Austin Lowell | Tue, Aug 11th 2026, 5:19am EDT

Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups by Category (2026)

The trade deadline is behind us, and with teams making moves, we’re also seeing some exciting prospects get called up to the Majors. I’ve got three of them for you in this week’s fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups by category, along with several other forgotten veterans.

This weekly piece covers players who can help in at least one specific category. For example, if your team is scoring plenty of runs and hitting for a strong average but struggling to steal bases, you can scroll directly to the stolen bases section for a targeted pickup.

While most of these players will contribute across multiple categories, their primary value comes from the one they’re listed under. I also rarely repeat players week to week, so it’s not a bad idea to read previous articles to see if any of those players are still available.

Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups by Category

Without further delay, here are this week’s top fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups by category. All players listed are rostered in fewer than 55% of Yahoo leagues.

RBI

Royce Lewis (1B, 2B, 3B – MIN): 52%

Royce Lewis continues to mash. If you missed out on him a few weeks ago, he’s still available in nearly half of all leagues. He recorded seven RBI last week and has registered a .370 average to go along with three long balls since July 31.

Lewis qualifies at three infield spots and is currently batting in the middle of the order for the Twinkies. Lewis is worth starting in most leagues.

Batting Average

Angel Genao (2B, SS, 3B – CLE): 15%

The Guardians called up their top-hitting prospect last week, and he did not disappoint. After maintaining a .309 average in Triple-A, Angel Genao hit the ground running with seven hits over his first 19 at-bats.

Genao also hit a home run, scored four times and drove in two runs while striking out only twice. The switch-hitting infielder will take a .368 average into his second week of MLB action and should be rostered in most leagues.

Runs

Gleyber Torres (2B – DET): 44%

Hitting out of the two-hole, Gleyber Torres has been on a tear since the calendar flipped to August. He has scored 10 times over eight games this month while knocking in six.

Torres cooled off in San Francisco this past weekend, but returning home to face a familiar foe should help bring back the production this week. Playing second base is a boon to his value. He’s an above-average asset capable of filling up the runs column from here on out.

Stolen Bases

Kaelen Culpepper (SS – MIN): 10%

Kaelen Culpepper has got the speed. He’s played two games so far and has gotten on base at a .500 clip. Runners on base have blocked his path to run, but he did hit a homer in his debut.

With 17 stolen bases in the minors this season and 25 in last year’s campaign, it shouldn’t be long until Culpeper is let loose. The Twins need to do all they can to manufacture runs, and giving the 23-year-old the green light on the base paths can only help.

Culpepper is excellent with the bat as well. Able to produce a high batting average while hitting for power has always been his calling card. It led to the Twins drafting him in the first round two years ago, and he’s done nothing but live up to the hype since.

The youngster can help you in every category, though he may need time to adjust. FanGraphs ranks Culpepper as the 35th-best overall prospect. The upside alone makes him a strong play.

Home Runs

George Lombard Jr. (SS – NYY): 48%

George Lombard Jr. is an exciting young player. He may not continue to hit dingers every other night, but the kid should produce in multiple ways. For now, we’ll place him under homers because he’s already hit two in just 17 at-bats.

Lombard looks more than comfortable at the dish, and after slugging nearly .500 in the minors, he deserves to be rostered everywhere. The homers may not be a regular thing for the long haul, but there’s no doubt he’s locked in right now to start his Major League career.

WHIP

Cody Bradford (SP – CLE): 4%

Cody Bradford returned last week for his first action of the 2026 campaign. He held the Giants scoreless through 4.1 innings and struck out five. He did allow two walks and five hits but was excellent with runners on base. Bradford also threw 50 of his 70 pitches for strikes.

Bradford may not be the most exciting name out there, but he did produce a 1.01 WHIP over 14 games (13 starts) back in 2024 before needing surgery. The crafty lefty excels at getting weak contact and plenty of ground balls while limiting free passes.

The Young Guardians hurler was sharp during his long rehab assignment, registering a 2.25 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and 12.00 K/9. Bradford’s set to take on the Angels this week, which could easily earn him his first victory of the year.

ERA

Jackson Jobe (SP – DET): 29%

Jackson Jobe came out firing, averaging over 98 miles per hour (MPH) on his fastball, up a few noticeable ticks from last year. In five rehab starts, Jobe allowed just three earned runs while striking out 26.2% of batters. That success carried over to Saturday when he held the Giants to just one hit and a walk through five shutout innings.

Jobe, the third overall pick back in 2021 out of high school, was once considered a can’t-miss prospect. Now fully recovered from Tommy John surgery, Jobe could be ready to fulfill those projections. He’s worth adding in all leagues despite the restricted pitch count that could limit him in the coming days.

Strikeouts

Tyler Mahle (SP – SFG): 11%

I wrote about Tyler Mahle last week for WHIP, but now I’m including him under strikeouts. Mahle was masterful against the Yankees on Friday, holding them to no runs while striking out nine. That’s now 18 strikeouts over his last two games.

Mahle was known as a strikeout artist in his earlier days, collecting 210 whiffs over 180 innings back in 2021. He also struck out better than a batter per inning in the following year. The past few seasons have been marred by injuries, but Mahle seems to have found his way again.

Pitching for Atlanta tends to boost veteran pitchers’ profiles, and Mahle could very well be following suit. His splitter’s been especially nasty lately, racking up over a 30% whiff rate. He’s worth picking up for his game against the Mets this week, whom he just held scoreless over six innings back on July 27th.

Wins

Kyle Leahy (SP, RP – STL): 37%

Kyle Leahy has been unstoppable lately. The Cardinals righty hasn’t allowed more than two runs in a game since June 17. He struck out eight over five innings of work in his latest outing and has now produced a 1.49 ERA, 40 strikeouts, and nine walks over his last eight games (42.1 innings).

The Cardinals don’t possess the strongest bullpen. Nor will the team score a ton of runs in support, but consistently allowing so few runs, it shouldn’t be long before we see Leahy start to rack up the wins over the final seven weeks.

He won his last game against Colorado, and while the Phillies up next present a daunting task, Leahy’s got some softer opponents on the horizon after that.

Saves

Dylan Smith (RP – SFG): 2%

Last week, my article was published right before Erik Miller was traded by the Giants. With him out of the picture, fantasy managers can now turn their attention to Dylan Smith. Smith is in his second year of the Show and has done well for himself, striking out over 25% of the batters he’s faced while producing a low 2.29 ERA.

He secured the victory on Friday for the Giants, and with San Francisco’s bullpen picked over, Smith is now their go-to in the ninth inning. He’s worth adding in deeper leagues.

Austin Lowell is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Austin, check out his archive.

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