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. 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
Agustín Ramírez (MIA), C, 1B (43% rostered on Yahoo, 31% rostered on ESPN)
It’s always fun when a young player with catcher eligibility gets hot! Agustin Ramirez has been, simply put, one of the best fantasy catchers this season after being given a chance to shine in the Marlins’ lineup. He hits around third/fourth and routinely produces, putting up okay ratios for a catcher and solid power numbers as well. The xStats paint a picture of a guy who will continue to put up solid numbers for a team, with his expected batting average projecting him to be a player who will excel in the category at a position that often hurts ratios.
Jacob Lopez (ATH), SP (22% rostered on Yahoo, 7% rostered on ESPN)
Yeah, we’re doing this.
I’ve believed that we’d see a random Jacob Lopez resurgence for quite some time now, and it finally has come. He’s pitched like an ace for a few starts now, and plenty of people are snatching him up off their waiver wires like crazy.
The lefty’s main pitches are a four-seamer and a slider, which he can get the most of by utilizing strong command. His four-seamer is pretty bad in nearly every metric, which is a major reason why he’s been ignored both this year and in the past. His slider, however, has looked excellent this year, as it’s in the 90th percentile in PLV and it’s gotten whiffs and called strikes at above-average rates. There isn’t much to write home about with the rest of his arsenal, though the potential is there if he commands those pitches as well as he does his current offerings.
In essence, Lopez is like a super version of Ryan Yarbrough, right down to being a former Rays swingman.
Yahoo and ESPN Most Added Players
It was an all-starting pitcher stream day yesterday in terms of Yahoo’s most added players, with plenty of the waiver wire’s top arms getting some really strong matchups worthy of a roster, at least for the day.
Jose Quintana hasn’t been amazing this year in most categories, but he was still a player you wanted against the Rockies at home. Unfortunately, he didn’t give fantasy managers much apart from the win, as he allowed four earned runs and only five strikeouts. It’s not ideal, but you still start a guy like Quintana when up against a lineup like that in Colorado.
Landen Roupp is probably the most promising pitcher on this list with his sinker and curveball combination. He gave managers five and a third innings of work, not allowing any earned runs en route to the win. I really like Roupp as a streamer pick, and while Arizona coming up is a tough matchup, I could see him getting held onto with solid performances like these.
Luis L. Ortiz is the ultimate firecracker this year, getting whiffs like crazy while also being prone to blowups and inefficient outings. His outing against the Cardinals was overall disappointing, though it could have been worse. The WHIP was solid at 1.00. Such is life with the poor execution, awesome stuff type pitchers.
José Soriano has been one of the more impressive pitchers as of late, going on a hot streak that really feels like a breakout. Unfortunately, he didn’t have as easy a time against the Nationals. Across four innings, he allowed 8 earned runs and 11 baserunners, destroying his WHIP and ERA for the week. It was rough, but we move forward and hope that he can reclaim his greatness from the past few weeks.
Brayan Bello had a much tougher matchup than the other pitchers on here, especially as he was facing the Jays in Boston. While the bullpen behind him was atrocious, Bello wasn’t too bad in the outing. If you’re in a Quality Start league, you’re certainly happy getting one out of him, though one strikeout and an inflated WHIP is never fun.
Yesterday’s top 5 ESPN adds were almost the same as the day before, featuring three players we already spoke about yesterday and one who we just spoke about in José Soriano.
Chase Burns and Jacob Misiorowski look to be dominant forces in the NL Central for a long time to come. Misiorowski, in particular, has looked insane, as his fastball is one of the most ridiculous pitches in MLB history. The combination of elite velocity, flat attack angle, and unheard-of extension makes it absolutely unhittable. The key for Misiorowski is to throw strikes, as he does have some of the weakest control of any top-of-the-line arm. Still, the results have been excellent so far, and it will be exciting to see how far up the ranks he can rise. Chase Burns is similar, though he lacks the extension and flat attack angle. He does have good vert and velocity, and many have said that his slider will be the best in the big leagues one day. There is some concern that he will be playing in Great American Ballpark most of the time, but hey, the balls won’t go out of the park if nobody can touch his stuff.
Byron Buxton is having an excellent season this year, as he went from a player risk-averse fantasy managers blacklisted to one of the most valuable players in the sport. He has been excellent this year, as he has already surpassed several of his totals from the last two years. Yes, there’s always the injury risk with him, but for those who have rostered him so far this year, they’re very happy with what they’ve gotten.
Alejandro Kirk is new for today, going from a player who wasn’t rostered in too many leagues to a guy who will soon be impossible to find on plenty of waiver wires. He’s now become a top 5 catcher and one worth rostering, even outside of points leagues. With injuries to catchers like Adley Rutschman and Iván Herrera, it makes sense that many would be looking to cash in on him, especially considering he has great ratios that make up for the lack of power and speed.
Category Specific Players to Add
Trevor Story (BOS), SS (33% rostered on Yahoo, 12% rostered on ESPN)
It’s felt like a while since Trevor Story was a valuable fantasy contributor. He’s been incredibly rough at many points throughout his Red Sox tenure in between injury and poor performance. With that said, he’s looked a little better as of late and has moved up the Red Sox lineup. He’s now hitting regularly in the 3/4 spot range, which makes him more likely to get RBIs and runs, and his knack for stealing bases could be valuable for those teams who are struggling in that category.
Sawyer Gipson-Long (DET), SP, RP (4% rostered on Yahoo, 2% rostered on ESPN)
It hasn’t quite been the start of the season for Sawyer Gipson-Long that we had been hoping for. He has come back from injury and has performed pretty poorly. With that said, there is still potential value that can be squeezed out of SGL. Mainly in terms of wins, as he plays for a top team. It also helps that the Tigers have thrown him behind an opener for some of his starts, which increases the odds of him getting the win, especially when he hasn’t really gone deep into games often.
Streaming Pitchers
WAIT! You haven’t read Nick Pollack’s starting pitcher streamer rankings for today? Get on that pronto. He ranks every expected starter for each day, highlighting who you should start, sit, and claim off waivers. The whole series of these can be found here: https://pitcherlist.com/category/fantasy/sp-streamers/
In terms of whom I would recommend you pick up? A couple of names come to mind.
Chad Patrick (MIL), SP (32% rostered on Yahoo, 14% rostered on ESPN)
Hooooo boy, if you’re a manager of Chad Patrick, you’re probably going to really enjoy the next few weeks, as he has the Rockies in Milwaukee up on Sunday, followed by dates with the Marlins and Nationals. It’s going to be a lot of fun, and you’re likely going to get the most out of a pitcher who is found on the wire still in many leagues. Patrick is a good arm who has done a pretty solid job this year, racking up strikeouts at a slightly above average rate along with putting up a good ERA. His WHIP isn’t the best as he is prone to having some outings where he gives up a lot of hits, but it’s hard to imagine that coming against a historically awful Rockies offense.
Shane Smith (CWS), SP, RP (21% rostered on Yahoo, 15% rostered on ESPN)
Shane Smith has been a popular pick in this article for me, as I rode with him for quite some time this season. Unfortunately, the train has derailed as of late, and he has looked incredibly mortal. With that said, I really like the matchup against San Francisco. They’re an offense with plenty of underperformers, and while Rafael Devers is amazing, I just don’t see them being too much of a challenge for an arm that looked incredible at times this season.
