Your fantasy baseball pickups need not always be players you anticipate being around for the long haul. Sometimes today is what matters most.
Injuries happen, especially on the pitching side. Skill sets shift and roles change quickly. You need to be quick to react and adjust your roster accordingly. There’s no shame in being the type of fantasy manager who freely adds hot and/or streaking pitchers, in the hopes that one might stick.
Today, let’s focus upon three pitchers who, based upon recent performance and news surrounding their teams, need to be added in all formats right away:
Max Meyer, SP, Miami Marlins (available in 38.7% of ESPN leagues): Here’s the quintessential example of a “juice the orange” player — yes, still my preferred label for hot-streaking. It’s mainly because he has had a tough time staying healthy enough for extended periods of time. Tommy John surgery cut short his 2022 and cost him all of 2023, and right shoulder bursitis brought his 2024 to a premature end last September. So far this season, however, Meyer has looked excellent — in particular his slider, which Statcast grades the fourth most-valuable pitch overall thus far (7.0 Run Value, 50.0% whiff rate and a .123 BAA).
If he were to improve the command of his four-seam fastball — opponents have hit .400 and slugged .800 against it in his brief MLB career — Meyer could quickly soar into the upper tiers of the starting pitcher rankings. Considering he’s already fifth in the majors with his 33.1% strikeout rate, he’s well worth the pickup taking the chance that he might.
Andrew Heaney, SP, Pittsburgh Pirates (available in 52.1%): He’s coming off a brilliant, nine-strikeout, one-hit shutout against the Los Angeles Angels, which marked the third time in his past three outings that he has exceeded 20 fantasy points. Remarkably, Heaney is doing it with a mere 90.0 mph average fastball (although his changeup has been as excellent as ever), thanks to a combination of mixing up his pitches, hitting his spots and varying his arm slot.
Hitters might adjust to that over time, but for now, he’s well worth adding to exploit the early streak. After all, Heaney’s Pirates play in one of the game’s most HR-suppressing ballparks — and homers have been a historical problem for him. In fact, Pittsburgh plays 25 of its next 40 games at home. He’ll be a two-start Week 6 pitcher, with both turns at PNC Park (CHC, SD).
Luke Weaver, RP, New York Yankees (available in 53.8%): Manager Aaron Boone’s Sunday announcement that Devin Williams has been removed from the closer role thrusts Weaver, the Yankees’ late-2024 closer, back into the role in which he enjoyed much success deep into the postseason. From the date of his first save last Sept. 6 through the conclusion of the World Series, Weaver had eight saves, two holds, a 1.03 ERA and a 41.7% strikeout rate.
Through the opening month of this season he has been every bit as effective, with 14 shutout innings, two saves, six holds and the 11th-most fantasy points (70) among pure relief pitchers. Even if this switch is temporary — and considering Williams’ strong track record, it probably will be — Weaver is an easy top-10 closer for our purposes for as long as he’s asked to fill-in. Frankly, he’s a top-20 fantasy reliever of any type even in a setup role.
Rotisserie-style player to add
David Bednar, RP, Pirates (available in 71.4%): After a nightmarish spring training (10.13 ERA over nine appearances) and a similarly poor opening regular-season weekend (two losses, 27.00 ERA in three games), Bednar was not only removed from the closer role, but was demoted to Triple-A Indianapolis. He quickly straightened himself out there with five scoreless appearances, and a 43.8% K rate. Since his April 19 recall, he has been similarly stellar — another four scoreless outings, culminating in his getting the save on Friday. Bednar, whose fastball velocity has seen a slight uptick in recent weeks, appears to be back in the role in which he saved 39 games and finished fourth at his position in fantasy points in 2023.
Deeper-league pickups
Jordan Beck, OF, Colorado Rockies (available in 93.1%): He’ll probably be a popular pickup even in some shallow mixed leagues after homering in three consecutive games over the past week, the final two of them multi-HR contests. Beck’s skill set is good enough to justify the add in any league at least as deep as 12-team mixed. He’s a power/speed type who had 25 homers and 20 steals combined in the minors in 2023, while averaging 30/22 numbers per 162 career minor league games. Beck shapes up as a solid future regular for the Rockies and he’s got the Coors Field factor to boost his stats at home.
Andy Pages, OF, Los Angeles Dodgers (available in 95.5%): It might be as mostly the team’s No. 9 hitter, but Pages is shaping up as the Dodgers’ everyday center fielder — which isn’t that bad a thing on an offense that should be one of baseball’s best all year long. He’s hitting .500 (15-for-30) with three homers across his last eight games, although he’ll need to boost what has been only a 30.0% hard-hit rate if he’s going to sustain that pace, considering he’s an extreme fly-ball hitter (a 38.3% rate!). Power was his calling card in the minors (see his .266 career ISO), however, making him well worth the pickup in the hopes he’ll boost his quality of contact.
Fernando Cruz, RP, Yankees (available in 94.2%): It says a lot about the performance of the Yankees’ other relievers that, despite the aforementioned Williams’ early struggles, the team’s bullpen still ranks among MLB’s seven best in terms of ERA, strikeout rate and BAA. Cruz is a big reason why, with his 1.80 ERA, 39.7% K rate and .154 BAA, thanks mostly to a filthy splitter that has generated a 53.4% whiff rate. He’s a critical piece in this bullpen that is now in flux in the late frames and bear in mind that he’s currently tied for 13th among pure relief pitchers in fantasy points (66) despite doing most of it in a setup capacity. Weaver is the guy to get first, but Cruz should also be stashed everywhere.
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