Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Targets: Week 14 Hitters
Top waiver targets for the week of 6/30 - 7/6
Hard to believe but the MLB season is over half way done.. and even harder to believe is the Astros have a better record than the Mets at the time of writing this. It has been a season full of unpredictability and break outs, with a bunch of new names popping up over the past few weeks.
I’ll start by putting the obvious out there before I write the pitchers article: If Jacob Misiorowski (80%) or Chase Burns (61%) are available in any of your leagues, grab them immediately. I personally like Misiorowski more, mainly due to the better ballpark and velocity with 7.6 feet of extension. Neither will be in the Waiver Wire Pitchers article due to there roster rate.
With that being said, lets get into this week’s targets.
Note: Stats may vary from time of writing to time of reading.
Spencer Steer - 1B/OF (42% Yahoo | 38% ESPN)
2025 Stats (272 AB): 30 R | 6 HR | 27 RBI | 6 SB | .243 BA
Steer has finished has a top 100 player over the past two years, and depending on your league stats, he finished as a top 65 player in 2024. He was a popular bust pick this year after going 20/25, and after a injury and slow start to 2025, it was looking like he was in for a lost season. If you take a quick glance at his statcast you will probably will understand why he was a bust pick, but Steer finds success by pulling the ball. Steer is posting a career high pull-AIR% this year at 25.6%. This is 3.5% higher than his career average and 9% higher than MLB average. Playing half his games at Great American Smallpark tremendously helps his power play up. Steer’s expected stats and exit velocities are at the lowest point since his rookie year, but he has been showing signs of life lately. Over his last 12 games, Steer has posted 6 R, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 3 SB, and a .884 OPS. He is not going to put up last year’s numbers, but he contributes all around and can be serviceable as a 5th OF or a CI.
Update: I wrote this before his 3-HR game and his roster rate has jumped to 64%
Ceddanne Rafaela - 2B/SS/OF (55% Yahoo | 13% ESPN)
2025 Stats (261 AB): 42 R | 8 HR | 30 RBI | 11 SB | .249 BA
Rafaela is the perfect player to have as a bench piece that can fill in multiple positions on off days or for injury. He does a little bit of everything and has improved across the board this season. The biggest changes have been to his plate discipline, arguably the biggest concern holding him back from a true breakout. Check out the changes year-over-year below:
K%: 26.4 (2024) —> 21.2 (2025)
BB%: 2.6 —> 4.9
Zone Contact%: 75 —> 80.4
Whiff%: 33 —> 28.1
His strikeout rate is now below league average and he has almost doubled his walk rate. Rafaela’s chase rate is down 3% from last year, but is still 1st percentile, which needs vast improvement.
While improving his plate discipline, Rafaela is hitting the ball much harder this season. He posted a new Max EV of 112.1 MPH, which is 4 MPH faster than his previous mark. His average exit velocity is up almost 4 MPH from last year and his Hard Hit rate is up 8%. Rafaela is also posting career highs in all his expected stats (xBA, xSLG, xwOBA, xwOBACON) and barrel rate. If he can get his 12.2% pull-AIR rate up back to last season’s mark (17.1%), we might see a huge second half.
Otto Lopez - 2B/SS (35% Yahoo | 21% ESPN)
2025 Stats (250 AB): 36 R | 8 HR | 40 RBI | 9 SB | .260 BA
Would you believe me if I said the Marlins were the hottest team in baseball right now? What about if I said Otto Lopez was the #1 ranked player in fantasy last week (league dependent)? Well, both are true as the Marlins are on a 7-game win streak and posted a team .268 average in June (3rd in MLB). Lopez lead the charge with a 11/26, 8 R, 2 HR, 13 RBI, 1 SB week.
Lopez is making a ton of contact this year with a 90.3 Z-Contact% and 62.2 O-Contact%. That translates to a .302 xBA, which is .042 points higher than is current batting average (due for positive regression). He isn’t hitting the ball hard, so the home runs should slow down, but he is still tied for his career high in average exit velocity and already posted a new max EV (109.9 MPH). Lopez doesn’t strikeout much and has a 4.7% K-BB rate, making him a helpful piece in points leagues on top of ROTO/H2H Categories.
Ryan McMahon - 3B (37% Yahoo | 6% ESPN)
2025 Stats (276 AB): 32 R | 12 HR | 25 RBI | 2 SB | .221 BA
I feel like I am always writing about McMahon, mainly because of how steady he is. McMahon likes to go on these half season hot-and-cold streaks.. last season he hit .272 with 14 homers in the 1st half before falling off a cliff in the second half with a .188 BA and 6 homers. For 2025 it looks like things are finally picking back up. McMahon has 6 June homers in just 82 at bats and 4 over his last 13 games. He is actually hitting the ball harder this year, currently up to a 94.2 MPH average exit velocity (98th percentile) and a 51.1% hard hit rate (88th percentile). McMahon is also posting career highs in walk rate (12.9%) and pull-AIR% (18.2). Coors is heatin’ up and I think we have yet to see the best of 2025 Ryan McMahon.
Nick Gonzales - 2B/SS (4% Yahoo | 3% ESPN)
2025 Stats (83 AB): 9 R | 3 HR | 10 RBI | .301 BA
Gonzales missed the start of the season with a ankle fracture and returned to the lineup at the beginning of the month. He has hit all over the lineup, but he’s been batting cleanup for the past 4 games. For a team as bad as the Pirates, Gonzales finds a way to produce RBIs. Last year in 359 at bats he had 49 of them and now he has 10 in June. Gonzales is an aggressive hitter, swinging 59% of the time (MLB AVG = 47%) and 42% of the time on the first pitch (MLB AVG = 30%). It has been working so far, all of his expected stats are above league average and his .270 xBA is in the 84th percentile. Gonzales has middling exit velocities, but he pulls the ball in the air at a 17.6% clip, which helps him produce power. Surprisingly, he has 2 triples already, which also shows off his elite speed (93rd percentile sprint speed). Gonzales is available everywhere and is a solid deep league option. His 19% strikeout rate will not do much harm in a points league either.
Jordan Beck - OF (19% Yahoo | 7% ESPN)
2025 Stats (256 AB): 38 R | 10 HR | 28 RBI | 9 SB | .266 BA
I want to apologize to Beck for saying his 5 homers in 3 games was a just a hot stretch and didn’t mean anything.. but he has been playing great ever since. Beck was sent down to Triple-A for 2 weeks in April and he has been a new player since returning:
April: 10 R | 5 HR | 10 RBI | 2 SB | .295 BA
May: 17 R | 3 HR | 6 RBI | 3 SB | .252 BA
June: 10 R | 2 HR | 12 RBI | 2 SB | .282 BA
Beck is barreling the ball at a 13.1% clip (81st percentile), hitting the launch angle sweet-spot 37.1% of the time (72nd percentile) and is pulling the ball in the air 23% of the time (6.3% better than league average). Beck set a new career high Max EV at 113.8 MPH, good for top 9% of the MLB. Add in his 84th percentile sprint speed and half his games at Coors Field and you have a solid fantasy player.
Beck is playing how we expected Doyle to play. I haven’t made the switch yet in my 10 team league, but honestly it might be time. Beck even took his lineup spot, usually batting in the 1/2/3 hole while Doyle is down to the 6 spot. Beck is good 5 OF or 12 team option.
Trevor Larnach - OF (12% Yahoo | 7% ESPN)
2025 Stats (282 AB): 43 R | 12 HR | 39 RBI | 2 SB | .259 BA
Larnach is the most slept on platoon bat this year, even though he is outperforming Ryan O’Hearn (33% rostered) & Ben Rice (33%), while posting very similar numbers to Kerry Carpenter (58%). His 43 runs scored are good for 26th in the majors and should continue to climb as he hits in the 2-hole. Larnach is squaring the ball up and hitting it hard with a 90.9 MPH average exit velocity (67th percentile). Nothing jumps out on his profile except the fact that he has been consistent all year and he is on pace to set career highs in every category. He won’t start against LHP, but Larnach is a deep league/5 outfielder option available almost everywhere.
Nolan Schanuel - 1B (17% Yahoo | 14% ESPN)
2025 Stats (292 AB): 41 R | 7 HR | 32 RBI | 3 SB | .271 BA
Schanuel is known for his elite plate discipline and ability to get on base. This season he is posting a 1.5% K-BB rate (0.88 BB/K), which is good for 9th in all of the Majors. Schanuel is making a ton of contact as well, posting a 91.8% zone contact rate and a 66.9% chase contact rate.
Schanuel does not hit the ball hard, but his ability to hit the ball at the correct launch angle (91st percentile LA sweet-spot) and square it up (how much exit velocity was obtained compared to the maximum based on swing and pitch speed), allow him to hit for some power. He his posting career highs in average exit velocity (87.8 MPH) and Max EV (109.8 MPH), which 4 MPH harder than his previous career high. Schanuel is also crushing fastballs; he has a .330 BAA on the pitch and a .489 SLG. Schanuel is a solid player in points leagues and a good CI in category leagues.
I picked up Otto Lopez a month ago and he has done well in my lineups. Also have had Ryne Nelson from the moment he started back.
There is going to be a separate pitcher article?