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
Alejandro Kirk (TOR), C (38% rostered on Yahoo, 45.8% on ESPN)
Catcher can be one of the most volatile positions in fantasy baseball, and we’ve seen that play out in 2025. Guys who were expected to be major contributors at the position have struggled to live up to expectations. J.T. Realmuto is 16th at the position in ESPN’s Fantasy Player Rater. Adley Rutschman is 20th. Salvador Perez is No. 22. You may not want to give up on those players completely, but it’s definitely reasonable to start looking for alternatives.
Kirk stands out as one of the best. He’s been the sixth-best catcher in fantasy this season, and he’s been even better of late. He’s an absolute stud from a batting average standpoint. He’s currently hitting .322, while his .308 xBA puts him in the 96th percentile. Kirk is striking out in just 10.2% of at-bats this season, so he’s putting the ball in play more than just about anyone.
Kirk isn’t going to help you a ton from a power standpoint, but he’s not a complete zero there, either. He’s hit five homers so far this season—the same number he hit in 340 at-bats last year—and his .493 xSLG puts him well above average. He’s launched two homers in his past five outings, so he’s also providing a bit more value in that department of late.
If Kirk can continue to hit for just a bit of power, he’s going to be one of the best backstops in all of fantasy. He’s up to No. 4 at the position in ESPN’s Fantasy Player Rater over the past 15 days, so it’s hard to believe he’s still as widely available as he is.
Nick Kurtz (ATH), 1B (24% Yahoo, 8.8% ESPN)
Baseball can be a bit cruel. Kurtz entered the season as one of the most exciting prospects in the league, and he did nothing to quell that excitement in the minors. He launched eight homers in just over 100 at-bats, and he ultimately earned a promotion to the big leagues less than a calendar year after being drafted.
Kurtz got off to a slow start at the MLB level, but he started to heat up at the end of May. He launched four homers in a four-game span, which is the type of power potential he brings to the table. That’s particularly true as a member of the Athletics, who are currently playing their home games in one of the most hitter-friendly venues in baseball.
Unfortunately, Kurtz got injured right as he was heating up. After a quick stint on the IL, Kurtz is back in the lineup and has started four of the team’s past five games. He’s yet to produce in those contests—he’s just 2-17 with zero homers—but the upside that made him a top prospect and a popular add when he was first promoted is still there. First base is not a particularly strong fantasy position in 2025, making him a solid buy-low target.
Yahoo and ESPN Most Added Players
As usual, Yahoo’s list of most-added players is dominated by streaming pitchers. Three of the top five adds took the mound on Saturday: Clayton Kershaw, Michael Lorenzen, and Jose Quintana.
Kershaw got off to a slow start after joining the Dodgers’ rotation, but he looks back to his usual self. He allowed just one run in five innings vs. the Cardinals two starts ago, and he followed that up with a brilliant outing vs. the Giants on Saturday. He pitched seven scoreless innings, and he surrendered just three hits and one walk. Kershaw is obviously not the same ace-caliber starter that he was in his prime, and he’s not going to pile up a ton of strikeouts. However, his 3.55 xERA through six starts is more than good enough to roster, especially for a pitcher on the Dodgers.
Things did not go as well for the other two. Lorenzen has been a mediocre arm for most of the season, and he turned in another forgettable performance vs. the Athletics. He surrendered three runs across six innings, and he added just four strikeouts. There’s no reason to roster him, and he’s really only stream-worthy in the best of matchups.
Quintana had pitched well in limited opportunities for the Brewers so far this season, but he came crashing back to reality on Saturday. He allowed seven runs (five earned) in just 4.1 innings, dropping his xERA all the way to 4.11 for the year. There’s minimal upside here.
Quinn Priester was also among Saturday’s most popular adds, and he’ll take the bump on Sunday. The former top prospect has impressed in Milwaukee this season, posting a 3.65 ERA and 3.84 xERA. He’s not a particularly good strikeout arm, but he limits the damage on balls in play thanks to a 95th-percentile groundball rate. He’s another pitcher who doesn’t have the highest ceiling, but he’s a solid stream option against the right opponents.
Josh Smith is the lone hitter on this list, and he checks a handful of boxes. He has eligibility at almost every position besides catcher, and he routinely hits at the top of the Rangers’ lineup. He’s also a legit five-category contributor, albeit on a small scale. He has a .287 average with seven homers and eight steals, so he’s not going to hurt you anywhere. Smith makes for an ideal bench bat in daily leagues with his ability to plug basically any hole in your lineup.
ESPN’s list of most-added players features a host of names we’ve dedicated a lot of ink to recently.
Jacob Misiorowski entered the year as one of the top pitching prospects in baseball, and he looked the part in his first outing. Ryan Clark dove into him as the featured player in Saturday’s column, so he’s definitely worth an add if he’s available.
Roman Anthony has been called up by the Red Sox, though he’s yet to truly get going. He’s batting less than .100, and it’s possible that he won’t stick in the big leagues if he doesn’t start to produce a bit more. The team already has a trio of outfielders in Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu, and Ceddanne Rafaela, so Anthony could be sent back down once Abreu returns from the IL. Still, Anthony was considered the No. 1 overall prospect in baseball, so there’s clearly some upside here.
David Peterson and James Taillon don’t have the same “prospect hype” as the top two guys, but they’ve been reliable veterans all season. Both players are now owned in more leagues than they aren’t, though that’s still probably not good enough. Peterson entered this week as No. 41 in the Pitcher List Rankings, while Taillon wasn’t far behind at 51.
Jeff McNeil is the most readily available player of this quintet, and he’s been hot recently. He’s always been a solid source of batting average, but he’s hit for a bit more power in 2025. He’s hit four homers so far in June, and his .528 SLG is well-above his previous career marks. It remains to be seen if that can continue, but it could be worth seeing where this goes.
Category-Specific Players to Add
Otto Lopez (MIA), 2B/SS (9% Yahoo, 7.3% ESPN)
Lopez was a prime add early in the season, but his production fell off a cliff pretty quickly. He hit just .191 in April, and he wasn’t much better in May. As a result, he was pretty quickly returned to the wire in most leagues.
That said, the underlying metrics still support a potential Lopez breakout. Specifically, his .285 xBA puts him in the 85th percentile and is well above his actual mark. Among qualified hitters, Lopez has underperformed his expected batting average by the 17th-highest margin.
That makes him a solid buy-low candidate for those looking for help in that department. Lopez can also chip in the occasional home run and stolen base, with at least six in both categories in 2025.
Jo Adell (LAA), OF (28% Yahoo, 9.2% ESPN)
Adell was the featured player in Friday’s waiver column, and he remains one of the biggest priority adds at the moment. He has always had massive potential, and he’s finally started to tap into it in 2025. He’s second among outfielders in ESPN’s Fantasy Player Rater over the past 15 days, and there’s no reason he can’t continue to deliver strong power numbers at a minimum. He ranks in the 99th percentile for bat speed and 94th percentile for xSLG, so buy him while you can.
Shelby Miller (ARI), RP (35% Yahoo, 9.7% ESPN)
The Diamondbacks suffered a pretty severe blow earlier this week, with Justin Martinez suffering an elbow injury vs. the Mariners. It has since been revealed that he’ll need Tommy John surgery, which officially ends his 2025 season.
With A.J. Puk already on the IL, it opens the door for Miller to serve as the team’s primary closer. He was already filling that role at a decent clip this season—he leads the team with seven saves—but he has even less competition for ninth-inning reps with Martinez out of the picture. Miller has also been awesome, pitching to a 1.57 ERA with better than a strikeout per inning.
Some of Miller’s advanced stats suggest he hasn’t been quite as good as advertised, but you’re targeting closers primarily for saves. Miller should get almost all of those opportunities for the Diamondbacks for the foreseeable future, making him an undervalued asset.
Streaming Pitchers
Be sure to check out the great Nick Pollack’s SP Streamer Rankings to see his favorite choices. There are a handful of decent options to choose from on Sunday, including Nick’s preferred option, Sawyer Gipson-Long. However, he’s not the only player worth considering:
Eury Pérez (MIA), SP (54% Yahoo, 21.1% ESPN)
The good news is that Perez is back in the majors after missing all of last season. The bad news is that his first start did not go particularly well. He allowed four runs in just three innings vs. the Pirates, and he threw just 70 pitches.
Perez will make his second start Sunday vs. the Nationals, and he should be on a pretty short leash once again. The upside here is probably something like five innings, which is not ideal for streaming purposes.
Still, Perez is simply too good not to take advantage of where he’s available. His FIP in his first start was under two, while his xERA was 3.00. He had five strikeouts in his four innings; he simply ran poorly from a batted-ball standpoint. Perez carved up major league hitters at just 20 years old, and he still figures to be a frontline pitcher in short order. Even if he doesn’t earn a win on Sunday, he should deliver excellent ratios and strikeouts whenever he’s on the bump.
Speculative Adds
Nolan Gorman (STL), 2B/3B (2% Yahoo, 1.6% ESPN)
Gorman looked like a big piece of the Cardinals’ future back in 2023. He slugged 27 homers in just 119 games, and he did it at just 23 years old. Unfortunately, things have not gone well for Gorman since then. His numbers were down across the board in 2024, and he got off to a rocky start in 2025 as well.
However, Gorman has played better of late. He’s started six straight games for the Cardinals, and he’s launched two homers in those contests. Overall, he’s posted a .321 batting average and 1.138 OPS in June.
Gorman still strikes out a ton, and that’s going to make it tough for him to sustain an elevated batting average. Still, the past production makes it worth at least keeping an eye on him. If he can get back to posting solid power numbers, he could be worth adding in deeper leagues.
Sean Manaea (NYM), SP (37% Yahoo, 26.9% ESPN)
Manaea made some tweaks to his delivery with the Mets last season, and they paid huge dividends down the stretch. In 17 starts from June 14 through September 21, Manaea posted a 2.79 ERA with more than a strikeout per inning. The Mets won 14 of those contests, and Manaea picked up eight wins of his own.
Manaea has yet to take the mound for the Mets in 2024, but he just started a rehab assignment. He hasn’t exactly impressed in his two minor league outings, but it’s more about getting healthy than getting batters out. He’s tentatively expected to return at some point in June, so he’s an excellent stash for those with an IL spot available.
Deep League Players to Watch
Dominic Smith (SFG), 1B (1% Yahoo, 0.3% ESPN)
At this point, we’ve seen enough of Smith to know that he’s probably not an everyday MLB player. Outside of a torrid stretch with the Mets during the COVID-shortened 2020 season, he’s never really been an above-average hitter by wRC+.
However, Smith is going to get some opportunities at first base for the Giants following the release of LaMonte Wade Jr. Smith has been excellent in limited opportunities so far this season, posting a 158 wRC+ with one homer in 38 plate appearances. Opportunities can be hard to come by in deeper leagues, so Smith is worth a look in those formats.
