Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Cade Horton is here, Evan Carter is back

Welcome to Waiver Wire Watch, where I review my favorite waiver wire adds and drops for each week of the MLB season.

The premise is pretty straightforward. I’ll try to give you some recommended adds each week based on recent production or role changes. When I list a player, I’ll list the category where I think he’ll be helpful or the quick reason he’s listed. I hope that it will help you determine if the player is a fit for what your team needs or not.

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For a player to qualify to be on this list, he needs to be UNDER 40% rostered in Yahoo! formats. I understand you may say, “These players aren’t available in my league,” and I can’t help you there. These players are available in over 60% of leagues and some in 98% of leagues, so they’re available in many places and that can hopefully satisfy readers in all league types.

2025 Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani & Bobby Witt Jr. lead Top 300 rest of season ranks

With Triston Casas done for the season, Romy González has joined the top 300.

Waiver Wire Hitters

Tyler Stephenson – C, CIN (40% rostered)
(RETURN FROM IL, POWER UPSIDE)

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Tyler Stephenson returned from the IL last week after missing the first month of the year with an oblique injury, and his roster rate hasn’t changed at all. I’m not sure I get that. He’s already homered and driven in five runs in his first nine games back, and we know that Stephenson is a strong hitter for a catcher. He was routinely drafted among the top 8-10 players at the position in all league types. He’s a .260-ish hitter with .20+ home run power in a great home ballpark and good lineup. The Reds have said they will play him at 1B/DH as well, so he should be in the lineup for around 80% of the Reds’ games. That’s enough for me to roster Stephenson in one-catcher formats if I don’t have a stud at the position.

Victor Scott II – OF, STL, 39% rostered
(EVERY DAY ROLE, SPEED UPSIDE)

Situations like Scott’s confuse me. Everybody was rushing to add him last year, and it didn’t pan out. Now, Scott is hitting .289 with 11 steals on the season, and people don’t seem to want to pick him up. Are we just being spurned former suitors? I don’t get it. Last week, I posted an article about hitters who could be worth adding/trading for based on their contact rates and swing rates. Scott popped for me in that article. There’s more detail in the article, but I like a lot of what he’s doing in terms of his swing decisions. I need him to focus more on line drives and hard groundballs, and I think we could see a strong stretch of production in the coming weeks.

Rhys Hoskins – 1B, MIL: 34% rostered
(POWER UPSIDE, FINALLY HEALTHY)

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I bought in on Rhys Hoskins in spring training because he talked about being fully healthy after ACL surgery in 2023 and had also changed his stance to quiet his head and improve his contact. The results didn’t come right at the start of the season, but we’re starting to see them now. We know he’s not going to be a major batting average asset, but he likely won’t be a drain either. I like his ballpark, and I like his lineup, so I have no problem adding Hoskins anywhere he’s available right now.

Hyeseong Kim – 2B/SS, LAD: 23% rostered
(PLAYING TIME UPSIDE, STEALS UPSIDE)

When Tommy Edman landed on the IL, the Dodgers finally called up Hyeseong Kim. However, Chris Taylor and Miguel Rojas started games at second base after Kim was called up. Yet, with Teoscar Hernandez now out too, there is an avenue where Kim and Edman can be the CF/2B with Andy Pages moving to RF. Kim was hitting just .252 in 131 plate appearances at Triple-A with a 12% swinging strike rate. His overall contact rate of 75% at Triple-A is fine, but suggests there will be some swing and miss at the big league level, and even though he had a few huge home runs that we saw on Twitter, his average exit velocity at Triple-A was 87.3 mph. The 13 stolen bases are very real, and I think that’s going to be the majority of Kim’s value at the big league level this season if he lands in a full-time role. It just remains to be seen what his long-term role is; although, it seems like the Dodgers will sit him against lefties for now.

Trent Grisham – OF, NYY: 22% rostered,
(INCREASED PLAYING TIME, POWER UPSIDE)

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Grisham has been playing more regularly for the Yankees after hitting .256 over his last 12 games with four home runs and seven RBI. He plays good defense in the outfield, and Jasson Dominguez has been struggling, with a -15 Outs Above Average in left field. Dominguez has also been unable to hit lefties, so Grisham may continue to play 4-5 games a week and produce decent power numbers when he plays. We just never know when this ride will end.

Daniel Schneeman – 2B/3B/SS/OF, CLE: 20% rostered
(PLAYING TIME OPPORTUNITY, HOT STREAK)

A few weeks ago, Schneeman popped up on a leaderboard I made of bat speed risers, but he wasn’t playing enough at the time for me to pay much attention to it. Now he’s started ten of the last 13 games and is hitting .328 with four home runs and 10 RBI in his last 60 at-bats. I’m not sure how long this lasts, but I’ll take a small gamble on a hitter showing a slightly new level of talent who’s in the middle of a hot streak. Another multi-position infielder is Josh Smith – 3B/SS/OF, TEX (27% rostered). Even with Evan Carter up, Smith is still starting pretty much every day. He’ll play some CF, some 1B, and some SS/3B when the team gives Corey Seager and Josh Jung a breather. I know it feels risky to roster a “bench” player, but Smith is a valuable piece for the Rangers and often hits leadoff when he’s in the lineup, so he can bring plenty of fantasy value.

Colt Keith – 1B/2B, DET: 17% rostered
(HOT STREAK, POST HYPE PROSPECT)

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It was a slow start to the season for Keith, but he has come alive of late. Over the last two weeks, he’s gone 10-for-34 (.294) with four home runs, 10 runs scored, and 9 RBI. While we do have to acknowledge that some of that is connected to Coors Field, Keith also has a 9.2% barrel rate on the season and is chasing outside of the zone way less this year. His overall contact profile hasn’t changed a lot, but he’s being more selective, which is working for him. He’s not a prototypical 1B from a power perspective, but he had an elite hit tool as a prospect and hits near the top of a decent Tigers lineup. There’s a chance that he’s a 20 HR bat, so if he can hit .260 that’s great production at 2B and solid production at CI. Carlos Santana – 1B, CLE: 7% rostered is another deeper league corner infield target that routinely gets forgotten about. He’s hitting .300 over his last 13 games with two home runs and 11 RBI. He’s never going to be BAD, so he won’t hurt you on your roster, and there are stretches every season where he’s really good. He’s a good streaming hitter, and now could be the time to stream.

Evan Carter – OF, TEX: 12% rostered
(RETURN FROM MINORS, POST HYPE PROSPECT)

Evan Carter is back in Texas. After a slow start to his Triple-A season, he was hitting .288 with three HRs and four steals in his final 12 games. Since coming up, he’s gone 4-for-17 with one home run while starting four of five games. He’s going to sit versus lefties and the back injury will always be a black cloud hanging over him, but he’s a talented player and was my off-season pick to be a second-year breakout hitter, so I believe he’s worth a flier in most league types. You could also take a gamble on the player who was cut to make room for Carter, Leody Taveras – OF, SEA (1% rostered). Taveras is a good defender with plus speed who flashed modest power/speed upside in the past but failed to show it consistently. Sounds a bit like Victor Robles, who also thrived when moving to Seattle. I’m not saying Taveras is Robles or will also breakout, but he’s going to play regularly in the short-term and have a chance to showcase that speed value, so he’s worth an add in deeper leagues.

Luisangel Acuna – 2B/SS, NYM: 11% rostered
(PLAYING TIME OPPORTUNITY, SPEED UPSIDE)

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I know it may not compute to say that Jesse Winker’s injury impacts Acuña, but I think it will. The Mets are wavering in their trust of Mark Vientos as a fielder. Acuña has played some 3B recently but is also a good defender at 2B and SS. With Winker out six weeks, the Mets could move Vientos to DH sometimes and let Acuña play 3B, or let veterans like Jeff McNeil and Brandon Nimmo DH at times and play Acuña at 2B. Brett Baty being up complicates this a bit, but Baty has yet to produce consistently at the MLB level, so Acuña should be getting regular starts, and his speed and batting average will help your fantasy teams. However, I guess we should address the Brett Baty – 3B, NYM (3% rostered) call-up. Are we really gonna do this again? At this point, you’ve probably picked up and dropped Baty three or four times in your fantasy league over the years. However, he has come back up from AAA and hit three home runs in the last two games and started each of the last three games at 3B for the Mets, so we can’t just ignore that. All of what I said above means that Baty could also get a chance at regular playing time again in New York, and so, in deeper format, that might be worth a gamble if you’re struggling at third base. I just can’t bid a lot of money here because it could implode at any minute.

Dane Myers – OF, MIA: 10% rostered
(SPEED UPSIDE, PLAYING TIME OPPORTUNITY)

Myers has been starting regularly for the Marlins and is batting .340 over the last month with three home runs and six steals. I’m not sure how much I believe the batting average will stick, but Myers is certainly fast, and the Marlins will let him run. If you’re in a deep league and just looking for a guy who will play and steal bases, then Myers could be a solid fit. Chandler Simpson – OF, TB (32% rostered) is also still available in a lot of leagues. I understand that he’s hitting just .246, but he’s playing most every day, batting lead off a lot, and has seven steals in 21 games. Even if we say he’s a .250-.260 hitter, that kind of speed is worth rostering if you need stolen bases.

Gavin Sheets – 1B/OF, SD: 8% rostered
(EVERY DAY PLAYER, RBI UPSIDE)

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Sheets’ recent numbers are certainly skewed by the trip to Coors Field; however, he is hitting .296 on the season, so he has been productive for the Padres this year. He starts against all right-handed pitching and is hitting in the middle of a lineup that features a lot of strong bats, which means he has a good chance for RBI upside. His multi-position eligibility also makes him a bit more valuable, and he’s an add I really like in daily moves leagues. I’ve recently also picked up a lot of shares of Zach Dezenzo – 1B/OF, HOU (1% rostered). Dezenzo has now started 12 of the last 15 games for the Astros as he cements himself as essentially an every-day player. He should remain that way as long as he keeps hitting. The 24-year-old is hitting .267 on the season and showcased decent power and speed in the minors, hitting 18 home runs with 22 steals in 2023, which was his last full season in the minor leagues. He has a 17.1% barrel rate in his 60 at-bats this season, and is chasing way less than he did in his MLB sample last year. An 81% zone contact rate is not great, so there will be some swing-and-miss here, but if he can hit .250 while bringing 15/15 upside, that’s not a bad gamble.

Jake Meyers – OF, HOU: 8% rostered
(SPEED UPSIDE, STARTING JOB)

This week, I published an article on hitters who were being more aggressive and swinging at the first pitch more often this year than last year. Myers popped up for me on that leaderboard, and I explained in detail why I’m a fan of his new approach, so you should read that article to check out the analysis; however, I think he’s a solid add for steals and something close to a .270 batting average

Trey Sweeney – SS, DET: 6% rostered
(EVERY DAY JOB, POTENTIAL BREAKOUT)

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Two weeks ago, I published an article on hitters who were making elite swing decisions and contact and could be in for hot streaks. Sweeney just barely qualified for the leaderboard, but I opted to leave him out of the article because I had doubts about him, and I had covered a lot of hitters already. That was a mistake. I should have trusted my thought process for the article and at least put Sweeney in the article to explain why he was there, and what my doubts were. It appears that my doubts may have been partially unfounded because Sweeney has been on a bit of a hot streak that began before he even went to Coors Field. I don’t know how long this hot streak will last, but he’s playing every day in Detroit and making good swing decisions, so that makes him worth an add in deeper formats J.P. Crawford – SS, SEA (11% rostered) As I mentioned last week, Crawford may be a boring veteran, but he’s a solid option as a player who could help your batting average. He’s hitting .276 on the season but has gone 14-for-47 (.298) with two home runs and seven RBI over his last 11 games. He’s being a little more aggressive this season, which is fine for Crawford because he has an 84% contact rate for his career. He’s expanding the zone a bit more this season, but is still making elite levels of contact, and the batting average bump of late feels partially real.

Eli White – OF, ATL: 5% rostered
(EVERY DAY ROLE, RUNS UPSIDE)

White continues to get consistent playing time as Ronald Acuna Jr. remains out in Atlanta. Since coming to Atlanta, White has cut his fly ball rate by over 10% and gotten more aggressive with his swing rates. Focusing on groundballs and line drives seems to have helped because the swinging strike rate is down significantly from his early-career numbers, and the overall contact rates have pushed up near 80%. Pairing that with a 10% barrel rate is kind of nice. It’s not going to lead to plenty of fantasy juice, but White could continue to post a solid batting average while hitting in a good Atlanta lineup, and that could be worth something if you need an outfielder. I should also note that Jerar Encarnacion – OF, SF (1% rostered) is a solid deep league add if you have a healthy lineup because he’s starting his rehab assignment from a broken hand and could be activated on May 23rd. The Giants are playing him at 1B in the minors, which means he could quickly pick up 1B/OF eligibility in all formats. Given his plus raw power, that could make him a useful add for the summer.

Miguel Vargas – 3B/OF, CWS: 5% rostered
(MINI HOT STREAK, POST HYPE PROSPECT)

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Like Victor Scott II, Miguel Vargas appeared in my article last week on hitters to add based on their plate discipline and contact rates. Vargas is chasing at a super low rate, making 83% contact overall and rarely swinging and missing. He’s pulling the ball slightly less this season and has focused less on lifting the ball, which is a good change. He doesn’t smoke the ball, but a 90.3 mph average exit velocity is pretty good, and he’s playing every day in Chicago. He’s limited to deeper leagues right now, but I still think he’s worth an add there. Another multi-position option for deeper formats could be Santiago Espinal – 2B/3B/OF – CIN: 4% rostered, who has become the regular third baseman in Cincinnati with Noelvi Marte on the IL. Espinal is hitting .314/.375/.373 on the season with almost an identical walk and strikeout rate. He makes a lot of contact and rarely swings and misses, but he also doesn’t bring a ton of speed or power to the table. He would be an add for batting average and the hope of counting stats when the Reds are playing at home.

Tim Elko – 1B, CWS (0% rostered)
(RECENT CALL-UP, POWER UPSIDE)

The White Sox called up Elko on Saturday, finally, after he tore up AAA to the tune of a .348/.431/.670 slash line with 10 homers in 31 games at Triple-A Charlotte. He wasn’t even in the Yahoo system until Saturday, so his roster rate remains low, but Elko is a prototypical, hulking first base prospect who is power over hit with minimal defensive value. However, the White Sox lineup needs all the thump it can get, so expect Elko to get a chance to be the regular 1B/DH. The Reds have seemingly also decided to give Will Benson – OF, CIN (0% rostered) and Rece Hinds – OF, CIN (1% rostered) another chance; although, they alternated starts in the two games since both of them have been up in Cincinnati. It’s hard to tell which one of them will get more regular at-bats, but they both have tremendous raw power and a great home park. The issue is that they both have lots of swing-and-miss, which means they could be back down in the minors soon.

Waiver Wire Pitchers

Tommy Kahnle – RP, DET: 35% rostered
I guess people don’t want to add Kahnle because he doesn’t throw hard and the Tigers mix and match their late-inning relievers, but Kahnle has looked good so far, and Detroit has no problem running out a closer who doesn’t have elite strikeout upside or a big fastball. Kahnle has five saves and a 0.61 ERA in 14 appearances so far this year, so I’m scooping if he’s available. However, just note that the Tigers like to use Kahnle in high-leverage situations, which will also mean save opportunities for Will Vest – RP, DET (11% rostered), who is worth an add if you need saves as well. I know Vest blew an opportunity two weeks ago, which made him one of the most dropped players in Yahoo formats, but he has allowed just four runs on 10 hits in 17 innings this season. He’ll still be back in high-leverage innings and will get some save chances.

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Gunnar Hoglund – SP, OAK: 31% rostered
Earlier this week, I wrote up my thoughts on Hoglund’s debut, which you can read in more detail above. My worry is that this isn’t a package that will lead to many strikeouts when he’s not facing the Marlins, but I liked the foundation of it enough to add him and see how this pans out. However, I’m unclear what the plans are for the rotation with JT Ginn returns.

Bubba Chandler – SP, PIT: 29% rostered
It seems like it’s only a matter of time before Bubba Chandler is up in the Pirates rotation. Even though his command was not great in his last start in AAA, he has dominated the level this year, and now that the super two deadline has passed, the Pirates can call him up and still retain an extra year of control over him. This is also right around the time they called up Paul Skenes last year, and they saw that it was enough time for him to win and our rookie of the year, and the Pirates another draft pick. Skenes made his MLB debut on May 11 last year, and so my guess is that Chandler is up for the Pirates’ next homestand, which begins on May 19. I would try and stash him now before that News becomes official.

Shelby Miller – RP, ARI: 26% rostered
I spoke to both Shelby Miller and Kevin Ginkel – RP, ARI (7% rostered) last week before the Mets game and wrote up my thoughts on the Arizona bullpen situation here. I prioritized Miller on the waiver wire, and so far that has worked out. Just remember that Justin Martinez’s MRI came back clean, and he has already begun to face live hitters at the complex fields this week. Provided Martinez feels healthy and the velocity is where it used to be, he could be back in Arizona in a couple of weeks, which would kill a lot of value for these two guys.

AJ Smith-Shawver – SP, ATL: 23% rostered
Smith-Shawver made really good use of his two-start week this week and now has a 2.76 EERA and 24.6% strikeout rate in 32.2 innings so far this season. I’m happy to add him because he’s a young pitcher on a good team with clear talent, but I want us to be rational in our bids. This two-start week was against a mediocre Cincinnati offense and a bad Pirates offense. Smith-Shawver had a great statline against the Reds, but he threw 60% fastballs and basically just challenged Reds’ hitters in the zone, and they couldn’t make contact. His splitter had just a 14% CSW in that game, and so I think Smith-Shawver is still just an arm we want to use in plus matchups.

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Cade Horton – SP, CHC: 23% rostered
Horton made his MLB debut as a follower on Saturday, and allowed three runs in four innings while striking out five. All three runs came on a home run to Brett Baty, and Horton didn’t walk anybody on the day, which is good to see. He was primarily four-seamer and sweeper against the Mets, but he flashed a few curves and changeups that looked pretty promising. I have no idea what the Cubs’ plan for him is, but he threw 77 pitches on Saturday, so he could push towards 90 in his next outing. Will they use him as a traditional starter? Will they keep him in the big league rotation even after Imanaga is back? There are a lot of questions here, but he’s a top-50 overall prospect in baseball and is worth a stash, especially since he gets the White Sox next.

Porter Hodge – RP, CHC: 18% rostered
Why is Hodge’s roster rate so low? People see what Ryan Pressly looks like, right? Hodge is a solid reliever who posted an elite 1.88 ERA last season. He’s the guy if Pressly is hurt, and the Cubs are a really good team, so you’re going to want whoever is closing games for them.

Dennis Santana – RP, PIT: 18% rostered
In the two games since Pittsburgh fired its manager, David Bednar has operated as the high-leverage reliever, which has led to two ninth-inning stints for Santana. He picked up the save in one, but also allowed two runs in one inning. Bednar remains the reliever to roster here because he has been great since coming back from the minors and will pitch more regularly; however, Santana should get the save chances, if Pittsburgh can muster many.

Ryan Weathers – SP, MIA (11% rostered)
Weathers will be back on Wednesday. Sadly, that first start will come against the Cubs, so I would highly recommend not using Weathers this week. Still, the left-hander had a 1.69 ERA with 13 strikeouts in 10.2 innings at Triple-A over his rehab appearances, and the spring training velocity gains held, which is nice to see. He’ll probably be at about 70 pitches in his debut, so this is just a bench stash in case he continues to pitch as well as he did this spring.

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Clayton Kershaw – SP, LAD: 1% rostered
Kershaw likely only has one more minor league, rehab appearance before he’s activated and back in a Dodgers rotation that could desperately use starting pitchers. At this point in his career, it’s clear that Kershaw is no longer one of the top starting pitchers in baseball; however, he has never been bad when he’s on a major league mound, and the Dodgers could certainly use him as a five-inning starting pitcher almost immediately after he returns. Given how strong the Dodgers’ offense is, there’s a chance that Kershaw is a solid ratio starter, who will pick up some wins, even though he won’t give you tons of innings or strikeouts. I’m not going crazy on my bids, but I could put in some low-cost bids to see if this works out.

STREAMING STARTER PITCHERS

(ranked in loose order)