Welcome to the Waiver Wire Picks, our daily fantasy baseball article that looks at the best players 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. We’ll also look at the most-added players in fantasy baseball across the major sites and tell you which players to add and which to leave on the wire.
Top Priority Players to Add
Griffin Jax (TBR) – SP, RP (Yahoo – 30%)
Jax’s headline numbers aren’t fantastic, but he’s been much better since stretching out in the rotation. Jax has a 3.00 ERA as a starter and 26 strikeouts in 30 innings. He had one poor start against the Tigers, giving up 3 homers in 4 innings, but has otherwise kept the ball in the park. Jax has a diverse arsenal, throwing 4 pitches at least 20% of the time, plus two others at 7 and 8%. His weekend matchup is against an Angels offense that ranks 25th in wRC+ since May 1st. Jax has a favorable home park, but a tough matchup against the excellent Nationals offense next week. I might sit Jax for that one, but he’d be in my lineup more often than not.
Jacob Wilson (ATH) – SS (Yahoo – 63%)
This is more of a recommendation for shallower leagues, as Wilson is owned in the majority of Yahoo leagues already. Wilson went on the IL on May 10th with a left shoulder subluxation, but came off the IL today. Wilson was plugged into the 5th spot in the lineup in his first game back in the lineup. Wilson has been doing Wilson things, hitting .292 with minimal power over the first month-plus of the season. The temperature hit triple digits in Sacramento today, though, compared to a high of 81 when Wilson went on the IL. With the hot summer here, the ball has been flying – the A’s lead MLB in homers over the past three weeks. Wilson seems well poised to chip in double-digit homers again with his customarily elite batting averages.
Yahoo and ESPN Most Added Players
All streaming starters atop the adds for Yahoo leagues. Gage Jump has burst onto the scene with a 2.45 ERA and 1.09 WHIP through his first three MLB starts. After a bit of a struggle hosting the Mariners in his first start, Jump totally shut down the Astros and Cubs in two road starts leading into this one. With an excellent matchup against the visiting Rockies, it makes sense to get him into your lineup. After running strikeout rates of 28.4% in 2025 and 33.1% in Triple-A this year, Jump’s 17.8% K rate through three starts is his only disappointing feature. With a 10.4% swinging strike rate and a 109 Stuff+, you have to expect the strikeouts to tick up with more time.
Javier Assad has a nice matchup on the road in San Francisco. The Giants’ offense is average at home, despite the heroic efforts of Casey Schmitt. Assad has had two nuclear appearances, giving up 15 runs in 7 innings against the Phillies and Dodgers in April. His other 7 appearances have yielded just 2 runs in 25.1 innings. Assad spent three weeks in the minors between May 15th and June 7th, and continued his pattern, giving up 5 runs in his first appearance and 1 in the next two. After returning to the majors, Assad pitched 6.1 scoreless innings against the Giants in relief of the injured Jameson Taillon. He appears to be staying in the Cubs rotation with Matthew Boyd’s return delayed, so this is a chance to get in early.
Zack Littell made me eat my words last week with a solid 5 inning outing in Arizona. He got a late start tonight after a 2 hour and 15 minute rain delay, and he probably wishes the game had been rained out. He lasted just 1.2 innings and gave up 5 runs on 4 hits, a walk, and no strikeouts. Littell had been on a sustained hot streak, lowering his ERA from 7.85 at the start of May to 4.76 entering today’s game. I’m with the ERA estimators, though, and think Littell will wind up somewhere above 5.00.
Tatsuya Imai is one of the more perplexing starters in baseball. He’s striking out and walking a ton of batters, looking more like his younger self in Japan instead of the starter who walked fewer than 2.5 batters per 9 innings last year. Stuff models are absolutely not a fan, with Stuff+ giving him an 87 and PitchingBot a 42. At Kansas City is a good matchup, but the offenses ran both starters after 0.2 IP with the score 9-5. Imai seems like more headache than is worth streaming at this point.
Bryce Miller has been dominant since returning from the IL. He gave up 1 run in 6.1 IP today, a line that ended up increasing his ERA to 1.35. Miller is throwing harder, getting more whiffs, and stuff models like his current arsenal more as well. On top of that, his control has been excellent, giving up only 5 walks (1 intentional) in 33.1 innings. He shouldn’t be on waivers in any league; Nick has him inside the top 30 starters on the most recent edition of The List.
Eduardo Rodriguez has spectacular headline numbers for the season, although the last two starts haven’t been great. Rodriguez has given up 6 runs (5 earned) in 9 innings in his last two turns through the rotation, with the Nats putting the bat to the ball and then him avoiding the strike zone altogether against the Reds last night (5 walks in 2.2). All of the underlying stats say he’s a #5 while he’s putting up #1 numbers. I don’t love rolling with him as a streamer when the skills aren’t there, especially in hitter-friendly environments. His next turn is at home vs. the Angels, so you could roll him out there against the weaker offense if you’re desperate for innings, but I’m a pessimist.
Roki Sasaki was picked up for a matchup at the White Sox. He’s coming off his best start in the majors, a 7 inning, 2 hit, 2 walk, 10 K performance against the Angels. The White Sox are 6th in the majors in wRC+, though, and made managers regret streaming Sasaki. Sasaki gave up 7 earned in 4.1 on 11 baserunners. Still, even with the dud yesterday, Sasaki has pitched to a 3.86 ERA with estimators in the low-3’s since May 1st. If he’s returned to waivers, his next matchup is scheduled to be against Baltimore at home.
Shane McClanahan was the unfortunate recipient of a lot of bad batted-ball luck last night. The Angels had 8 hits on a .615 BABIP in 4 innings against the Rays’ ace, while McClanahan struck out 7. McClanahan hasn’t been vintage Shane Mac this season, but he’s still been excellent. His next start is a tough matchup in LA against the Dodgers. If you’re not going to start McClanahan against the Dodgers, there aren’t many pitchers you will. I think he’s above my cutoff for starting in every matchup in every 12+ team league.
The position player with the most movement this week was Dalton Rushing. Rushing temporarily has the Dodgers catching job to himself, as Will Smith went on the IL with neck inflammation. The Dodgers indicated Smith would need to “ramp up” after healing, so it’s unlikely to be a minimum stay on the IL. Rushing’s controversial slides aside, he’s been excellent at the plate, posting a .277/.362/.536 line in limited duty. Grab him if he’s available.
Speculative Adds
James Outman (DET) – OF (Yahoo – 0%)
It’s been a rough few years for Outman after his strong 2023 campaign. He was recently claimed by the Tigers off waivers from the Twins. The Tigers started him tonight in center field, batting ninth. The Tigers had previously been using a combination of Zach McKinstry, Wenceel Pérez, and Matt Vierling in center field. Vierling’s 68 wRC+ is the best among that group, and McKinstry is needed as a utility infielder with Javier Báez injured and Colt Keith frequently DHing. All that is to say, while it’s been a struggle for Outman, there’s a lot of opportunity here as well. Outman hasn’t performed over the past couple of years, but he also hasn’t had many opportunities, totalling just 374 plate appearances since the start of 2024. Outman’s contact rate is poor, especially outside of the zone, but he’s also been the victim of a .197 BABIP despite a 38.8% hard-hit rate and 10.5% barrel rate in 2024-5. You’re almost surely taking a hit in average if you play him, but there’s power and speed there. At the time of writing, he’s 1-2 with a homer and a strikeout against a highly effective Tanner Bibee, which seems about right for Outman.
Deep League Players to Watch
Gabriel Rincones Jr. Jr. (PHI) – OF (Yahoo – 0%)
Rincones was promoted by the Phillies yesterday following Adolis García’s likely season-ending injury. Rincones has mammoth power, but serious contact issues, especially against same-handed pitching. Philadelphia also acquired Derek Hill from the White Sox and added him to the roster. Hill is a short-side platoon bat, hitting .272/.317/.463 against lefties for his career, but only .195/.251/.271 against righties. Importantly, that means Rincones should get some run as a strong-side platoon bat where he has a shot to produce. Rincones has stolen 32, 23, and 21 bases in his three full minor league seasons, so there’s a shot at a low-average, power-speed bat in the vein of Cam Smith or similar players.
Category Specific Players to Add
Yoendrys Gómez/Andrew Morris/Anthony Banda (MIN) – RP (Yahoo – 14%/0%/1%)
Gomez was looking like the primary closer for the Twins, picking up 2 saves in June to give him 5 on the season. Then, last night, he came in to pitch the 8th inning of a tie game against the bottom of the Cardinals’ lineup. He got a popup from Masyn Winn, then gave up a single to Jimmy Crooks, threw a wild pitch and gave up a single to Blaze Jordan, and a run-scoring single to José Fermín before leaving the game to Banda. All of the singles were hard-hit grounders; Fermin’s single was fielded cleanly by a diving Tristan Gray, but Gray couldn’t get the ball out of his glove in time. Banda got out of the inning without any further damage and took the win after the Twins rallied for 2 in the bottom of the 8th. Morris closed the game out for his second save as a Twins reliever. None of these guys are particularly exciting from a skills standpoint, but saves are saves. Gomez still looks like the primary closer here, but be aware that the Twins may use him aggressively in non-save situations.
Streaming Pitchers
Noah Cameron (KC) – SP (Yahoo – 48%)
Cameron has ridden his excellent control to a 16.7% K-BB through 65.2 innings. His matchup is against the Astros in Kansas City. Kaufmann Stadium is a neutral park, but it significantly reduces homers. No stadium can keep Yordan Alvarez contained, so Cameron’s mission will be to try to minimize any damage from the Astros star. Cameron has been excellent after some early-season struggles, pitching to a 2.38 ERA since May 1st. Cameron has only yielded 1 homer and 3 walks in those 34 innings.
For more streaming starters, check out Nick’s streaming ranks, updated daily!
Graphic by Carlos Leano
