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
Max Clark (DET) – OF (Yahoo – 18%)
Perhaps to get their fanbase excited about something ahead of the imminent loss of Tarik Skubal, the Tigers called up Max Clark on Thursday morning. It’s an exciting development nonetheless, as Clark is an intriguing prospect with an impressive pedigree and immense talent. Here are his season-long numbers in AAA:
The thing is, these numbers don’t really tell the whole story (though that 50:66 walk-to-strikeout ratio should entice any points league player). Clark spent much of the season with a 3% Barrel rate until he made a swing adjustment in June. Nine of his eleven homers have come in the last two months, and he’s been carrying a 1.086 OPS in July.
The future is murky for the Tigers over the next couple of weeks, but it looks like they’ve committed to playing Clark every day in center field, so that’s one position locked down. With his speed and on-base skills, Clark could soon find himself hitting near the top of the order. If he hasn’t been scooped up in your league, he can help in a lot of categories and eventually become a five-tool player.
Kody Clemens (MIN) – 1B,2B,OF (Yahoo – 42%)
With the Twins down 3-0 in the bottom of the ninth, in a game where they didn’t get their first hit until the seventh inning, Kody Clemens bashed a fly ball to the bleachers for a walk-off grand slam. This was Clemens’ 19th homer of the season—which has already tied a career high—and certainly the biggest. But it’s merely the cherry on top for all the strides Clemens has made this season.
A career .218 hitter, Clemens was historically a part-time bat who provided very little help in any category. But when the Phillies DFA’ed him and Minnesota scooped him up, he started playing more regularly and showing he could be a quality hitter. It’s been an impressive turnaround, and is totally legit based on the peripherals, as Clemens boasts a 92.7 mph exit velocity, a .446 xSLG, and even has an above-average (okay, it’s 51st percentile) expected batting average, at .251.
And hey, seven steals doesn’t hurt, either. At 42% rostered, Clemens has been steadily climbing in ownership all season. But after yesterday’s heroics, how can you not pull the trigger? He’s a legit top-150 player at this point.
Luis Lara (MIL) – OF (Yahoo – 4%)
If you can’t get Clark or Clemens to help your outfield, Lara might be a surprisingly solid fallback option. Promoted on July 7, he started his first four games and then appeared to hit the bench about every third game for a while. But he could get more playing time going forward with six hits in his last five. He’s carrying a respectable .286 average after his first 50 plate appearances with an .802 OPS. While he’s yet to homer, he does have five doubles and one triple. And for you points league folks, he’s walking more than he strikes out (7:6 ratio) and getting on base 38% of the time.
Some of Lara’s other peripherals look fantastic: he’s got an xBA of .317, with a 95th-percentile Squared-Up rate, and his 19% Chase rate ranks just as high. He’s only 21 and already has great patience and plate discipline, plus he should start chipping in more steals. The Brewers will be buyers during the deadline, but they’ll probably leave right field alone and let Lara develop into a solid everyday player.
Clayton Beeter (WSH) – RP (Yahoo – 15%)
Sometimes, you’ll take saves wherever you can find them. Beeter’s been a good source of them lately, and in fact leads all of baseball with four in the last two weeks. The Nationals’ bullpen has been a punchline for much of the year, but it looks like they’ve finally found a (somewhat) consistent closer in Beeter. While he walks far too many batters (14.4% BB rate this season), he’s holding opposing hitters to a .205 batting average and has a 96th-percentile Ground-Ball rate.
Like Edwin Diaz, Beeter only throws fastballs and sliders, and throws each one almost exactly 50% of the time. The fastball is decent, but the sliders is nearly unhittable, with a .116 BAA, 35.2% Whiff rate, and .217 SLG.
Beeter might not have a stranglehold on the closer job in Washington, but it’s clearly his to lose. And the way he’s going, he’s well worth an RP slot.
Kumar Rocker (TEX) – SP (Yahoo – 14%)
Once a highly-touted prospect and drafted 3rd overall back in 2022, Rocker’s had a (ahem) rocky go of it in the Major Leagues (apologies). But beyond the success in his last two starts (quality outings against the White Sox and Mariners, where he earned a W in both), Rocker’s impressing in other ways.
Last season, he threw his slider 16% of the time. It had decent results, with a 38% Whiff rate and a .222 BAA. This year, though, he’s throwing it almost 40% of the time, and hitters are only managing a .160 average against it with a 41% Whiff rate. Rocker’s made other strides since last year, with an xSLG down more than 70 points, an xERA down over a run, and a Barrel rate that’s gone from 11.8% in 2025 to 7.3% in 2026. He’s also shown improvement over the duration of the season, with far better numbers in his last 9 starts compared to the first 9:
| Metric | First 9 Starts | Last 9 |
|---|---|---|
| IP | 42.1 | 47.2 |
| ERA | 5.31 | 4.15 |
| WHIP | 1.44 | 1.22 |
| K/9 | 7.4 | 7.9 |
| H/9 | 8.9 | 8.1 |
| BB/9 | 4.0 | 2.8 |
Yahoo and ESPN Most Added Players
Yahoo!
As is often the case when he pitches every sixth day for the Dodgers, Sasaki tops the add list on Yahoo!. Sasaki’s been up and down much of the year (he gave up six earned runs against the Padres on July 3, for example), he struck out nine Mets in his last outing, and his WHIP is around 0.90 in his last three starts. Sasaki’s striking around a batter per inning and gets the offensively-struggling Mariners, so he should fare pretty well.
We covered Clark, but it’s a little surprising to see him not take the top spot here. It appears that since he’s already at 18% owned, a lot of folks were stashing him.
Noah Cameron has been a bit disappointing after finishing 2025 with a 2.99 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP (he’s at 4.59 and 1.34 this year), but he’s been terrific in his last couple of starts, going 15 innings while giving up just three hits. In fact, he’s the reason the Twins didn’t get a hit until the seventh inning yesterday. He’s going through more than one rough patch this year, but apparently it’s been due to mechanical issues with his arm slot. If he’s been able to correct that going forward, he should be able to capture most of last year’s magic and be a solid option the rest of the way.
I feel less impressed with Andre Pallante, though he was able to dominate the Reds in his previous outing. He kept the Cubs in check for most of yesterday and earned a Quality Start—but he struck out only three batters and surrendered nine baserunners. He’s a streamer and not someone you need to own.
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.
Shane Drohan (MIL) – SP (Yahoo – 38%) vs LAA
I picked Drohan in this column last week and he got a little roughed up against the Rockies in Milwaukee, but he’s got a better matchup against the Angels in this one. Drohan’s getting hitters to chase 34% of the time and has decent command with a Walk rate under 7%, and has 82 K’s in 82 IP’s. He’s got a six-pitch arsenal and most of them grade out pretty well (though he might want to throw the sinker less; it has a .370 BAA and just a 13% Whiff rate). Bottom line, he’s a decent pitcher on a good team who is playing a bad team—in most cases, good things will happen.
Connor Prielipp (MIN) – SP (Yahoo – 29%) @ SEA
Prielipp missed about three weeks with a blister on his middle finger, but came back on July 26 and pitched well, going 5.2 innings and allowing just three baserunners (which included a homer by Nick Kurtz). A rookie who’s striking out more than a batter per inning, Prielipp has an intriguing five-pitch mix and doesn’t throw anything more than 30% of the time. He gets the expansive confines of Safeco Field in his next start and the M’s aren’t exactly mashing. I like this matchup a lot.
