Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Tyler Soderstrom, Jack Leiter open season strong

Welcome to Waiver Wire Watch, where I review my favorite waiver wire adds and drops for each week of the MLB season.

The premise is pretty straightforward. I’ll try to give you some recommended adds each week based on recent production or role changes. When I list a player, I’ll list the category where I think he’ll be helpful or the quick reason he’s listed. I hope that it will help you determine if the player is a fit for what your team needs or not.

For a player to qualify to be on this list, he needs to be UNDER 40% rostered in Yahoo! formats. I understand you may say, “These players aren’t available in my league,” and I can’t help you there. These players are available in over 60% of leagues and some in 98% of leagues, so they’re available in many places and that can hopefully satisfy readers in all league types.

Hitters

TJ Friedl – OF, CIN: 38% rostered
(RUNS, SPEED UPSIDE)

Friedl is not a sexy waiver add, but he’s the everyday centerfielder for the Reds and has been productive in that role whenever he’s been healthy. In 2023, he hit .279 with swiping 27 bases and crushing 18 home runs in 138 games. He had nine steals and 13 home runs in 85 games last year. He makes an elite amount of contact and hits leadoff which should mean a decent amount of runs in that offense. He is likely going to get hurt at some point, but that doesn’t mean you should pass up on him for a player who has less fantasy value right now. You’re in a redraft league, not a Best Ball league, so stop thinking about August and September.

Kristian Campbell – 2B, BOS: 38% rostered
(BREAKOUT POTENTIAL, EVERYDAY ROLE)

Kristian Campbell didn’t have the best spring, so he started falling in late drafts even though it was clear the Red Sox wanted him to be their starting second baseman. So far, Campbell is 5-for-10 with two walks, one home run, and two strikeouts while playing second base in two games and left field in one. He is one of the top prospects in baseball, and if he’s going to get everyday run in a good lineup, he needs to be on your roster. If you’re just looking for speed, you can add Campbell’s teammate Trevor Story – SS, BOS (33%), who stole a base in each of his first two games. People love to rag on Story because he gets hurt often, and that’s sapped a lot of his offensive juice, but he will run, and he’s been a really good defender for Boston when he’s healthy. He’s going to play almost every day, and that’s a good lineup to have pieces of.

Ivan Herrera – C, STL: 34% rostered
(POWER UPSIDE, GOOD SCHEDULE)

Early in draft season, I mentioned that Ivan Herrera was a decent draft value since he hit .301/.372/.428 in 259 plate appearances last year with five home runs and five steals. The offensive upside was there, but the worry was that he was likely going to have to fight for time with Pedro Pages, which gave us some pause about him getting over 400 plate appearances. Well, Herrera started the first two games of the season, which makes me think that this could be more of a 70/30 type of split this season. That makes Herrera worth a gamble in all two-catcher formats. I also think that Alejandro Kirk – C, TOR (13% rostered) is in for a good season and has some viability in one catcher leagues, even. He is going to play almost every day in Toronto and has been an elite contact hitter his whole career.

Tyler Soderstrom – 1B, OAK: 33% rostered
(POWER UPSIDE, EVERYDAY ROLE)

Soderstrom got off to a huge start to the 2025 season with a 2-5, two-home run game against Logan Gilbert and the Mariners. He’s 5-for-12 in his first three games, but this is really about him being the everyday first baseman on a team that will be playing games in a minor league ballpark. Soderstrom also struck out just five times in the spring after striking out 25% of the time last year. That hasn’t carried over in the first three days, but at just 23 years old, it’s not crazy to assume Soderstrom is continuing to evolve as a hitter and may add at least a passable batting average to his 25+ home run power. Right now I’d only be adding for power upside, but there’s some additional intrigue in here. Michael Busch – 1B, CHC (28% rostered) is another power-first first base option. The 26-year-old hit 21 home runs in 152 games for the Cubs last year and is going to be the everyday first baseman in a lineup that’s deeper than it was last year. He’s off to a slow start in 2025, but I do love that he’s taken three walks in his first five games. His 11.5% swinging strike rate last year wasn’t that high for a player with plus power, so I think we could see another step forward from Busch this year.

Victor Scott II – OF, STL: 30% rostered
(SPEED UPSIDE, BATTING AVERAGE POTENTIAL)

Last year, we were all going gaga over Scott because of his game-changing speed, but this year we seem to have forgotten about him despite him having a great spring training. That’s the unfortunate power of one bad sample of MLB data. No, Scott is not going to hit many home runs or help you much in counting stats given that he hits at the bottom of the Cardinals’ order, but the speed upside remains, and he’s stolen two bases so far through two games. If he can just hit .250 or higher, then he’s not going to hurt you in your batting average category, and he’s going to carry you in stolen bases.

Matt Wallner – OF, MIN: 27% rostered
(POWER UPSIDE, GOOD LINEUP SPOT)

The Twins faced three right-handed starting pitchers this weekend, and you saw exactly what that will mean for Wallner this season with him batting lead off in each game. No, he didn’t get a hit in either of the first two games, but this is a guy with a 17% career barrel rate who tweaked his approach in the second half last season and hit .275 with 12 home runs, 34 RBI, and three steals over the final 73 games. There is some volatility in his skillset, but the power is unquestioned, and if the approach changes carry over, he’s a great add, especially in daily moves leagues. In deeper leagues, I’m also a big for of Wallner’s teammate Trevor Larnach – OF, MIN (3% rostered). Much like Wallner, Larnach will start against all right-handed pitchers, and I wrote about him as one of my favorite post-hype hitters this off-season. I should also note that Pavin Smith – 1B/OF, ARI (2% rostered) is in the same boat as an everyday guy against right-handed pitching and is somebody that I’m in on after he hit .270/.348/.547 with nine home runs and a .896 OPS in 158 plate appearances in a part-time role last year.

Joey Ortiz – 3B/SS, MIL: 25% rostered
(MODEST POWER/SPEED UPSIDE, GOOD BALLPARK)

Much like TJ Friedl, Ortiz is not a sexy fantasy add, and perhaps better for deeper formats, but this is a guy who hit 11 home runs and stole 11 bases in 142 games last year while making elite levels of contact. His batted ball profile in the minors suggests that there is a little more thump in his bat and while that might just mean 15 home runs, there is a good chance that he’s a 15/15 guy who can hit .250 or higher and is the everyday shortstop for a Milwaukee team that plays in a good home ballpark. Considering you’ll soon be able to play Ortiz at 3B, SS, MIF, and CIF, that is a valuable player to have on your squad.

Kyle Manzardo – 1B, CLE: 27% rostered
(POWER UPSIDE, EVERYDAY ROLE)

I know Manzardo can be harder to roster in formats where he’s UT-only, but given his prospect pedigree and what we saw from him in spring, I’m surprised his roster rate is so low. He started on Opening Day against a left-handed pitcher, which makes it pretty clear that he’s an everyday guy in Cleveland now. I had the chance to talk to him this spring about his adjustment to the big leagues that led to a strong finish to the 2024 season, so I’d encourage you to read that to see why I’m in on Manzardo this year. Another option at first would be Spencer Torkelson – 1B, DET (28% rostered); although, I’d much rather have Manzardo. Torkelson is off to a better start, going 4-for-9 with a home run and a stolen base, in addition to five walks in three games. However, I have less confidence in his contact profile overall. Additionally, he was challenged a lot last year with high fastballs and it limited his power output, and I need a bit more sample size to believe that’s fixed. If you just wanted power, I think Torkelson is the better play over Manzardo, but I’d take Manzardo for everything else.

Lars Nootbaar – OF, STL: 21% rostered
(BREAKOUT POTENTIAL, EVERYDAY ROLE)

I wrote about Nootbaar in one of my off-season articles on hitters entering their peak age seasons, and said: “I feel like we’ve been waiting for the Nootbaar breakout for a few years now, but injuries limited him to just 405 plate appearances in 2024. When he was on the field, he hit .244/.342/.417 with 12 home runs and seven steals which hinted a little at what we can expect from him. His career 27.4% flyball rate suggests he might not have elite power upside. Busch Stadium is not great for left-handed power, so this might be a calculated approach from Nootbaar, but it means that even a breakout season might come with just 20 home runs. It could also have a .260 average and 12 stolen bases with an elite on-base percentage, which is great for some leagues.” Also, I know there are a lot of Cardinals on here already, but Jordan Walker – OF, STL (11% rostered) is going to play every day and he was one of the top prospects in baseball not long ago, and I wrote about him in detail for my post-hype hitters article this winter.

Ben Rice – 1B, NYY: 10% rostered
(POWER UPSIDE, PLAYING TIME OPPORTUNITY)

Ben Rice is in a tough situation because we know the Yankees are going to want to use the DH spot to give days off to guys like Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, and Paul Goldschmidt, but I look at Rice the way I look at a starting pitcher like Jack Leiter or Max Meyer. The upside is clear, as I covered in my article on potential second-year breakout hitters. He has been hitting the cover off the ball. If we knew he was locked into a starting role, he’d be rostered in way more leagues. Those are the guys I want on my bench for the first few weeks of the season because I want to already have them if the playing time starts to shake out and people are rushing to throw huge FAAB bids on them. Think of the Colton Cowser situation from last year.

Otto Lopez – 2B/SS, MIA: 10% rostered
(SPEED UPSIDE, SOLID BATTING AVERAGE)

Lopez is a bit of an afterthought because he plays on a bad Marlins team, but I think he has some fantasy juice. The middle infielder has gone 5-for-11 with one home run, four RBI, and one steal in his first three games. Last year, he hit .270/.313/.377 in 117 games with the Marlins while stealing 20 bases. This didn’t really come out of nowhere either. In 2022, he hit .297 with 14 steals in 91 games in Triple-A for Toronto, and in 2023, he hit .258 with 13 steals in 84 games at the same level. He’s a good bet to hit .270 with 20+ steals in a full season as the second baseman in Miami, and that’s valuable in a lot of formats.

Jeimer Candelario – 1B/3B, CIN: 9% rostered
(POWER UPSIDE, GOOD HOME BALLPARK)

With Spencer Steer unable to play the field, we’ve seen Candelario start as the primary third baseman in Cincinnati with Gavin Lux shifting to left field. Candelario struggled in his first season in Cincinnati last year, but this is a guy who hit .251 with 22 home runs the season before and is a career .241 hitter. Given that Cincinnati plays in the best ballpark for offense, I think expecting a .250 season from Candelario with 20-25 home runs while hitting in the middle of the Reds’ lineup is a pretty solid bet. If you need another corner infield option, Brett Baty – 3B, NYM (8% rostered) is going to be their second baseman against right-handed pitching, which will add some nice multi-position eligibility. Baty obviously tore up spring training, but remember that he has done that before. There is upside here since Baty is just 25 years old and clearly still evolving as a hitter, but he doesn’t have a lot of time to stake his claim to an every day job, and there’s not a track record of MLB success here, so I don’t think you need to rush to the wire for Baty, even after the strong spring.

Jorge Polanco – 2B, SEA: 8% rostered
(DEEP LEAGUE OPTION, COUNTING STATS UPSIDE)

Polanco is another deep league target with soon-to-be multi-position eligibility, who I wrote about this off-season in an article on undervalued hitters: “He’s a career .263/.330/.435 hitter, and while I know last year was a down season, he was also playing through a knee injury that clearly impacted him. Despite that, he posted an 8.9% barrel rate, an above-average chase rate, and slightly below-average SwStr% and contact rates. We do need to point out that his overall contact rates and swinging strike rates have been headed in the wrong direction for the last two seasons, but for the vast majority of his career, he has been a 77% contact rate guy or better. In spring training this year, he has an 85% contact rate and just a 7.2% SwStr%, so perhaps a lot of that regression was due to injury.” Gavin Lux – 2B, CIN (7% rostered) also appears to be the starting left fielder and regular clean-up hitter for the Reds right now. I’m not sure I believe in the talent or that the role will stick, but we can’t ignore a cleanup hitter in that park hitting behind Friedl, Elly De La Cruz, and Matt McLain.

Kameron Misner – OF, TB: 0% rostered
(STARTING JOB, POWER/SPEED UPSIDE)

This is only a deep-league option, but with Josh Lowe potentially out for months with an oblique injury, it seems that Misner will get the first shot to take his job in Tampa Bay. The 27-year-old was once an intriguing prospect for the Marlins, but it never quite clicked. Still, in 113 games in Triple-A for Tampa Bay last year, he hit .248 with 17 home runs and 30 steals. I don’t really trust that Misner is any different of a hitter now, but somebody who has the ability to 20/20 in a starting role is worth a look in really deep formats. So is Manuel Margot – OF, DET (1% rostered), who is going to be the everyday centerfielder in Detroit with Parker Meadows and Wenceel Perez sidelined. Margot has been around long enough that we know what he can do, but he’s a career .254 hitter who still has the speed to swipe bases in a full-time role. Detroit has also been hitting him fifth or sixth, which could lead to some chip-in RBIs as well.

Pitchers

Jack Leiter – SP, TEX (38% rostered)
Leiter was one of my most-drafted pitchers this year, and I wrote about him in my article covering undrafted starting pitchers with the talent to finish inside the top 25. The biggest thing for me was command, and I felt that Leiter’s new sinker would help him pound the strike zone a bit more to set up his swing-and-miss stuff. The first start doesn’t change any of that. His fastball was still 98 mph and missed plenty of bats, but was inconsistent in the strike zone. He struggled to locate his new kick-change, and his slider was fine. I actually wasn’t super impressed by the start, but I was happy that he was able to produce a decent outing without his best stuff. The upside remains, and I’m happy to take fliers on him in all league types, but I still think volatility is ahead.

Dustin May – SP, LAD: 36% rostered
May did not pitch this weekend, which means he’s set to make his regular-season debut on Tuesday against Atlanta. We don’t love that start, even with Ronald Acuna Jr. out; however, we do love that May is locked in as the fifth starter on probably the best team in baseball. He has impressive raw stuff and is starting to miss more bats this spring as he varies his sequencing and locations. No, May is not going to pitch a full season for the Dodgers, but we don’t care about that now. It’s March. I’m happy to add May for the first couple of months, try to take advantage of solid ratios and wins and then I’ll worry about replacing him when the time comes.

Grant Holmes – SP/RP, ATL: 34% rostered
Holmes got a raw deal when the Braves reconfigured their rotation so that he could start on Monday against the Dodgers instead of Sunday against the Padres. I really don’t want that Monday start, and I probably won’t use Holmes there in daily lineup leagues. However, Holmes will also start over the weekend against the Marlins, and I absolutely want to use him there. Holmes unveiled a new changeup this spring that looks like it will be a real weapon for him. He now has potentially three plus secondaries to take the heat off of his average fastball. I think he’s being underrated right now. You could also chase upside with his teammate A.J. Smith-Shawver – SP, ATL (25% rostered), who won a roster spot and will start on Sunday against the Padres. Just remember that Spencer Strider is coming back in around three weeks, and somebody is leaving this rotation. Holmes has no minor league options, so the Braves can’t send him down, which makes me think Smith-Shawver may not have a long leash in this rotation.

Luke Jackson – RP, TEX (30% rostered)
Look, I don’t buy this, but if you’re in a desperate situation for saves, you can chase them with Jackson since Bruce Bochy went to him for save opportunities in each of the first two games. I just don’t love that Jackson essentially only uses his slider, and has never really shown the consistent ability to lock down saves. I don’t see this lasting a long time, and I’d prefer to add Blake Treinen – RP, LAD (32% rostered) because I believe he’s a good pitcher. Treinen is in a committee for the Dodgers, so he won’t get all of the saves, but he’ll get some of them and will also help with ratios and strikeouts and be far less liable to torpedo your ratio categories.

Jason Adam – RP, SD (30% rostered)
Everybody is going to chase closer specs this weekend, and I get it. However, instead of adding guys like Graham Ashcraft or Mike Clevinger, I’d rather add Adam. We know Adam is a good reliever. He’s going to help your ratios and steal a few wins, and when the Padres finally trade Robert Suarez, who has been on the trade block all off-season, I think it’ll be Adam that takes over and starts to get saves. You can add him now and not have to spend big money.

Justin Slaten- RP, BOS (24% rostered)
Red Sox manager Alex Cora said that Aroldis Chapman was the closer in Boston, but he also said that they would use him in the eighth inning if they felt they needed to. At the time, that seemed like a way for Liam Hendriks to pick up a few save chances, but then Hendriks went on the IL with elbow inflammation, and Slaten, who was pitching better anyway, got the first save chance of the season on Opening Day. If the Red Sox need to use Chapman earlier in games, it’s going to be Slaten that closes them down, and Slaten has the talent to take that job regardless.

David Peterson – SP, NYM (20% rostered)
Peterson is yet another intriguing starter who did not pitch this first weekend. He will start on Monday against Miami, which is an elite streaming situation. I wrote about why Peterson is one of my favorite late-round starting pitchers to draft, so I’d encourage you to read that if you want a detailed discussion of why I like the left-hander.

Mike Clevinger – SP/RP, CWS (15% rostered)
Clevinger is the closer for the White Sox. No, that may not lead to a bunch of save opportunities, but it could lead to a few, and he’s looked pretty solid in the role so far this spring and during the first weekend. I’m not running out to pick him up, but I don’t think he’s going to hurt your team in the same way chasing the Rockies and Marlins closer situation might.

Jose Alvarado – RP, PHI (14% rostered)
If you’re in a fine spot with saves and just want to add an elite high-leverage reliever, I would recommend Alvarado. He was lights out this spring and is the late-inning left-hander in the Philadelphia bullpen. That means he could steal a few wins in close games, but he also could emerge into a timeshare if Jordan Romano were to struggle or the Phillies wanted to be cautious with Romano’s innings coming off a shoulder injury. You could also take a gamble on Tony Santillan – RP, CIN (17% rostered), who may be the best pitcher in Cincinnati’s bullpen. I know that Emilio Pagan – RP, CIN (2% rostered) got the save on Saturday night, and you can gamble there if you want, but Santillan is the cream of the crop here and could rise to the top. You could also gamble on Graham Ashcraft – RP, CIN (8% rostered), who has plus Stuff+ numbers but never missed enough bats as a starter. He could thrive in the bullpen, but this whole situation is a mess, and I wouldn’t place big bids on any of these guys.

Max Meyer – SP, MIA (14% rostered)
I wrote about Max Meyer and Jack Leiter as two undrafted starting pitchers I think have the upside to finish inside the top-25, so you can read that article to see a more detailed breakdown of why I like taking a gamble on both pitchers in the first few weeks of the season. If you’re in deeper leagues, I also like Sean Burke – SP, CWS (16%), but I just don’t think we’re going to get tons of wins out of him. I guess that’s an issue for Meyer as well.

Brayan Bello – SP, BOS (11% rostered)
If you need an IL stash, Bello is already starting a rehab assignment in Triple-A, and optimism that the Red Sox could have him back by April 11th. I truly believe this is the year he breaks out. Bello tweaked his slider into more of a sweeper at the end of 2023, spent most of the offseason working on it, and then graded out as an above-average pitch by PLV in 2024. He started using it more against righties, and the swinging strike rate on it jumped from 10% to 16% while he also improved his zone rate as the season went on. The issue is that as his slider got better, he seemed to lose the feel for his change-up, which has always been his best pitch. Even though he doesn’t throw the changeup often to righties, Bello’s command of the pitch suffered in 2024, with a lower zone and strike rate, and it got hit much harder. It still had an 18.5% swinging strike rate to lefties, so Bello checks the boxes now of fastball for strikes and secondary for whiffs to hitters of each handedness, and if he can get the command of his changeup back to be a consistent strike pitch then he has all the things I want from a starting pitcher and we could see a big leap.

Tylor Megill – SP, NYM (9% rostered)
I wrote about Megill as one of my favorite late-round starting pitching targets this off-season (in the same article as Peterson), and said: “In 2024, Megill posted a 17.6% K-BB%, 12.8% SwStr%, and 27.6% CSW, all of which were better than the league average despite him having a fairly uneven season. He added a sinker last season, which has a 73% strike rate. He uses it primarily as a strike pitch to righties, which is crucial for him. He also added a cutter in 2024, and despite it having above-average swinging strike rate marks to righties and lefties, it’s also a pitch he can command for strikes with league-average zone and strike rates. It also allowed Megill to throw his slider less in 2024, which is good because his slider was a great out-pitch but struggled as a 20% usage pitch…He really has everything he needs to be a good MLB starter, but the consistency of that command is going to be crucial. With a full off-season under his belt to work on the cutter and sinker, we could finally see that in 2025.”

STREAMING STARTER PITCHERS

(ranked in loose order)