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 it will help you determine if the player is a fit for what your team needs.
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For a player to qualify for 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 who play in all league types.
MLB: Milwaukee Brewers at Detroit Tigers
2025 Fantasy Baseball Top 300 update: Aaron Judge tops the rankings, Rafael Devers tumbles
Andrew Vaughn and Jurickson Profar return to the rankings this week.
THERE WILL BE A FAIR AMOUNT OF SIMILARITY BETWEEN THIS WEEK AND LAST WEEK SINCE WE’VE ONLY HAD TWO GAMES PLAYED BETWEEN THE TIME OF THOSE ARTICLES. JUST KEEP THAT IN MIND. MUCH OF LAST WEEK’S ANALYSIS WILL HOLD TRUE BECAUSE WE CAN’T LET TWO GAMES DRASTICALLY CHANGE OUR OPINIONS.
Waiver Wire Hitters
Otto Lopez – 2B/SS, MIA: 38% rostered
(POWER BOOST, BATTING AVERAGE UPSIDE)
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During the All-Star break, I wrote an article highlighting some hitters that I think are in for much better second halves than what we saw from them in the first half. Lopez was one of the hitters I mentioned there. He’s been pretty good already this season, slashing .249/.318/.393 with 10 steals and a surprising 10 home runs. The power is not something I expected from a guy with just an 88 mph average exit velocity; however, his xSLG of .495 is much higher than his current slugging percentage, and his Pull Air% is not great, but better than anything he’s posted before. His 8.8% barrel rate is the best of his career, and his .293 xBA might be closer to what we see from him in the second half. Max Muncy – 2B/SS/3B, ATH (6% rostered) was another player I highlighted, who is mostly relevant in deeper formats. Over his last 16 games, Muncy is slashing .267/.313/.517 with four home runs, eight runs scored, seven RBI, and a 13.6% barrel rate. If you use Statcast’s Swing Path data, you can see that Muncy’s Ideal Attack Angle has skyrocketed to…