With the trade deadline in the rearview mirror, fantasy baseball waivers are about to matter even more down the stretch. Our analysts picked two hitters and two pitchers worth adding right now, all still widely available across most leagues.
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4 Players to Add Now: Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Targets & Stashes (2026)
Cole Young (2B – SEA)
Young forced his way into the lineup back in spring training and hasn’t left it since, playing every single game with no platoon concerns. He’s rostered in just 17% of leagues right now, which looks like a real miss given his recent form. Since the All-Star break, he’s been primarily hitting leadoff, batting .354 with nine runs scored, three home runs, and eight RBI over that stretch. The power is genuinely underrated too, with a barrel rate over 41% since the break, and he’s striking out less than 9% of the time while posting a .961 OPS, a combination of contact quality and plate discipline that’s hard to find on the waiver wire. Even with a couple of teammates returning from the injured list, Young looks set to hold his spot, with a different, more defense-first teammate more likely to be squeezed out instead.
Cole Carrigg (OF – COL)
Carrigg wasn’t an obvious buy when he first got called up given a crowded outfield picture, but a subsequent trade cleared a path, and he’s locked into an everyday role now. He’s hitting .307 with five home runs and five stolen bases, and he’s rostered in just 22% of leagues. His underlying profile is genuinely sustainable even though he doesn’t hit the ball exceptionally hard, a trend shared by several successful hitters this year: he gets the ball in the air at a healthy 16-degree average launch angle and pulls it 24% of the time, squeezing real production out of solid, well-placed contact. His strikeout rate sits under 20%, and he’s walking at a healthy clip too. He was originally drafted as a catcher and can also play second base, adding real roster flexibility if that eligibility gets applied. His recent form has been scorching, hitting .324 in July and .400 so far in August, and there’s no indication he’s coming out of the lineup anytime soon.
Kyle Leahy (SP – STL)
Leahy is a boring name that’s quietly turned into a real streaming asset. He entered the season as a fringe fifth-starter candidate and has pitched his way into more like a second or third starter role in his rotation. Over his last seven starts, he’s allowed two earned runs or fewer in every single one, including three straight quality starts, and he’s rostered in just 27% of leagues. The underlying numbers support the results too, with a strong SIERA over that stretch, backed by a 45% ground ball rate that’s kept the ball in the yard and a strikeout-to-walk rate around 16%, one of the more reliable indicators of real pitching skill. His next scheduled start comes on the road against the Rockies, who have been brutally overmatched against right-handed pitching away from home since July 1, hitting under .200 with a strikeout rate over 26% in that stretch. That matchup alone makes him a near-mandatory streaming option this week regardless of name recognition.
Jackson Jobe (SP – DET)
Jobe’s opportunity opens up directly as a result of the team’s recent blockbuster trade activity, which clears a real path back to the rotation once a couple of other current options move on. He’s been rehabbing and working back in the minors after injury, reestablishing himself as a starter, and the underlying changes look real. His brief major league stint last year was rough, with a high walk rate and low strikeout total, but his more recent minor league form shows a strikeout rate near 24% paired with a walk rate down to just 6%, a significant improvement from a 12% walk rate a year ago. He’s also posted a strong ERA-estimator mark in his starts since returning. Ownership sits in just the 5% range, meaning little competition to add him before he gets his shot. He was previously regarded as a top prospect in the sport and expected to be a key long-term rotation piece, and even his rough overall 2025 season showed real signs of turning a corner late, stretching out to five or six innings and allowing no more than three earned runs in each of his final four starts that year. It might be worth some caution around his very first start back given the jump in competition level, but this looks like a real opportunity worth adding now.
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