikeouts. Just like Gonsolin, he also has two starts this week, set to be against the Rangers and the Royals. Giolito was cruising through five shutout innings in his first start before falling apart a bit in the sixth, but it was a promising showing for a pitcher of his caliber, shaking off over a year of rust. This is more of a speculative add until we can see more of him, but the upside is worth taking a chance on based on the type of pitcher he was earlier in his career and Boston’s offense set to give him good chances at wins.
Yahoo and ESPN Most Added Players
Kyle Stowers is the most added player on Yahoo thanks to a two-homer day on Saturday. It wasn’t just that one game, though, as Stowers has been on fire all season long. His slash line sits at .321/.387/.541 with six home runs, 18 runs, and 25 RBI. He’s not getting lucky either, with a .408 xwOBA and 20.3% barrel rate that rank among the very elite. While his current production is unsustainable just based on common sense, that doesn’t mean he will fall off a cliff when he does start to slow down. He was a decently regarded prospect and could legitimately be taking a step forward, which would make him a must-own player in five-outfielder leagues and a decent add in three-outfielder leagues if you need a hot-hand streaming option.
The other four on this list were all streaming options on Sunday. JP Sears allowed two runs over 6.1 innings with two strikeouts. It was a solid outing to continue his nice start to the season, but it’s safer to stay away for his next start against the Yankees. Michael Lorenzen got hit hard, allowing five runs on seven hits and a walk over 4.2 innings against the Orioles. He’s not worth holding onto for his next start against the Red Sox. Lance McCullers Jr. made his first start since 2022, striking out four over 3.2 shutout innings against the White Sox. It was a promising enough outing for someone who hasn’t pitched in over two full seasons, and he was always a useful fantasy pitcher when healthy. He’s worth adding as a flier to see where his stuff stands after he gets a few starts under his belt. Reese Olson allowed three runs over 5.2 innings while striking out seven. He is my favorite of this bunch of streamers in terms of rest of season value, as he delivered a 3.53 ERA in 2024 and is a more reliable option than the other four.
The most added player in ESPN leagues over the past seven days is Jorge Polanco, who was batting .526 with five home runs in his past seven games entering Sunday. He is 80% rostered in Yahoo and 75% rostered in ESPN, so he likely isn’t available, but add him if he is on waivers in your league. It seems like he may be returning as a top-12 second baseman like he was earlier in his career. The same can be said for Eugenio Suárez, who is rostered in 89% of Yahoo leagues and 61% of ESPN. He is a solid home run source at third base and should be universally rostered.
Noelvi Marte has looked good to begin 2025, batting .294 with three homers and four steals through 19 games. He has slowed down in the past seven days though, and I’m not convinced that he will stay a long-term success. He makes for a fine add in roto leagues where you need a corner infielder, but there are probably better options in shallower leagues. Andy Pages also isn’t likely to keep up his hot streak all year, but as it stands now, he is slashing .269/.342/.472 with six home runs and three steals. He’s worth an add in any five-outfielder leagues or as a hot-hand streaming play in shallower leagues. Kyle Stowers also appears on this list, who was discussed previously in this article.
Streaming Pitchers
Be sure to check out Nick Pollack’s SP Streamer Rankings to figure out who you need to start, stream, or sit each day this season. There’s one name that I particularly like for today.
Matthew Boyd (CHC), SP (34% Yahoo, 15% ESPN)
Matthew Boyd isn’t the most exciting option out there, but he’s one of the steadiest. Through six starts this season, he’s yet to give up more than three earned runs in an outing, leading to a 2.70 ERA. His 1.44 WHIP is high due to the 13 walks he’s issued through 33.1 innings, but he’s safe enough to trust as a streaming option against the Giants on Monday. He will also pick up a second start against the Mets later in the week, which is a much tougher matchup, but he could still be used as a two-start pitcher if you’re running thin at the position in a weekly league.
Deep League Players to Watch
Edgar Quero (CHW), C (2% Yahoo, 1% ESPN)
Edgar Quero has very quietly had an amazing start to his major-league career. After yet another multi-hit game on Sunday, his slash line now sits at .340/.446/.404 through 16 games. He’s put up an excellent 12.5% walk rate and an even better 8.9% strikeout rate, which is exceptional plate discipline that you don’t often see in a rookie’s first taste of the big leagues. His power has been pretty non-existent so far, with no home runs and three doubles, but his batting average alone makes him an asset in deep two-catcher leagues. It’s pretty easy to rank him inside the top-24 catchers for the rest of the season, which would make him a solid option as a second catcher.
Ryan Weathers (MIA), SP (9% Yahoo, 2% ESPN)
Remember Ryan Weathers? He took spring training by storm with a significantly improved fastball that was two mph faster than his previous average with multiple more inches of vertical break. Everyone was eager to see if his improvements carried over into the regular season, but he unfortunately suffered a forearm strain that landed him on the injured list to begin the season. He’s now nearing a return to the major league rotation, having already completed two rehab starts. He struck out six over three perfect innings in his first rehab appearance in Single-A, and allowed two runs on two hits and four walks with four strikeouts in a Triple-A rehab start on Friday. He’s set for one more start in Triple-A later this week, with the potential to be activated next week. He’s worth adding now in deeper leagues if you need pitching depth, as his ownership rate could skyrocket with a good appearance in his final rehab start.
Re Augustin: The 4 for 46 stretch and being on the Marlins certainly cooked enough fish to detract from Ramirez’s new-car smell; AKA, “he looked like a lot of other prospects that come out with a bang, but are silenced quickly, as major league pitchers and scouts find their unresolved swing issues.” I dig him, but I expect growing pains, and I’m not surprised that a lot of people don’t have a very high tolerance for growing pains on their roster. Catcher isn’t as top-heavy as it used to be. I had to bench him for the most of his second week on my roster. I kept him where I had him, I knew of him from the Yankees system, but it’s a big roster. I wouldn’t have held in a 10-teamer, and there are a lot of 10-teamers on those sites.
Where I heard about Herrera in fantasy circles this offseason, it was usually worries about playing time with Pages & Contreras vying for it. When I brought up the idea of him being a potential breakout in places that are educated on such things, no one disagreed, but they weren’t drafting him because of it. There were some places here and there that included him as a potential sleeper, IF someone that was “ahead” of him on the depth chart got injured, or someone tanked. His ADP was somewhere in the 300’s going into (amateur) draft season, and ended up around 250 in the end. He was ranked pretty low by most of the industry, and was drafted between Ryan Jeffers and Connor Wong, AKA The Last First Catcher on 16 Teamers. I heard a lot about O’Hoppe, Amaya, and some guys that had never played in MLB, though.
Marte’s gotta hit to stick in that lineup w/too many infielders. Most Reds can be swapped out in no time. Francona made it pretty clear, before Marte’s good stretch, that he sees Gavin Lux as his primary 3rd baseman with the team at full health, which it mostly is, now that Stephenson is back,
but not playing. Hays, Candelario, & ECS are injured, but none were part of the main plans for the infield. So he’s already running against the grade. I think he’s got the talent to be an upper level 3B, but he’s on the wrong team for that. I want to roster the talent since someone just dropped him, but my playing-time spidey sense is tingling.