Fantasy Baseball Week 15: Waiver Wire Pitchers
Top pitchers to add in Fantasy Baseball
In case you missed it, the waiver wire week 14 hitters post came out. You can find the link here.
Starting pitcher has been rough to find on the wire this year. Every time someone becomes interesting, they ether get lit up or injured. Luckily, there are a few low-rostered players getting more consistent recently. I will start the same way I did in the hitter article - If Jacob Misiorowski (83%) or Chase Burns (56%) are available in any of your leagues, grab them immediately. Burns’ roster rate has already dropped 5% after his blow up start. There is word of pitch tipping, so if thats the case, the Reds’ should get it fixed quick and we can ignore the blow up. Still worth a add in every league.
Lets look at some interesting pitchers.
Note: Stats may change from time of writing to time of reading.
Eury Pérez - SP (31% Yahoo | 10% ESPN)
2025 Stats (16 IP): 6.19 ERA | 1.50 WHIP | 14 K | 0-2 Record
I get why there is so much hate around Eury. He has been hyped up for years and people are tired of waiting for the breakout, but he is coming off of Tommy John surgery and needs time. Spencer Strider took some time to get back to form and people are all ready to bet on Shane Bieber with his 32% roster rate. Pérez’s stats are bad so far, yes, but he has the highest ceiling of any pitcher on the waiver wire.
The Good:
Pérez is up to 90+ pitchers, his fastball is sitting at 98.1 MPH (higher than 2023), and the Marlins are the hottest team in baseball. His ERA is ugly, but its almost double his 3.67 xERA. He is getting extremely weak contact, allowing a middling 88.3 MPH average exit velocity, which is 1.5 MPH less than his 2023 season.
His fastball is still playing well, rating a 5.19 PLV (81st percentile) / 118 Stuff+ with 20.2” of total break (94th percentile) and getting batters to chase 38% of the time (97th percentile). When batters make contact, they have a .328 xwoBACON (85th percentile) which is .073 points lower than league average. He pairs that with his best pitches, a 124 Stuff+ slider and a 124 Stuff+ curveball. The slider has a 31.6% whiff rate and induces weak contact while the curveball gets poor contact 80% of the time (87th percentile). Pérez’s changeup is used exclusively on lefties and the pitch has yet been hit into play. the pitch averages 89.5 MPH and has a 50% whiff rate.
The Bad:
Pérez is getting batters to chase, but they are not whiffing on his pitches like in 2023. His whiff% is down from 33.7% (2023) to 20.9% (2025). Batters are chasing at a 33.3% rate, up 2% from 2023, but the chase contact is up to 69.1% this year compared to 43.9% in 2023. Watching his last start, Pérez seemed always up in the count, but he could not put batters away.
Pérez is struggling with command so far this season. His walk rate is up to 13.9% (8.3% in 2023), which leaves him with a awful 5.5% K-BB rate. His Location+ is down 7 points from 2023, leaving him with a below average 91. He has a higher Strike% on all of his secondaries this season compared to 2023, but his fastball percentage is way down. the fastball is only hitting the zone 53% of the time (47th percentile), and while the 69% strike rate is good, it is not as good as his 2023 73% strike rate. The 4% difference changes the percentile from 75th to 94th.
Overall, I think Pérez gets back to form by August. We will see his strikeout rate rise, his ERA and WHIP drop, and given how hot the Marlins are, we should see some wins. He is throwing enough pitches to get quality starts, that is if he can throw strikes and limit walks. The upside is extremely high and if you can roster him now and be patient, it could pay off come playoff time.
Edward Cabrera - SP (37% Yahoo | 12% ESPN)
2025 Stats (71.1 IP): 3.41 ERA | 1.28 WHIP | 75 K | 3-2 Record
After allowing 5 earned runs to the Dodgers on 4/28, Cabrera has only allowed 3 runs or fewer in every start (most starts are only 1 or 2 runs). During the same time frame he has dropped his ERA from 7.23 to 3.41 and his WHIP from 1.77 to 1.28. He has gotten at least 5 strikeouts in each of his last 8 starts and logged a quality start in 2 of his last 3 games.
The biggest thing with Cabrera has always been consistency and control. We have now seen a consistent pattern since May and his walk rate is at a career low (10%). Cabrera is hitting the zone more this year by 3% and getting 2% more 1st pitch strikes. it doesn’t sound like much, but both small improvements now have him over the MLB average for both categories. Cabrera lowered his arm slot 6 degree this season and maybe that is one of the changes that helped him get more control. His Location+ has gone from 95 in 2024 to 100 in 2025, right at league average.
Cabrera also changed his pitch mix, now using his sinker (23%) second most behind the changeup instead of his fastball (14%). Last season he used the fastball 27% of the time and it got absolutely destroyed. The sinker is a much better pitch, getting 20” of total movement and hitting the zone 60% of the time (78th percentile). for comparison, he is only throwing the fastball in the zone 46.7% of the time (15th percentile), which could be another factor of why walks are down. Cabrera’s changeup (24%) is playing better than ever.. the pitch averages 93.8 MPH (100th percentile), has a 67.3% ground ball rate (92nd percentile) and a 23.2 CSW (55th percentile). The changeup has the highest Stuff+ rating of his career at 103, 5 points higher than the previous high (video below).
Cabrera is worth grabbing pretty much everywhere. He is also a trade candidate and the Cubs are interested, which would greatly improve his win chances.
Ryne Nelson - SP/RP (44% Yahoo | 25% ESPN)
2025 Stats (74.1 IP): 3.39 ERA | 0.98 WHIP | 64 K | 5-2 Record
If you look at Nelson’s statcast nothing pops out except the above average 6.9’ of extension (83rd percentile). What he does have though is one of the best fastballs in the Majors. Check out the metrics on the pitch:
Four-Seam Fastball (95.5 MPH)
62% Usage (99th percentile)
115 Stuff+ | 5.37 PLV (95th percentile)
18.4” iVB (96th percentile)
70.1% Strike rate (83rd percentile)
38.3% Groundball rate (75th percentile)
.184 BAA (86th percentile)
Nelson spams his fastball while only throwing his other 4 pitchers 12% or less of the time. They are not bad though; the slider gets grounders, the cutter & curveball have the highest whiff rates (27% and 24%), and the changeup holds lefties to a .222 BA.
We saw what Nelson was capable of as a starter last season in the second half, where he posted a 3.23 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and 67 strikeouts in 64 innings. He is continuing that now, only allowing 5 earned runs over his last 5 starts (29.1 IP). All of his expected numbers show he is due for negative regression and he is running an extremely low BABIP (.232 / 96th percentile), so do not expect him to be this good all season. Regardless, Nelson should be rostered in almost all leagues and if you picked him up for his latest start against the Royals, it may be best to just hold onto him.
Brayan Bello - SP (25% Yahoo | 12% ESPN)
2025 Stats (76.1 IP): 3.42 ERA | 1.38 WHIP | 55 K | 4-3 Record
Bello’s numbers won’t blow you away, but the reason he makes this list is because of the 55% ground ball rate (92nd percentile). He upped his four-seam usage this year while also adding in a cutter and slider. Bello has struggled against lefties and these 3 pitches are used mainly to help combat that issue. They seem to helping some, as the four-seam and slider have .175 & .167 BAA with 23.5% & 27.3% whiff rates.
Bello is allowing much more contact this year and not missing as many bats, but the contact has been weaker and hard-hits are less frequent. Currently, he is posting career bests in BAA, wOBA, and SLG while also posting career worsts in xBA, xwOBA and xSLG. His 6.7% K-BB rate could use some work as well, but either way, Bello is making it work. He has 5 straight quality starts against some good teams (TOR, SF, NYY, TB). Bello will run a high WHIP and is the lowest priority add on this list, but he is a serviceable arm in deeper leagues.
Grant Taylor - SP/RP (9% Yahoo | 2% ESPN)
2025 Stats (10 IP): 4.76 ERA | 0.97 WHIP | 12 K | 2 Saves | 3 Holds
Taylor is only 23 years old and the #6 prospect for the White Sox and man, can this kid pitch. His numbers are all inflated due to the Dodgers beating him up, but I think we give any pitcher a pass against them. He has the Sox’s last two saves, both being two innings of work. Taylor throws a 99.3 MPH fastball with 7.4’ of extension, both good for 98th percentile. He has a 20.9% K-BB rate, getting batters to chase 30% of the time and whiff almost 28% of the time. He gets a ton of ground balls (53.6%) and induces extremely weak contact at 88.3 MPH. Its the White Sox, so there won’t be a lot of save chances, but Grant will get you a handful of saves while maintaining good ratios.
Ronny Henriquez - RP (19% Yahoo | 5% ESPN)
2025 Stats (42 IP): 2.79 ERA | 1.19 WHIP | 58 K | 5 Saves | 4-1 Record
I cannot believe this is the 3rd Marlins pitcher in the article, but here we are. It looks like Miami finally has a closer. Henriquez has logged the Marlins’ last 3 saves while Bender and Faucher worked the 8th innings. Henriquez has some nasty swing-and-miss stuff.. check out the whiff rates on his pitches:
Whiff%:
Sweeper (44.4%)
Fastball (24.7%)
Slider (40.3%)
Changeup (29.5%)
Those type of whiff percentages leave Henriquez with a 32.6% strikeout rate (91st percentile), 17.8 SwStr% (96th percentile) and a 33% CSW (89th percentile). His stuff is great, but he is walking batters at a 9.1% rate and struggling against lefties. His xERA (4.40) and xFIP (3.63) both suggest he his due for regression, but he is still the best option in the Marlins bullpen. The Marlins are hot and Henriquez is wildly available.
Week 15 Top 2-Start Pitchers (Under 50% Rostered)
Eury Perez (at CIN, at BAL)
Nick Martinez (vs MIA, vs COL)
Brady Singer (vs MIA, vs COL)
Andre Pallante (vs WAS, vs ATL)
Deep League - Richard Fitts (vs COL, vs TB)