The best players in the world play fantasy baseball on NFBC. The most popular high-stakes contest is the NFBC Main Event, which has a $1,750 buy-in with a $7,000 league prize and a $200,000 overall prize. Thankfully, for everyone, NFBC allows us to see what each team is doing with their fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups on Sunday night.
I look at the most popular fantasy baseball waiver wire and FAAB pickups in the NFBC Main Event to see who the best players in the world are picking up and whether we should add them.
- Fantasy Baseball Trade Analyzer
- Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Assistant
- Fantasy Baseball Lineup Assistant
- MLB Prop Bet Cheat Sheet
Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups: FAAB Suggestions
Troy Johnston (1B, OF – COL)
Troy Johnston was picked up in 57 Main Event leagues with a max bid of $99 and a minimum bid of $4. He is a 29-year-old middling former prospect who spent his career with the Marlins organization before landing with the Rockies via waivers.
Johnston is hitting well, with two home runs and a .333/.355/.600 triple slash. He has been leading off or hitting cleanup much of the season. There isn’t a ton of power in the bat, but he could be a 20-home run hitter who chips in stolen bases.
Colin Rea (SP, RP – CHC)
Colin Rea was picked up in 51 Main Event leagues with a max bid of $39 and a minimum bid of $1. With Cade Horton done for the season, Rea seems like the next man up in the Cubs’ rotation.
Rea isn’t much more than a deep-league innings eater, but that has value in deeper formats, and he will have win upside due to the Cubs’ offense.
Liam Hicks (C, 1B, DH – MIA)
Liam Hicks was picked up 50 Main Event leagues with a max bid of $273 and a minimum bid of $6. Hicks has been fantastic to start the season, hitting .296/.375/.667 with three home runs in 32 plate appearances. His Statcast profile looks great as well, with a 100th percentile strikeout rate and a .561 xSLG.
Hicks isn’t going to keep it up like this for long, but he is catcher-eligible and playing regularly at first base when he is not behind the plate. That’s a lot of plate appearances for a catcher.
Jose Fernandez (1B, SS – ARI)
Jose Fernandez was picked up in 49 Main Event leagues with a max bid of $69 and a minimum bid of $1. Fernandez had a massive debut, hitting two home runs.
Since that game, however, Fernandez is 1-for-12. He will mostly be a short-side platoon player, so he isn’t viable in most formats.
Lance McCullers Jr. (SP – HOU)
Lance McCullers Jr. was picked up in 46 Main Event leagues with a max bid of $337 and a minimum bid of $8. He was great in his first start versus Boston, throwing seven innings of one-run ball on four hits and a walk. He was less impressive in his second start, but that was in Sacramento, which is arguably the worst park to pitch in.
McCullers’ talent has never been in question, but he has struggled with health and has not thrown more than 55.1 innings in a season since 2021. He is usable for now, but the chances he throws more than 90 innings are pretty low.
Mark Vientos (1B, 3B, DH – NYM)
Mark Vientos was picked up in 46 Main Event leagues with a max bid of $174 and a minimum bid of $26. Vientos is having a nice start to his season, hitting .476/.522/.714 with a home run in 23 plate appearances.
Vientos has a ton of power in the bat, but he struggles with striking out too much. He is striking out at just a 13% rate, but that feels like small sample silliness right now. He is hot, so you can ride the streak, but it is likely going to cool off quickly.
Janson Junk (SP, RP – MIA)
Janson Junk was picked up in 42 Main Event leagues with a max bid of $129 and a minimum bid of $15. Junk is working with added velocity this season, and it is making his secondary stuff play up better.
If Junk can maintain that velocity, there is no reason why he can’t continue his fantastic early-season results.
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