Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Watch: Connor Norby surging, plus streaming starting pitchers

Welcome to Waiver Wire Watch, where we review the top 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 try to list the category where I think he’ll be helpful or the quick reason he’s listed. My hope is that it will help you to 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 50% 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 50% 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.

Listen to the Rotoworld Baseball Show for the latest player news, waiver claims, roster advice, and more from our experts all season long. Click here or download it wherever you get your podcasts.

Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Adds

Hitters

Connor Norby – 2B/3B, MIA (46% rostered)
(EVERY DAY JOB, BATTING AVERAGE UPSIDE)

The Orioles sent Trevor Rogers to the minors, but one of the players they traded for him, Norby, has been lighting it up since being recalled by the Marlins. In 12 games, he’s gone 15-for-48 (.313) with three home runs, 14 runs scored, five RBI, and two steals. I’m not sure the power will continue at that rate, and the poor lineup around him will impact the counting stats, but the 24-year-old is finally getting a real opportunity at the highest level after being blocked by the overabundance of young talent in Baltimore. He’s worth an add in all formats if you need a MIF.

Spencer Torkelson – 1B, DET (45% rostered)
(ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY, POWER UPSIDE)

Tork came back two weeks ago, and, as I mentioned then, I’m not the biggest Torkelson fan for fantasy purposes. I think there are still some contact and approach issues I’d love to see improve; however, we can’t pretend the power upside isn’t tremendous. The 24-year-old slashed .239/.356/.442 across 275 plate appearances at Triple-A Toledo but did have 11 home runs in 58 games in the minors. He also hit 19 home runs in 72 games after the All-Star break last season, and is hitting .308 with three home runs in 14 games since coming back up. I know he was heating up in the minors the last few weeks as well, but he also had a 31 percent strikeout rate in Triple-A in 58 games, so I’m not convinced he’s going to continue hitting this week; however, if you need power, he’s worth an add.

Dylan Crews – OF, WAS: 44% rostered
(PLAYING TIME OPPORTUNITY, POWER UPSIDE)

Crews made his MLB debut last week, and he is likely the highest-upside hitter prospect left who is likely to get called up this season. I guess Jasson Dominguez – OF, NYY (22% rostered) also counts for that and could be worth a stash in case the Yankees decide to bring him up. Back to Crews. The second overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft hit .272/.343/.446 with 21 doubles, six triples, 13 homers, 68 RBI, and 25 steals for Double-A Harrisburg and Triple-A Rochester during his first full pro season and is batting .286 (6-for-21) with two homers and one steal in five games. He’s making an immediate five-category impact for fantasy managers and has moved to the top of Washington’s lineup, which will boost his fantasy appeal.

Masyn Winn – SS, STL (43% rostered)
(EVERYDAY JOB, HOT STRETCH)

I guess people have soured on Masyn Winn? He’s the 116th-ranked player in Yahoo 5×5 formats for the whole season and has been the 113rd-ranked player over the last month, hitting .287 with four home runs, 18 runs scored and eight RBI in 26 games. He hasn’t been running as much of late, which is a bummer, but there is more than enough value here in most league types. I’ve had Tommy Edman – 2B/SS/OF, LAD (36% rostered) in here for a few weeks, and I still believe he’s worth an add. We know the Dodgers are going to keep him in the lineup and even hitting eighth or ninth, he’s going to be in a good position to put up strong counting stats. In 11 games, he has three steals and five runs scored already, and when you add his positional versatility to all of that, it makes him a really useful add for fantasy leagues of all sizes.

Pete Crow Armstrong – OF, CHC (39% rostered)
(EVERY DAY JOB, SPEED UPSIDE)

I’m not sure I fully believe what PCA is doing, but he has been tremendous in August, hitting .325 in 25 games with four home runs, 17 runs, 16 RBI, and six steals. The Cubs have yet to move him up in the lineup, so his counting stats will be tough to maintain at that rate if he’s going to keep hitting eighth. I’m not a real believer in his power, so I think this is a bit of a hot stretch mixed with a hot stretch for the team overall; however, PCA also has 26 steals in 96 MLB games, and the speed is very much for real, so he can be an asset there given his everyday role in the lineup. Another speed play is Jacob Young – OF, WAS (16% rostered), who has three steals over the last two weeks and 31 steals on the year. He plays every day, so if you just need speed, Young can be a good option.

MJ Melendez – C/OF, KC (33% rostered)
(POSITION ELIGIBILITY, HOT STREAK)

Melendez is batting .311 (20-for-59) with five home runs over 25 games in August and has 17 homers, 43 RBI, 40 runs scored, and three stolen bases over 114 games on the season. Given that he is both catcher and outfield eligible in some formats, that gives him tremendous value. If you just want some catching value, Freddy Fermin – C, KC (7% rostered), has been cold for the last two weeks but should pick up more playing time with Vinny Pasquantino out for the remainder of the season and Salvador Perez seeing more action at first base.

JJ Bleday – OF, OAK (27% rostered),
(REGULAR PLAYING TIME, POWER/RBI UPSIDE)

This is the second week I’ve had Bleday on here, but his roster rate didn’t change despite a great week, where he hit .385 in six games with two home runs, seven runs scored and five RBI. He has continued to be a fringe rosterable player in 12-team leagues and a solid outfielder in 15-team formats for essentially the entire year. The 26-year-old outfielder is batting .248/.328/.464 with 60 runs scored and 50 RBI on the season. The A’s will go to Seattle and Detroit next week and will also face Tarik Skubal, so it’s not an ideal stretch but Bleday has been good enough to keep in the lineup in deeper formats. Also, his teammate Seth Brown – 1B/OF, OAK (2% rostered) has been swinging a hot bat of late and deserves to be in contention for deeper formats. In 34 contests since returning to the majors just before the All-Star break, he’s slashing an impressive .305/.379/.475 across 66 plate appearances with seven home runs, 13 runs, and 19 RBI.

Ramon Urias – 1B, 2B, 3B, BAL (24% rostered)
(CONSISTENT PLAYING TIME, HOT STREAK) – UPDATE – URIAS HAS BEEN PLACED ON THE IL

After the Orioles sent Coby Mayo down to the minors, I was super critical of them turning to Ramon Urias as their everyday third baseman, but all he’s done since then is hit, batting .286 in 34 games since the All-Star break with six home runs and 23 RBI. The 30-year-old third baseman is now slashing .253/.326/.435 with 10 homers and 35 RBI on the season and should be added in deeper formats. He did roll his ankle on Saturday, so just check in to make sure that’s not a bigger deal than it seemed at the time. In deeper formats, you can also turn to Zach McKinstry – 2B/3B/SS/OF, DET (3% rostered), who has been starting every day for the Tigers and is red hot in August, going 24-for-65 (.369) in 22 games with 11 runs scored and six steals. The Tigers seem likely to continue starting him as long as he keeps hitting, so McKinstry could be worth adding if you need speed and runs but just know that he could turn into a pumpkin at any minute.

Miguel Amaya – C, CHC (29% rostered)
(PLAYING TIME OPPORTUNITY, SWING CHANGE)

Miguel Amaya underwent a swing change in early July to remove a leg kick that he had been using for most of his career. The results since then have been tremendous, with him slashing .299/.341/.506 with a 137 wRC+ while his strikeout rate has decreased from 22.1% to 12.9% and his barrel rate has doubled from 3.0% to 7.2%. In a two-catcher format, he’s a must add in my opinion, and is worth a look single catcher formats if you don’t love your catcher. I’ve also mentioned Adrian Del Castillo – C, ARI (20% rostered) for a while after he appeared in my Mining the Minors article so I still recommend adding him if you have the chance. He just hasn’t played a lot of late since the Diamondbacks have faced plenty of left-handed pitching.

Matt Wallner– OF, MIN: 15% rostered
(STRONG SIDE PLATOON, POWER UPSIDE)

Why does nobody want to pick up Matt Wallner? He continues to play against all righties and produce, hitting .293 in 33 games since the All-Star break with seven home runs, 18 runs scored, 19 RBI, and three steals for good measure. He’s more valuable in daily moves leagues because he will sit against lefties, and the Twins do face three lefties next week, but one of them is an opener and they’ll play seven games, so Wallner should still be worth an add.

Parker Meadows – OF, DET: 11% rostered
(RETURN FROM IL, POWER/SPEED UPSIDE)

We were excited for Meadows to return after his demotion to Triple-A Toledo because he had made process changes that led to clear success. However, Meadows hurt his hamstring in his third game back and landed on the IL. Well, the outfielder is back now and has gone 28-for-87 (.322) with 14 runs scored, eight RBI, and five steals in 22 games. He has only two home runs, but he has the ability to drive the ball out of the park, which gives him low-key five-category value. Meadows has the raw ability to be a real contributor down the stretch and is worth a stash in most formats.

Ramon Laureano – OF, ATL (11% rostered)
(STARTING JOB, COUNTING STATS UPSIDE)

Since coming to the Braves, Laureano has gone 37-for-123 (.301) in 42 games with 20 runs scored, 15 RBI, and two steals. That was after hitting just .143 in 31 games for the Guardians earlier in the season. With Jarred Kelenic struggling, it looks like Laureano should remain in the starting lineup for the Braves for the foreseeable future. He’s worth an add in almost all league types while he’s playing this well and hitting in this lineup.

Will Wagner – 2B, TOR: 3% rostered
(REGULAR PLAYING TIME, BATTING AVERAGE UPSIDE)

It’s been a really strong start to an MLB career for Warren who is now slashing .357/.379/.571 with two home runs, eight RBI, and eight runs scored in 16 games. The son of Billy Wagner was hitting .307 in 70 games in Triple-A for Houston before being traded to Toronto and had a ridiculous 16.7% walk rate compared to just a 10.2% strikeout rate. He’s likely going to be more of a batting-average asset over anything else in fantasy, and he doesn’t run, but it’s hard to argue with his early production, and he starts about 75 percent of games for the Blue Jays right now, so he’s worth adding in deeper formats. Another deep league CI/MI option is Jose Tena – 3B/SS, WAS (3% rostered). Tena came to Washington in the Lane Thomas trade at the deadline and has been great as their everyday third baseman, hitting .362 with two home runs, nine RBI, and a steal in 16 games for Washington. He did display power and speed at Triple-A this year with 18 homers and 15 steals, so if he can continue translating that to the major league level, it would make him an interesting pickup in deeper formats.

Kyle Manzardo – 1B, CLE (3% rostered)
(COUNTING STAT UPSIDE, PLAYING TIME QUESTIONS)

The 24-year-old top prospect struggled mightily in his first taste of the big leagues, hitting .207/.241/.329 with seven RBI across 87 plate appearances. However, he has been great at the Triple-A level with a .946 OPS and 20 homers across 83 games. Another corner infielder getting a second chance is Coby Mayo – 3B, BAL (9% rostered). With Ramon Urias hitting as well as he is right now, it’s hard to see Mayo playing regularly right away. He could get some DH opportunities against left-handed pitching, but after going 1-for-17 in his MLB debut, it may take a bit for him to work back into a full-time role. Still, Mayo is a top prospect, and he has put together a big year at Triple-A with 22 homers and a .943 OPS in 87 games for Norfolk, so he’s worth a stash if you have the bench space. UPDATE – MAYO COULD NOW BE THE STARTING 3B IN BALTIMORE WITH URIAS ON THE IL.

Yuli Gurriel – 1B, KC (Not rostered)
(NEW TEAM, PLAYING TIME OPPORTUNITY)

You want a really deep league option? Well, the Royals claimed Yuli Gurriel off waivers from the Braves on Saturday following the news that Vinnie Pasquantio will be out for the remainder of the regular season. Gurriel had a .292/.378/.485 slash line with 12 HR, 48 RBI, and 11 steals in 75 games for Triple-A Gwinnett this season. He’s 40 years old and has not really been good since 2021, so he’s likely just a name to keep an eye on in case he moves into a full-time role.

Pitchers

Justin Martinez – RP, ARI: 47% rostered
Even though Paul Sewald is beginning to pitch better, Martinez still appears to be the ninth-inning favorite in Arizona. The right-hander finally was able to notch saves on back-to-back days and also had a multi-inning save this week. On the season, he has a 2.08 ERA and 75:30 K:BB ratio over 60.2 innings. He clearly has the team’s trust right now, which is enough for you to roster him if you need saves considering how well the Diamondbacks have been playing of late.

Ryne Nelson – SP, ARI: 46% rostered
Well, the Diamondbacks did the right thing and announced they are keeping Nelson in the rotation and moving Jordan Montgomery to the bullpen. Recently, Nelson has been leaning far more aggressively into his four-seam fastball, which has helped carry him to a 2.76 ERA with a 0.95 WHIP over his last 10 starts. He has also struck out at least five batters eight times in those two starts and has six quality starts. His schedule isn’t easy the rest of the way (Giants, Astros, Brewers), but he’s been pitching well enough that you’re not running from it.

Seranthony Dominguez – RP, BAL: 43% rostered
Dominguez stumbled against the Mets, allowing two walk-off home runs; however, he remains the Orioles’ choice at closer right now with Craig Kimbrel continuing to struggle. Even with the poor series against the Mets last, Dominguez has gotten all of the save chances for the Orioles and has a 3.00 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, and 19:4 K:BB ratio across 15 innings since being traded to Baltimore. He’s been hard to trust in the past, but the role is valuable enough that he’s worth an add.

Cody Bradford – SP, TEX: 37% rostered
Bradford has been a priority streamer for me for a couple of weeks since he started to round back into form after returning from injury. He also has an elite schedule the rest of the way facing the Angels and Mariners if the Rangers maintain their rotation. His teammate Jon Gray – SP, TEX (21% rostered), also faces the Angels this week, which makes him a strong streaming option before getting a matchup against the Diamondbacks that we probably want to avoid. Andrew Heaney – SP, TEX (27% rostered) was a priority streamer until his start last week got pushed back due to weather, so he’s now set up to start two games this week against the Angels but also now against the Yankees. I like the Angels start, but I hate that Yankees start, which makes Heaney risky.

Albert Suarez – SP, BAL (33% rostered)
Suarez has been excellent since taking over Grayson Rodriguez‘s spot in the rotation at the beginning of August. In four starts since that time, he’s posted a 1.97 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, and 25:6 K:BB ratio through 32 innings in August. He survived a start in Coors this week and will now get the White Sox up next.

Aroldis Chapman – RP, PIT (32% rostered)
With David Bednar removed from the closer role in Pittsburgh, Chapman figures to serve as the team’s stopper for now. He was called on to close out the game on Saturday with a three-run lead and was hitting 101 miles per hour on the mound. He struck out two batters in a clean frame for his fifth save to go along with a 3.48 ERA. It should also be noted that Dennis Santana – RP, PIT (1% rostered) has been lights out since coming to Pittsburgh, and is serving as their top right-handed relief option with Bednar removed from the role. That could lead to the odd save chance in the short term.

Edwin Uceta – RP, TB (27% rostered)
Yes, the Rays turned another random reliever into a stud. He’s been stellar this year in Tampa Bay, allowing three total runs and amassing a 39/4 K/BB in 31 1/3 innings this season. He’s also now stepped into the Rays’ closer role with Pete Fairbanks hurt and, much like Erceg, needs to be rostered in far more leagues right now. Porter Hodge – RP, CHC (19% rostered) and Jorge Lopez – RP, CHC (22% rostered) can also both be rostered given that they appear to be forming a committee in Chicago after the team released Hector Neris. Right after Neris was released, Hodge stepped up to earn his second save of the season. However, on Friday, Hodge was used earlier in the game in a high-leverage situation, and Lopez was able to snag his second save with the team. My gut is that Lopez, who had 14 straight scoreless appearances for the Cubs until last week, is the favorite for saves because Hodge will be used in the most high-leverage situations. However, they both should get opportunities down the stretch.

Matthew Boyd – SP, CLE: 19% rostered
Boyd sat 92.2 mph on his four-seam fastball in his season debut, but he threw a pitch 94.6 mph in his last start which is good to see. So far in three starts, his changeup has looked good and he has continued to spin a solid slider. Boyd seemed healthy, and he was electric in his rehab starts, posting an 0.83 ERA, 0.65 WHIP, and 27:2 K:BB in 21.2 innings. I still believe he’s worth a gamble in deeper formats.

David Festa – SP, MIN: 11% rostered
I wanted to roster Festa for his two-start week this week but I didn’t expect him to pitch so well against the Braves, allowing two runs in six-plus innings with seven strikeouts, two hits, and one walk. He leaned heavily on his slider, which has been an elite swing-and-miss pitch for him in the minors.

Reid Detmers – SP, LAA: 8% rostered
Detmers is getting another chance after he struggled earlier this year in 12 starts before being demoted in early June, but his 6.14 ERA is a bit misleading since he had a 4.07 SIERA, 13.4% SwStr%, and solid 15.5% K-BB%. The 25-year-old is likely going to strike out his fair share of batters, which will give him fantasy upside, but he has yet to show that he can avoid hard contact at the highest level which makes him a bit of a risky bet. However, he has been electric over his last four starts in Triple-A, throwing 21 innings and allowing just 11 hits and three earned runs while waking seven and striking out 29. Still, there are few pitchers getting called up right now that have his kind of upside. We also have no idea how the Angels are going to set up their rotation with all their young arms being called up.

Caden Dana – SP, LAA: 1% rostered
The Angels’ top prospect Caden Dana is skipping Triple-A and heading straight to the majors. It’s hard to believe he’ll be in a position to win many games on a bad Angels team, but Dana has been a horse this year, averaging over six innings per start since June 1. Over that span, he has a 2.39 ERA with 100 K/22 BB. On the season, the 20-year-old is 9-7 with a 2.52 ERA and a 147:39 K:BB ratio in 135 2/3 innings for Double-A Rocket City. He’s already thrown twice as many innings as his career-high, but it seems that the Angels don’t mind that so much. Dana is well-regarded by most prospect circles, ranked 92nd overall by Baseball American, 74th overall by MLB Pipeline, and just outside the top 100 on FanGraphs. In AL-only formats, you could gamble on fellow recent promotion Samuel Aldegheri -SP, LAA (1% rostered), who came over to the Angels at the trade deadline from the Phillies in a deal for Carlos Estevez. Aldegheri is the first Italian-born and raised player to ever make the big leagues. He has made 19 starts this year between High-A and Double-A. and thrown 95 1/3 innings with a 3.59 ERA, 33.5% strikeout rate, and 10.3% walk rate. He’s not as highly regarded as Dana but has raised his stock. BA currently lists him #6 in the Angels’ system, noting that his fastball sits in the low 90s but has cutting and riding action. He complements it with a slider, curveball, and changeup.

STREAMING STARTER OPTIONS FOR THE UPCOMING WEEK (ranked in loose order)

I’ve started breaking down the waiver wire pitchers for the upcoming week in a new weekly article, so you should check that out here. However, I’ll copy and paste the list (without the analysis) below.