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 players you can leave on the wire.
Top Priority Players to Add
Luke Keaschall (MIN), 1B, 2B, OF (38% owned in Yahoo!)
Keaschall hasn’t missed a beat since being activated on Tuesday, collecting four hits in nine at-bats and racking up six RBI. He blasted his first career homer in his first plate appearance back from missing three months with a broken forearm, and cracked two doubles on Wednesday. The 22-year-old has just stuffed the box score in every way during his small sample of eight games in the big leagues, with five stolen bases as well.
First game back off the IL, first Major League homer for Luke Keaschall!
MLB’s No. 42 prospect (@Twins) is hitting .400 with a 1.256 OPS to begin his big league career: pic.twitter.com/IaDgnWqMYF
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) August 5, 2025
Keaschall has a little bit of everything in his profile, with a good approach and contact skills during his time in the minors. He’s flashed a 14.3% barrel rate and 47.6% hard-hit rate in the short time, while only showing a 106.9 MPH MaxEV this year, so the raw power may not be huge. The ZiPS projection system is especially bullish on him, with a .262/.360/.410 (118 wRC+) projection with a handful of homers and steals the rest of the way. Plus, his eligibility at multiple spots is a bonus.
Coby Mayo (BAL), 1B, 3B (7% owned in Yahoo!)
Mayo has finally been granted the chance to play every day in Baltimore, and he’s produced. Since July 25, he is hitting .257/.316/.571 with a 12% barrel rate and 22.2% strikeout rate. Mayo has had gaudy numbers in his minor league career, but has seemingly always been blocked from consistent playing time and struggled in his few chances. He has big-time power and compares similarly to Austin Riley in ways.
Coby Mayo launches a 3-run homer for the @Orioles! pic.twitter.com/DBZfxnltet
— MLB (@MLB) August 6, 2025
Ryan Mountcastle is currently on a rehab assignment, which could make things complicated when he returns. But Mayo has justified regular playing time moving forward.
Zebby Matthews (MIN), SP (17% owned in Yahoo!)
Zebby debuted a new sinker in his most recent start against the Tigers, where he allowed only one run with six strikeouts. He is a guy I featured as a breakout starter for the second half, and this is the kind of development that you love to see. I always bring up Hunter Brown’s stretch of dominance after implementing a sinker into his arsenal after a bad start to the year last year. Of course, it likely won’t have the same sort of impact, but pitchers adding pitches during the season is the quickest way to unlock them.
Zebby Matthews showed off what looks like a new sinker in his dominant start against the Tigers!
It’s currently grouped in with his four-seam, but his four-seam has never moved similarly to his arm-angle before. pic.twitter.com/3IfhS0K4ha
— Pitch Profiler (@pitchprofiler) August 6, 2025
That’s before mentioning the misfortune Matthews has dealt with this year. His 5.17 ERA is not reflective of his talent, with his peripherals being exquisite. He holds a 2.75 FIP, 3.11 xFIP, and a 3.18 SIERA to provide perspective. Better days should be coming, and this roster rate is much too low.
Cade Horton (CHC), SP (39% owned in Yahoo!)
Horton has now put together 23.2 scoreless innings in a row in his last four starts after blanking the Reds on Wednesday afternoon. Nothing has really changed drastically as far as his pitch mix goes, but the results are tough to deny for the young starter.
Cade Horton pushes his scoreless innings streak to 23.1 IP!
The longest scoreless streak by a @Cubs rookie EVER 🔥 pic.twitter.com/Y0sVhexdkW
— MLB (@MLB) August 6, 2025
The drawback with Horton is his short leash, as he only got to 67 pitches before getting the hook on Wednesday. But he climbed to 86 pitches against Boston to begin the scoreless stretch, and got as high as 94 in two starts prior. So there should be plenty of chances at wins with a loaded Cubs lineup backing him up.
Yahoo and ESPN Most Added Players
Nestor Cortes was a popular streamer in his Padres debut in Arizona, and he was okay with two runs on three hits and three walks while striking out three in 4.2 innings. Nasty Nestor is firmly in the streamer bucket, and I’d feel comfortable rolling him out at home in most spots moving forward.
Jeffrey Springs showed up for the fantasy managers who streamed him against the Nationals on Wednesday. He was dominant over six innings, only allowing a solo homer to Riley Adams and striking out five.
Dustin May did not have a great debut with the Red Sox, throwing only 3.2 innings and giving up three runs against the Royals. Boston is notorious for reducing four-seam usage for their starters, but May still threw his the second most often in his initial start and conceded plenty of hard contact with a 99 mph average exit velocity.
Warming Bernabel has been on a heater, hitting .400 with three homers in his first 10 games with the Rockies. He was a below-average hitter in the very hitter-friendly PCL in Triple-A this year, and is a fine hot-hand play.
Andrew Vaughn has been a different guy since making his way to Milwaukee, hitting .370/.435/.671 with seven homers in 22 games. His contact quality has been great with a 12.5% barrel rate and 56.3% hard-hit rate, while also maintaining a good approach and contact ability with a 12.9% strikeout rate and 11.8% walk rate.
Kyle Stowers has been included in this section too many times and should already be owned everywhere.
Ramón Laureano has had quite the year in his age-30 season, hitting .295/.356/.544 with 16 homers and 4 steals. His strong production urged the Padres to trade for him at the deadline. He has the best barrel rate, hard-hit rate, and strikeout rate of his career.
Logan Henderson was called up in a corresponding move with Jacob Misiorowski hitting the IL, and Henderson wasn’t as effective in his first big league start since May. He went just 4.1 innings but allowed only one run. With Misiorowski supposedly able to return when first eligible, it remains to be seen what Henderson’s role will be beyond his next turn in the rotation.
Streaming Pitchers
Check out Nick’s daily SP streaming article!
Logan Evans (SEA), SP (4% owned in Yahoo!)
We’ve struggled badly with our last two streaming picks in Montas and McGreevy, who combined to give up 14 runs in 8.2 innings. That’s not ideal, but we will look to bounce back with Logan Evans at home against Tampa Bay on Saturday. The Rays have scored the fewest runs and have a .696 OPS against right-handers since the start of July. Evans’ splits are much better at home versus the road (3.03 ERA to 5.45). He has a wide six-pitch mix and will look to keep Rays’ hitters guessing to get us back on the right track.
Deep League Players to Watch
Tyler Locklear (ARI), 1B (5% owned in Yahoo!)
Locklear was sent back to Arizona in the Eugenio Suárez trade, and he has some serious thump. He’s started every game at first base since coming over and went on a tear at Triple-A after making a tweak to his stance. Pavin Smith is set to return at some point, but Locklear has prospect pedigree and shades of Christian Walker in his game.
New DBacks 1B Tyler Locklear quieted his hands down and it has been huge for his timing as well as his posture as he gets ready to start his swing.
He made the change on June 6 and since then is hitting .354/.438/.697 with 16 HR in 46 games. pic.twitter.com/h0Pl5WAyDS
— Aram Leighton (@AramLeighton8) August 5, 2025
