Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire & Pitcher Streaming Options (Week 2)

The seven best waiver wire options and three great pitcher streaming options for fantasy baseball’s week two

Mar 28, 2025

This is an article I’ve been waiting for the chance to start for a while. If you’ve followed my work for any length of time you’d know that this was my bread and butter over at FantasyPros for the better part of two years. Now that Fake Baseball is up and running, I’m going to continue the best waiver wire article in the industry over here.

I debated separating the waiver wire and pitcher streaming options into two separate articles. I may do that in the future but for now, it seems to make the most sense to combine the two.

These early-season waiver wire articles are always interesting because I don’t necessarily advise dropping someone you drafted after only a handful of games. There are certainly exceptions. Most of the guys mentioned will be guys who had question marks of some kind coming into the season and gave early answers to said questions. And realistically the only guys you should drop for any of these players are late-round guys you were questionable about during your draft. That or add them as injury fill-ins.

If you have any suggestions of guys missing from my list, make sure you leave them in the comments below.

Waiver Wire Targets

Tyler Soderstrom - Athletics - 1B

Yahoo: 17% | ESPN: 4% | CBS: 45% | Fantrax: 68%

The only real issue I had with Soderstrom was his lack of pulled fly balls. Last season

he pulled fly balls at just a 4.4% clip which was well below the league average. He showed on opening day that we won’t need to worry much about that this season. Homering off both Logan Gilbert and Trent Thornton. He’s already proven the raw power metrics are elite, this may be the season he puts it all together and flirts with 30 home runs.

Kyle Manzardo - Cleveland Guardians - 1B/DH

Yahoo: 12% | ESPN: 6% | CBS: 39% | Fantrax: 69%

While Soderstrom’s biggest question mark for me was his ability to pull the ball, Manzardo’s was where the hell would he play. The signing of Carlos Santana this offseason felt like it was going to eat into Manzardo’s playing time. It still may, but the clinic he put on during Opening Day should keep him in the heart of that lineup for the foreseeable future.

Jorge Polanco - Seattle Mariners - 2B

Yahoo: 2% | ESPN: 1% | CBS: 10% | Fantrax: 34%

A second-base eligible hitter who’s the primary third baseman in one of the better lineups in baseball (this take will age well I promise). He’s two-ish weeks away from being both middle and corner infield eligible and the new hitting coach regime in Seattle has Polanco looking like a new man. Injuries and a slow start ruined his first season in Seattle, his second season should be vastly different.

Trevor Larnach - Minnesota Twins - OF/DH

Yahoo: 3% | ESPN: 1% | CBS: 21% | Fantrax: 38%

Larnach is a platoon guy, but it’s not often you find platoon guys with his power. The Twins are confident enough in his power to slot him in the four-hole on opening day and that should be the trend moving forward. He hit 15 home runs with a 106.8 90th EV (87th percentile) in 2024 and he should end up as a 20+ home run guy with an outside shot at 150 R+RBI in 2025 if he can get to the 500 AB mark.

Miguel Vargas - Chicago White Sox - 3B/OF

Yahoo: 2% | ESPN: 1% | CBS: 8% | Fantrax: 33%

Has Miguel Vargas been an objectively “good” baseball player in his career? No. But he is a former Dodgers prospect who is about to get every chance under the sun in Chicago to show he can produce. He hit leadoff on opening day and, with that lineup, it’s something we should continue to see him do. Especially if he continues to rack up multiple hits. This isn’t a waiver wire option I love, but in deeper leagues, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a player set to get as many plate appearances as Vargas. Add him now and don’t be afraid to drop if he goes cold.

Miguel Amaya - Chicago Cubs - C/DH

Yahoo: 3% | ESPN: 2% | CBS: 9% | Fantrax: 26%

I want to preface this by saying he’s not on this list because of his five RBI game. It certainly helps, but he’s here for more than just that. Amaya is quietly becoming a very good offensive catcher. Over his last 51 games last season, he hit .277 with an OPS of .785 and a strikeout rate below 13%. He’s in a timeshare for the Cubs right now, and he’s not going to hit a ton of home runs, but in points leagues and two catcher leagues, he makes a pretty damn good option right now. Ride him in your lineup while he’s hot, he may not cool down for a while.

Alan Roden - Toronto Blue Jays - OF

Yahoo: 3% | ESPN: 1% | CBS: 12% | Fantrax: 33%

This MAY be more of a short-term play than a long-term one because my crystal ball isn’t letting me see what happens once Varsho comes back. Let’s just live in the moment and realize that Roden was one of the best hitters in the minors last season. He doesn’t have the best raw power, but he makes great contact. If he can carry over the 92.3% zone contact and 10.7% pulled fly ball rate he had in Triple-A last season, we may witness a very productive rookie season from the Blue Jays outfielder. Add him in deeper leagues while Varsho is still on the IL and reassess based on his playing time once Varsho returns.

Jordan Beck - Colorado Rockies - OF

Yahoo: 1% | ESPN: 1% | CBS: 9% | Fantrax: 27%

Jordan Beck is one of the more fun combinations of power, speed, and contact you’ll find in a prospect. In 2023 he flashed all three hitting .271 and going 25/20 in 126 games. He ended up getting a taste of the majors last season and it left many wanting more. Fast forward to spring training and Beck was in the hunt for one of those vaunted Rockies outfield positions (there’s a hint of sarcasm in that). He performed well this spring which may have led to both the trading away of Nolan Jones and Beck claiming that starting left field spot. He was someone I’d only considered for this list until I was just about done writing and wouldn’t you know it he stole two bases in game one. If nothing else, he’s a fun one to take an early flier on and hope he pans out in a deeper league.

Pitcher Streaming Options (Week 2)

David Peterson - New York Mets

Projected Starts: Monday at Miami, Sunday vs Toronto

Streaming pitchers in week two can be a bit difficult because you tend to get a lot of the top guys pitching at the beginning of the week. Thankfully the Mets are running out a weird rotation leaving guys like Peterson available for two starts. He faces a Marlins team that may have one of the worst lineups in recent memory and a Toronto team struggling to find its identity at the plate. He may not be great, but when looking for streaming options you should be focusing on where you can find quality starts. I think Peterson can find a way to pull off a quality start in both of these matchups behind that nasty slider of his.

Casey Mize - Detroit Tigers

Projected Starts: Monday at Seattle, Sunday vs White Sox

All we really wanted was for Casey Mize to finally put it all together. That may be a slight exaggeration as I’m pretty sure you hadn’t thought twice about Mize before spring training. Nevertheless, Mize showed up and showed out this spring and it got the people thinkin’…just how good can he be this year? Well, we’re about to find out in what should be two of the more pitcher-friendly matchups he will see this season. He’s tweaked his splitter a little, added in a new sweeper, and upped his velo yet again it seems. Both the Mariners and White Sox are lineups prone to striking out. If Mize can come out of the gate throwing early strikes, he’s got a shot at putting together a fun week’s worth of production.

Emerson Hancock - Seattle Mariners

Projected Starts: Monday vs Detroit, Sunday at San Francisco

Hancock is a former first-round pick and top prospect who just hasn’t quite been able to put it together in his limited time in the majors. He doesn’t have the same dominant strikeout “stuff” that guys like Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo have. Although, we may have gotten a sign of that changing this spring. Hancock not only added what seems to be a dominant sweeper, but he also saw a major uptick in his velocity across the board. He doesn’t have a great fastball or sinker, but if he can rely considerably more on his offspeed pitches I think many people will be in for a pleasant surprise. Combine that with his very Mariner-esque ability to pound the strike zone and this bodes well for Hancock. Neither Detroit nor San Francisco make great contact and they both were in the bottom third in the league in wOBA last season. We don’t know how long Hancock will be in the rotation, so take advantage of this streaming option while you can.

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