With fantasy playoffs now in full swing, it’s more imperative than ever to realistically evaluate where your roster is at this point in the year. Shopping the waiver wire for who is available to fill any last-minute or unexpected needs can be a tricky but fun process, and picking up a player who then makes immediate points contributions is really satisfying. It’s a big part of the reason why so many non-producing players are expendable this late in the year — if they’re not producing, there is always going to be somebody on the wire who is.
Knowing when to make these moves can be the difference between winning and losing a points league playoff week. It all adds up, and being an active manager can make a huge difference in points leagues, especially. With that said, let us get into some pitchers who are under-rostered for the points production that they’re putting up, and who are all worth a look for the playoffs if you are unhappy with any of the players at the tail-end of your staff. I have personally had to give several of these players a spot on my points-league playoff roster after late-season injuries to Zack Wheeler and Nathan Eovaldi, and I suggest you do the same if you find yourself in a similar scramble.
Luis Morales – SP (ATH)
2025 Stats (22.2 IP): 2-0 | 1.19 ERA | 0.97 WHIP | 22 K | 19% Rostered (Yahoo!)
The player I’m personally most excited about this week, Luis Morales, has been nothing short of dominant in his first three career starts for the Athletics.
The 22-year-old Cuban righty gained only minor attention after he was fairly comfortable across five innings against a mediocre Angels team in his first extended outing, but it’s what he has done since then that has solidified my confidence in sending him out there for the fantasy playoffs. Allowing only four hits and two walks across 13 combined innings against two teams well above .500, Morales made easy work of both the Seattle Mariners and Detroit Tigers. Most importantly for our points ceilings, manager Mark Kotsay allowed Morales’ pitch count to surpass 90 in both of those outings, suggesting any restrictions on the organization’s No. 3 prospect are now fully removed.
Morales primarily features his four-seamer, which he delivers at 97.2 mph — and though he doesn’t get great extension (currently measured at only six feet), batters are hitting only .157 against the pitch. That’s not the only offering of Morales that hitters are struggling to square up.
The sweeper has yet to allow a single hit, and it’s easy to see why when viewing the one that he delivered here to completely freeze Jorge Polanco for a called strike three. His other two offerings, the changeup and slider, are both pitches that could use more refinement, with the changeup not grading out very well on PLV but so far getting batters out, while the slider is doing the opposite. I’d expect those numbers to even out a bit more as he gets more starts, with the average against that slider coming down a lot at the expense of perhaps a few hits here and there off of the changeup.
As is, it’s already an arsenal that’s shown that it has the depth to pitch into the sixth inning and beyond, and Morales has also shown that he is equally comfortable getting out lefties as he is righties. Lefties are hitting only .133 against him so far, with a shockingly low .156 SLG and .356 OPS.
I’m starting Morales in his Monday start against St. Louis and then going from there. He should get another start over the weekend against the Angels, which I also have pencilled, and will confidently send him out there for that start as well, so long as he passes the test against the Cardinals.
Parker Messick – SP (CLE)
2025 Stats (13.2 IP): 1-0 | 0.66 ERA | 0.88 WHIP | 12 K | 22% Rostered (Yahoo!)
The 24-year-old lefty, drafted in the second round in 2022 out of Florida State, does not throw very hard, with a 93-mph average velocity on the four-seamer. And yet opponents are only hitting .118 against the pitch when Parker Messick slings it up there. Messick has now made two starts for the Cleveland Guardians, and both have gone about as well as he could have hoped, pitching into the seventh inning in his first outing, and then completing the seventh in the next for a Win.
Messick throws the aforementioned four-seamer almost half of the time, but has a pretty deep arsenal behind it to keep hitters off balance, with a changeup, curveball, slider and sinker that all have a PLV above 5.
What really caught my eye when looking over Messick’s stats were the consistently elite CSW percentages across his pitch types, with the exception of the slider. The 35% numbers on the changeup and curveball are both great, and then the fact that the four-seamer and sinker (thrown a combined 53% of the time) are hitting over 40% CSW puts Messick into exciting territory. The slider hasn’t produced well in that particular category, but otherwise has been an effective pitch, with a 5.29 PLV rating and a paltry .143 batting average against. This gives Messick a relatively deep arsenal to play with and to try and find that third reliable pitch each night behind the featured four-seamer and changeup.
Messick has not pitched enough innings to qualify for percentiles, but his other underlying metrics are thus far impressive across a number of categories.
Through his first 13.2 career innings in the big leagues, Messick has yet to allow a batter to barrel the baseball, and he is doing so while throwing strikes consistently and avoiding walks. There is clearly something about the combination of his deceptive delivery and his quality stuff that is giving batters a hard time.
Though I personally hesitate to start Messick in Fenway to start this week, I will be watching that start closely and will likely throw him out there in his next scheduled outing versus Tampa Bay over the weekend.
Abner Uribe – RP (MIL)
2025 Stats (64.1 IP): 2-1 | 1.68 ERA | 1.06 WHIP | 78 K | 35 Holds | 3 Saves| 43% Rostered (Yahoo!)
I still believe in Ronny Henriquez as a dependable relief pitcher, but I have to admit that I swapped out last week’s suggestion for Abner Uribe on my own points team as soon as it was announced that the Milwaukee Brewers‘ previous closer, Trevor Megill, was hitting the IL with a flexor strain. It appears that Uribe will now take over the closing role for the team with the best record in the league, as he got the first post-Megill save opportunity last week and locked it down. He was also brought in later in the week to finish off a 7-3 win for Milwaukee, not technically securing a save but clearly being deployed with closer intentions.
Uribe is a logical choice given how well he has pitched this year. The raw numbers for the 25-year-old Dominican righty speak for themselves, with a sub-2.00 ERA, a WHIP hovering around 1.00, and a massive 10.9 K/9. Uribe’s underlying metrics are just as impressive, indicating that he has the stuff to handle the closer role for as long as necessary.
As you can see, Uribe’s resume is quite long. His success this season is no fluke, grounded in a devastating sinker/slider combination. The slider is an especially devastating strikeout pitch for Uribe, racking up a CSW% of 39.5% thus far this year.
Given how prime a position closing for Milwaukee is at the moment, Uribe’s rostership may already be over 50% by the time you are reading this. Either way, it’s worth checking right now to make sure he isn’t still available in your league. If he is available, grab Uribe now, and do it in place of any non-top-20 reliever if necessary.
Ian Seymour – SP (TB)
2025 Stats (28.1 IP): 2-0 | 3.18 ERA | 1.02 WHIP | 34 K | 30% Rostered (Yahoo!)
Similar to Messick, Ian Seymour relies on weapons other than sheer velocity and was also drafted in the second round, with Seymour being taken in 2020 out of Virginia Tech. The No. 13 prospect in the Tampa Bay Rays organization has been waiting a bit longer for his success, though, having undergone Tommy John surgery in early June of 2022. The Rays have brought the young lefty through the rehab process meticulously and slowly, starting him off in the bullpen earlier this season while lengthening him out to make eventual starts, and that time has now come.
Through his first two starts, Seymour has proven himself to be someone worth turning to if in need of a backend starter for the fantasy playoffs. In two road starts against the Cleveland Guardians and the Washington Nationals, Seymour has turned in a pair of similar performances, going five innings with eight strikeouts and a Win in each. He has allowed a total of five hits in those ten innings and has only surrendered one run. It should be noted that he gave up six ER in a disastrous three-inning outing against the Yankees in his final bullpen tuneup before entering the starting rotation, but he has looked like a much more confident pitcher since being handed a starting role.
Similar to Messick, Seymour has not thrown enough innings to qualify for percentile rankings, but his underlying metrics indicate an impressive pitcher.
The xBA of .214 is particularly impressive, and when looking at Seymour’s arsenal, you can see that he is getting that done in a number of ways.
The sinker, thrown only 5% of the time, could use some work, or perhaps be scrapped altogether, given how low it grades out in PLV as well. The rest of the arsenal is rock-solid, though, with batters struggling to square up any of Seymour’s other four main pitches. The changeup is especially devastating and should continue to rack up strikeouts, like it did here against a helpless James Wood.
Seymour will get the Guardians again towards the end of this week. It always feels risky hoping a pitcher dominates the same team so soon after having just done so, but with the way that Seymour continued to look in his most recent outing against the Nationals, I would strongly consider him as an option for that next Cleveland start.
Robby Snelling – SP (MIA)
2025 Stats* (118 IP): 6-7 | 2.75 ERA | 1.14 WHIP | 139 K | 3% Rostered (Yahoo!)
Now that the likes of Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong, Bubba Chandler and the aforementioned Ian Seymour are all pitching in the majors, Robby Snelling is my favorite pitcher with an N/A tag still next to his name. If you have that slot available on your roster and are in need of pitching, I’d suggest filling it with Snelling as soon as possible. Speculation is that he will be called up shortly after rosters are expanded on September 1.
While the step up to the majors is different from any other, Snelling has already shown this season that he can handle a mid-year promotion. He was pitching pretty well in AA to begin the year, but he’s been even better in AAA since being sent there in mid-July: 45.2 IP at AAA to the tune of a 1.77 ERA and 1.03 WHIP with a stellar 10.6 K/9, compared to 72.1 IP at AA to the tune of a 3.98 ERA and 1.21 WHIP, with the same elite 10.6 K/9.
I have Snelling stashed in my N/A spot and hope that he will get called up within the week, with the ideal timing being that I can leave him stashed for his major league debut and then deploy him next week if needed. You can never have too many contingency plans this time of the year.
*Minor league statistics (AA-AAA)
