Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups by Category (2025)

It’s important to have a plan when scouring the fantasy baseball waiver wire or placing your weekly free agent acquisition budget (FAAB) bids. Below are some players rostered in fewer than 50% of fantasy baseball leagues to consider, depending on what categories you’re targeting.

Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups

Runs

Tyler Freeman (2B, SS, OF – COL) | 15% on Yahoo; 4% on ESPN

Tyler Freeman has been excellent this season. His triple slash line sits at .338/.422/.456 with 22 runs, a home run, 13 RBI and 12 steals in 48 games played. He’s led off exclusively for the Rockies since June 21st and is putting up career highs across the board.

The Rockies have six games next week, three in Boston and three in Cincinnati. There are currently six righties on the schedule, and Freeman is batting .398 with a 1.029 OPS against right-handed pitchers.

Home Runs

Austin Hays (OF – CIN) | 16% on Yahoo; 12% on ESPN

Austin Hays has been awesome this year between injured list (IL) stints. His season line sits at .280/.317/.533 with 27 runs scored, seven home runs, 30 RBI and two steals in 39 games played. Cincinnati is a great place to be with its new pulled fly ball approach. The Reds play seven games at home next week, four against the Marlins and three versus the Rockies.

RBI

Otto Lopez (2B – MIA) | 47% on Yahoo; 30% on ESPN

Otto Lopez has been on a heater with 24 RBI in the past month. He has a season slash of .249/.321/.383 with 38 runs scored, nine home runs, 44 RBI and nine steals in 72 games. His strikeout rate is below 14%, and the increased contact rate should lead to more opportunities. The Marlins have the second-best hitter matchups next week, playing four games in Cincinnati, followed by three in Baltimore.

Stolen Bases

David Hamilton (2B – BOS) | 1% on Yahoo; 0% on ESPN

David Hamilton is batting only .176, but has 15 stolen bases in limited action this season. He stole 33 bases and was caught only four times in 98 games last season. Only the deepest of leagues should consider adding him, but he is as good a bet as anyone to reach 30 steals.

Batting Average

Ernie Clement (1B, 2B, 3B, SS – TOR) | 37% on Yahoo; 30% on ESPN

Ernie Clement is batting .298 with 41 runs scored, four home runs, 24 RBI and three steals in 87 games played. His always-impressive strikeout rate is in the 96th percentile, while he’s raised his walk rate to a more respectable level.

Clement doesn’t hit the ball hard, but he’s 14th among qualified hitters in batting average. He’s behind only notable batting average standouts Luis Arraez, Nico Hoerner and Steven Kwan in in-zone contact rate.

Wins

Jose Soriano (SP – LAA) | 39% on Yahoo; 20% on ESPN

Jose Soriano has been on quite a run recently, excluding a four-inning, eight-run disaster two starts ago. He’s gone 27.2 innings, allowing two earned runs with 35 strikeouts in four of his last five starts.

Soriano gets two starts next week — at home versus the Rangers and Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks will be a tough matchup, but the Rangers are in the bottom five teams in wOBA against right-handed pitchers.

Strikeouts

Eury Perez (SP – MIA) | 35 % on Yahoo; 12% on ESPN

The Marlins activated Eury Perez from the IL for the first time in over a year as he recovered from Tommy John surgery. He had been slowly building up his pitch count and finally completed six innings with seven strikeouts last time out. He’s always had filthy stuff, and if this last start is any indication, he’s turning a corner.

Perez gets two starts next week, both at home. The Reds and Orioles are among the bottom five teams in strikeout rate against right-handed pitchers.

ERA & WHIP

Finding a starter with good ratios on the waiver wire is hard at this point in the season. However, targeting relievers is a sneaky way to get multiple outings in a week with good ratios and a few strikeouts as a bonus.

Bryan Abreu (RP – HOU) | 29% on Yahoo; 24% on ESPN

Bryan Abreu has been lights out as the set-up man for Josh Hader. His season line sits at a 1.59 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, three wins and 60 strikeouts in 39.2 innings. He’s put up 100 strikeouts in back-to-back seasons, and there’s no reason he can’t make it three straight.

Saves

Ronny Henriquez (RP – MIA) | 25% on Yahoo; 6% on ESPN

Ronny Henriquez has been a nice surprise for Miami as they went on an eight-game win streak. They’ve won 10 of their last 12 games, and Henriquez has picked up four saves and two wins during that stretch.

On the season, Henriquez has a 2.72 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 60 strikeouts and five saves in 43 innings. If the Marlins can keep up the momentum, it seems like he is the guy they want closing their close games.