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 you can leave on the wire.
Top Priority Players to Add
Bryce Eldridge (SFG) – 1B (Yahoo – 46%)
I’m only including him here because 1) he’s somehow not 50% owned yet, and 2) he might be the best rookie out there. At 6’7 and 251 pounds, Eldridge (at just 21) has enormous power that will only grow with time. He’s already in the 85th percentile (or above) in Average Exit Velocity, Barrel Rate, Hard-Hit rate, and xBA. His on-base percentage is over .400 and he’s slugging over .550.
So if by some miracle no one in your league has grabbed Eldridge yet (and apparently this is a miracle in more than half of Yahoo leagues), make your move. He’s a must-own player in all formats and has the ceiling to be a second- or third-round player next season.
Carter Jensen (KC) – C (Yahoo – 37%)
Jensen hasn’t quite blossomed into the offensive force we thought he could be after an impressive Spring Training, but there’s still time. With Salvador Perez struggling with a thumb injury (and just plain struggling), Jensen is seeing more action and could get to a hundred plate appearances this month. So far in June he’s been an RBI machine, with eleven already on the month, and he’s hitting a cool .255 with a .473 SLG.
The Royals have lately been batting Jensen at the top of the lineup against righties, which is an interesting strategy given his .302 OBP this season. But he’s got nine XBH’s in just 61 AB’s in the role and has knocked in 14 runs. KC will likely keep this experiment going as long as Jensen keeps driving the ball.
Tommy Edman (LAD) – 2B,3B,OF (Yahoo – 8%)
Last season, Edman came out of the gates on fire and hit five homers in April, looking like a totally different player. Unfortunately, he had a .600 OPS the rest of the way and injuries sidelined him for much of August and September. Offseason ankle surgery has kept him off the field until this week, so while we’re not sure which version of Edman we’ll get, he does play in one of the league’s best lineups and should get solid run-producing opportunities. Edman’s profile fits points leagues more than categories, but he’d be a threat to score ninety runs over a full season.
In fourteen games in AAA, Edman hit a decent .275 with a .743 OPS. A good source of steals back in the day, Edman also swiped a bag (a good sign, given he only stole three last year). Hopefully this is the Edman we see in the Majors.
Kody Clemens (MIN) – 1B,2B,OF (Yahoo – 29%)
Clemens has quietly been leveling up over the last couple of years, and not a lot of people have noticed. Historically given sporadic playing time, Clemens is now an everyday fixture in the Twins’ lineup, and he’s producing.
Clemens has been up and down the batting order this season, but lately is getting the bulk of his appearances hitting in the 3/4/5 range, and he’s got a combined OPS of .875 in those slots. His batting average has gone up in each month this season, peaking in June at .298 with a .632 SLG. He’s got five homers for this month and four doubles, and that’s in only 57 at-bats. And perhaps most surprising of all, he’s running a decent amount as well, already surpassing his career high in stolen bases (he’s got six this season; last year he had five).
Looking at his Process chart, Clemens has consistently had solid power (his 92.5 mph exit velo is 92nd percentile). But as he’s gained more playing time, his decision-making has improved (it could still use some work), and the contact metrics have shifted from negative to positive. For the first time in his career, Clemens is worth investing in.
Gage Jump (ATH) – SP (Yahoo – 34%)
The #3 prospect for the Athletics has been showing out in his first four starts, averaging 5.2 innings per appearance with a 3.09 ERA. Mostly a fastball/slider pitcher, Jump mixes in a devastating changeup to right-handed hitters 13% of the time and gets a 45% Whiff rate (no batter has gotten a hit yet on the pitch).
Given the limited variety of pitches, scouts initially projected Jump to be a reliever. He’s also a lefty with an unorthodox side-arm motion, a delivery that’s caused some to wonder if he’d hold up to a starter’s workload. But he’s shown solid control and works efficiently, so it’s yet to be a problem, and he threw a combined 112 IP across multiple levels in the Minors.
So far in the Majors, hitters have only barreled the ball 3% of the time against Jump. He also K’ed 56 batters in 38 IP in AAA, so the K-rate should climb higher as he gets more comfortable. Gage has the potential to be an impact arm the rest of the way.
Yahoo and ESPN Most Added Players
Yahoo!
Martín Pérez tops the list this week, but his expected Thursday start will get bumped to Friday as Atlanta was rained out. Unfortunately for everyone who picked him up, he now gets the Brewers at home and Jacob Misiorowski will be the other starter. Perez’s chances of getting a W in this one aren’t zero, but they’re not great. Still, he’s been excellent this year with a changeup that has a .136 BAA and a 32% Whiff rate, and he throws it a third of the time. Expect a pitcher’s duel here.
Paul Goldschmidt was featured in this column a few weeks ago—and hey, sometimes we get one right. The 38-year-old potential HOFer is barreling 12% of balls and already has more homers than he did all of last season (where he had more than 500 plate appearances). His OPS is almost 200 points higher than in 2025 as well. Goldy’s also getting more playing time than ever given the Yankees’ injuries, luckily he’s healthier than he’s been in a long, long time.
Drohan’s mostly been in long relief this season, but has been converted to a starter as of a few weeks ago. He’s got some solid metrics like an 86th-percentile Chase rate and is obviously pitching for a good team, but he’s only gone more than five innings once so far, and that was against the Rockies at home. He’s a fine streamer in good matchups, but not much more than that.
Zack Gelof’s been an intriguing player ever since he came into the league in 2023 and went 14/14 over half a season with Oakland with an .841 OPS. He appeared on everyone’s breakout list the season after but hit a sophomore slump, hitting just .211 and striking out 35% of the time. He was even worse in 2025 (a 45% K-rate), but now it looks like he’s righted the ship and is back to realizing his potential. I love Gelof and you should too, just know that his .286 batting average is not sustainable (his xBA is .222) and his K:BB rate is still around 5:1. Still, he’s got a solid power/speed combination that works well in categories leagues, and has been on fire for almost a month.
ESPN
Streaming Pitchers
Check out Nick Pollack’s SP Streamer Rankings for the complete breakdown on every start for the next few days. There are two pitchers to highlight.
Trevor McDonald (SF) – SP (Yahoo – 11%) vs MIA
I picked McDonald last week and it didn’t go so well. He was in a rematch against the Cubs, and it was clear they’d picked up a thing or two after seeing him just a week before. It didn’t help that McDonald was more inefficient than usual, unable to get past the fourth inning in 92 pitches. He should fare better against the Marlins, though, and his 99th-percentile ground ball rate still plays. McDonald doesn’t have great numbers, but he’s pitched against tough teams and held his own, even if the stat sheet shows he’s lost four of his last five starts.
Troy Melton (DET) – SP (Yahoo – 23%) vs CHW
It might be hard to trust Melton after he was skipped in the rotation earlier this week due to back tightness, but he’s showing that despite a lousy strikeout rate he can keep hitters off base. He had a 1.01 WHIP last season and a 2.76 ERA—this year he’s got an identical 1.01 WHIP and a 2.81 ERA. Melton throws fairly hard (96-97) and both his cutter and splitter are excellent pitches (hitters have a .100 SLG against the cutter and a .143 SLG on the splitter). He’s probably due for some regression at some point, but his six-pitch arsenal keeps hitters guessing, so he consistently overperforms his metrics.
