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
Bryce Miller (SEA) – SP (Yahoo – 55%)
Miller will show up below on the most-added list due to his start today in Detroit. He should be on all rosters, though. Nick has him 30th on this week’s edition of The List, which was written before the Mariners decided he didn’t need to piggyback off Luis Castillo anymore. Miller’s velo is up 1.7 MPH in his first 21 innings of the year. He’s striking out 25.3% of batters, a 1 percentage point increase on his previous career high, and he’s cut his walk rate to just 3.8%. Miller has a career-high 13.4% swinging strike rate and a career-high 112 Stuff+. Detroit had the worst offense in the majors by wRC+ in May. While the Baltimore matchup isn’t as great, you’d definitely start Miller in that one too.
Luke Raley (SEA) – 1B/OF (Yahoo – 29%)
Raley is a strong-side platoon bat for the Mariners, and if you’re rostering him, you should be happy for that. Raley is hitting .273/.339/.580 against righties this year, and just .083/.083/.083 against same-handed pitching in a very small sample. That’s basically Matt Olson with the platoon advantage. I normally wouldn’t be advocating for teams to be looking for platoon bats unless you’re in a deeper league, but this is a great opportunity to pick up the Mariners’ right fielder. The Mariners are projected to face 8 righties in their next 9 games, all of which are on the road. They start with two games in Detroit against Keider Montero and Jack Flaherty. Despite its reputation, Comerica Park has played as an average park according to Statcast park factors. The Mariners also get four games in Baltimore and three games in Washington, the 3rd- and 8th-best parks to hit in, and against the 22nd- and 25th-ranked pitching staffs by xFIP.
Moisés Ballesteros (CHC) – C (Yahoo – 12%)
A second platoon bat recommendation, but this is more for two-catcher leagues. Ballesteros is the Cubs’ primary DH against righties, and they’ve got 9 straight on the schedule. Ballesteros is coming off an abysmal May, where he hit just .102/.206/.153. Despite that, he’s still an above-average bat on the season, posting a .242/.313/.414 line against righties. The Cubs are also taking a three-game trip to Colorado next week, where Rockies pitchers have a 6.01 ERA. Ballesteros has some solid skills, ranking in the 81st percentile for hard-hit rate and the 66th percentile for barrel rate. If you’re playing someone like Gabriel Moreno or J.T. Realmuto in your second catcher slot, it might be worth considering making the switch even if only for the extra playing time.
Yahoo and ESPN Most Added Players
Streaming starters dominate the adds in Yahoo today. Matthew Liberatore gets an Elly De La Cruz-less Reds offense outside of Great American Ball Park. Liberatore has had an up-and-down season thus far, allowing 0 or 1 runs in 5 of his starts. It’s the 26 runs in his other 7 starts, most often not going six innings, that provide the concern. Still, the matchup is great, and the strikeouts were there in two of his three previous starts. Jack Leiter gets the Guardians at home. The Guardians have a 93 wRC+ vs righties. They also have the 7th highest walk rate and the 6th lowest strikeout rate against RHP, which could be difficult for Leiter’s high-K, high-BB skillset.
Keider Montero has a matchup against the Mariners today in Detroit. Montero has been pretty effective as a contact manager this season, and a true asset with a 1.00 WHIP. It’s not a convincing skillset, though, with just a 17.8% K rate. He gives up a lot of loud, fly ball contact, ranking in the 25th percentile in hard-hit rate and 18th percentile in groundball rate. I’d pass on this one. Zack Littell is pitching in Arizona. The Diamondbacks are a bit below average at the plate, although slightly better at home. Does this look like the Statcast page of a pitcher you feel comfortable starting, though?
The most added position player on Yahoo is Jung Hoo Lee. He’s been on a tear lately. Despite missing 10 days in May with a back strain, Lee has hit .398/.419/.530 over the past month. The Giants face 4 lefties in their next 8 games, though, meaning he’s more of a play for daily leagues.
ESPN managers are also picking up Miller, as they should. Leiter is also a popular streaming target today on both platforms. Ben Brown hosts the Giants today. He’s been excellent all season, and somehow even better since moving into the rotation. Brown has a 22% K-BB as a starter, which would rank 8th in MLB alongside Chase Burns if he sustained it for a season. Brown went 7 innings in his last start, so he’s fully stretched out. Nick, and stuff models, are more skeptical about Brown sustaining this level of success. Nick still has him as a probable start in his weekend streamer rankings, though.
Eduardo Rodriguez has a matchup against the Nationals today in Arizona. He’s posted a 2.24 ERA in his first 12 starts despite a career-low 8.8% K-BB and ERA estimators in the mid-4’s. I keep waiting for the wheels to fall off for Rodriguez. An 84.8% LOB rate isn’t sustainable. The Nationals are the 4th best offense in baseball by wRC+, and 2nd against lefties. Still, Martín Pérez posted a 2.89 ERA season in 2022 with Texas, although he had a 3 percentage point higher K rate. I don’t know, crazier things have happened, but I’m definitely not starting Rodriguez against top-tier offenses.
ESPN managers also have the incredibly versatile Casey Schmitt in their top adds today. The positional versatility is incredible, and he’s been tearing the cover off the ball. I’ll punt to Scott Chu, who had Schmitt ranked 68th in hitters for this week – and that’s before knowing he was going to go 4-6 with 2 homers yesterday.
Speculative Adds
Royce Lewis (MIN) – 3B (Yahoo – 21%)
The Twins designated James Outman today and recalled Lewis from Triple-A. Lewis has had a rough 2026, hitting .163/.261/.279. An unlucky .215 BABIP isn’t responsible for all of that, either. So why might you want to add Lewis? He’s mostly put up excellent power numbers over his career when he’s on the field. He’s had a huge drop in his contact rate this year, primarily driven by a 16 percentage point decline in his oContact. During his 13-game demotion to Triple-A, however, Lewis posted a 76.2% contact rate, in line with his previous rates in both the minors and MLB. Lewis’s power was on full display, as he torched Triple-A pitching for a .340/.417/.868 line with 8 homers. If you have a spare roster spot, it’s probably worth seeing if you can get the performance we expected from Lewis for free.
Graphic by Carlos Leano
