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
Carlos Correa (MIN) SS (34% Rostered on Yahoo!)
I get it. We’re about three weeks into the season, and Correa is still on the interstate with just one longball and hasn’t stolen a bag since…2019. However, he’s also a career .274 hitter with a .352 wOBA and 126 wRC+. He hit .310 with a .385 wOBA and 155 wRC+ across 86 games just last season. His batted-ball metrics aren’t good, but they can be misleading this early. I’m giving more weight to his bat speed (73.6; 76th percentile) and K rate (16.7%), both of which are right around what we saw last season. I have a hard time thinking he’s cooked at 30. You’ve gotta figure better days are ahead.
He has been nursing a sore wrist, but it doesn’t seem to be a serious concern since he only missed a game this past Wednesday. The Twins began a three-game set with the White Sox yesterday and get a mediocre Angels Pitching staff for three games afterward, so the matchups are in Correa’s favor.
Luke Keaschall (MIN) 1B, 2B, OF (9% rostered on Yahoo!)
Minnesota’s third-ranked prospect according to MLB.com, Keaschall, might be more of a speculative add than a priority add, given how rookies often struggle early. Still, I’ve got a thing for balanced profiles. In this week’s Stash List, Jack Mueller mentioned Keaschall as having the ability to approach 20 stolen bases and 20 home runs. That checks out if you eyeball his minor league numbers. Last year, he hit .281 with a .384 wOBA, eight home runs, and nine stolen bases across 58 games with Double-A Wichita. Sure enough, he made his debut this past Friday, hit seventh, and went 2-for-4 with a stolen base.
Last night, he hit third against RHP Davis Martin and swiped another base. There’s a chance the Twins give him an opportunity to prove himself atop the order, considering their offensive struggles (fourth-worst team wOBA this season). His eligibility might be a drawback depending on your league settings; he has started one game at 2B and three at DH.
Yahoo and ESPN Most Added Players
Jose Quintana got the roster bump yesterday with a matchup on tap against the Giants. He entered last night with a 0.71 ERA and 0.87 WHIP through his first two turns. The 36-year-old lefty was solid last year, posting a 3.75 ERA and 1.25 WHIP across 31 starts with the Mets, but is more of a streamer in standard leagues with limited K upside.
Acquired by the Marlins last summer from the Yankees in exchange for Jazz Chisholm, Agustín Ramírez is one of baseball’s top catching prospects. He made his debut on Monday, hitting cleanup. No pressure, right? Sure enough, he went 2-for-3 with a double, a run, and a stolen base. He hit cleanup again yesterday, both starts at catcher. He’s demonstrated good power in the minors, going yard 25 times last year across 548 PA in Double-A and Triple-A with an 18.6% K rate and 11.1% BB rate. He’s an intriguing add if you’re without a top ten C, but counting stats might be hard to come by given the state of the Marlins’ lineup.
Griffin Canning pitched brilliantly in his previous outing, holding the Cardinals to one earned run on three hits and two walks with eight punchouts. However, he also held the third-worst ERA among qualified starters last year at 5.19. I don’t think I would have been too excited to roll with him against the Phillies despite his hot start against the Cards. But that’s me.
Gavin Lux was once a big prospect with the Dodgers, but has since settled in as a league-average type of bat with a career .315 wOBA and 101 wRC+. He’s been getting regular burn in the middle of the Reds’ order and has been productive, hitting .315 with a .380 wOBA thus far. I’m not convinced that Lux’s profile has changed much, but impending matchups against the Marlins and Rockies are worth a shot. His 2B/OF eligibility is a feather in the cap.
Zach McKinstry is hitting .314 with a .390 wOBA across 86 PA. He’s also a 29-year-old with a career batting average of .225 and a wOBA of .316. I get it. The 2B, 3B, SS, OF eligibility make him a useful stop-gap in deep leagues. But as Scott Chu mentioned in last week’s hitter rankings, don’t expect it to last.
Nothing new in ESPN. As Mitch Steinberg mentioned yesterday, Pete Crow-Armstrong needs to be rostered everywhere. He hit his fourth home run last night and will be a certified fantasy dynamo with any appreciable gain in power.
Max Meyer is the other slam dunk add, having just recorded 14 Ks in a brilliant start against the Reds.
Meyer’s stuff is much more exciting than Tyler Mahle’s. But Mahe has pitched exceptionally well and has an infinitely better supporting cast. He’s also been good before, posting 210 Ks across 180 IP with the Reds four years ago.
Carson Kelly has banged six home runs in just 12 games, good for second among all catchers. It seems fluky, given his career numbers (.304 wOBA across 1,851 PA). But he’s certainly worth adding if you’re without a top-ten C.
Dylan Moore feels a little bit McKinstry, in that we’ve seen this before. He’s 32 with a career .211 batting average and .312 wOBA. His 2B, 3B, SS, OF eligibility helps in deep leagues, but there’s nothing you can’t miss here.
Category Specific Players to Add
Caleb Durbin (MIL), 2B, 3B, SS (9% rostered on Yahoo!)
The Braves picked Durbin in the 14th round four years ago before flipping him to the Yankees for LHP Lucas Luetge in December 2022. Last year, he hit .287 with a 9.9% K rate, .388 wOBA, and 130 wRC+ across 375 PA with Triple-A Scranton. He only hit ten home runs, but he swiped 31 bases. The Yankees shipped him to Milwaukee this past offseason with the Devin Williams deal. He’s hit ninth since being recalled last Friday. However, he appears to be a good source of stolen bases, with the potential to provide a decent batting average, considering his strong contact skills.
Streaming Pitchers
Be sure to check Nick’s daily SP streaming article.
Tyler Anderson (LAA), SP (15% rostered on Yahoo!)
You know Tyler Anderson’s 2.08 ERA and 1.06 WHIP won’t hold considering the back of his baseball card. Still, he’s been sturdy through his first four turns, most recently a six-inning shutout of the Giants this past Friday. Anderson returns to the mound Thursday against the Pirates and their .274 team wOBA (third-worst). He’ll be opposed by RHP Carmen Mlodzinski, who has struggled thus far as a starting pitcher, giving Anderson a decent chance at accruing run support.
Speculative Adds
Gabriel Arías (CLE), 2B, 3B, SS (20% rostered on Yahoo!)
Arías, a 25-year-old righty, has started well, hitting .275 with four home runs and a stolen base across 76 PA. The case against Arías being a big fantasy producer is clear-cut. He hits too many ground balls, has stolen more than ten bases once in the minors (11 last year in 43 games), and his 28.9% K rate could make him a batting average liability. However, he possesses immense raw power, as evidenced by a 95th percentile bat speed.
He didn’t start last night against RHP Will Warren and has missed two of the last four games. However, the Guardians don’t exactly have a ton of thunder in their lineup, and Daniel Schneeman and Brayan Rocchio aren’t banging down the door, so Arías could earn a more consistent role if he continues producing.
Andrew Abbott (CIN), SP (42% rostered on Yahoo!)
Abbott entered the season with a 3.78 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, and a 13.2% K-BB across 247.1 IP. Not great numbers, but he delivered a gem against the Orioles with 11 strikeouts. I’m skeptical that he can maintain success worthy of standard formats, considering his fastball’s velocity has dipped from 92.8 to 91.2 this year. He also demonstrated suspect command, allowing 25 home runs last year in 138 IP; that would have ranked 16th among qualified starters. The GABP remains a cruel place to pitch.
However, his changeup has been more effective, recording a 43.7% whiff rate, compared to 27.3% last year. Maybe there’s something to it, or maybe not. Still, he’s demonstrated more than enough K upside to roll the dice, although he gets Coors Field next, so it’s best to bench him for that one.
Deep League Players to Watch
Eric Wagaman (MIA), 1B, 3B (5% rostered on Yahoo!)
Earlier this season, Ben Pernick tabbed Wagaman as one of Miami’s best bats. Sure enough, it’s played out that way. The 27-year-old righty is riding a nine-game hitting streak and is hitting .317 with three dingers, and a .357 wOBA over 71 PA. Originally a 13th-round pick by the Yankees back in 2017, Wagaman was scooped by the Angels in December 2023’s Rule-5 Draft. He hit .274 with a .368 wOBA, 17 home runs, and ten stolen bases across 495 PA combined in Double-A and Triple-A last year before being DFA’d this past offseason and signing a one-year, major-league deal with Miami. He probably doesn’t have enough upside for standard formats, but there’s certainly enough juice here for deep leagues.
For more deep leaguers, check Ben Rosener’s Deep League Waiver Wire column every Thursday and Saturday.
