It’s never too early to make pick-ups on waivers, especially in the first few weeks of the season. But for skippers with long-term championship goals, it’s also important to be patient and take a moment before making any adds. With that in mind, here are eight situations to monitor in the season’s first few weeks that fantasy baseball managers can use to guide their pick-ups not only ahead of Week 2, but also Weeks 3, 4, and 5.
What to Monitor in the Early Going
Ben Rice, 1B, NYY
Rice showed signs of a break-out last season as he filled-in for Anthony Rizzo at first base (.267/.353/.833, 5 HR, 13 RBI through 8 games immediately after his call-up) but eventually he came down to Earth (.114/.217/.200, 1 HR in his initial stint’s final 25 games) and found himself back in the minors by September. But after adding somewhere between 10-15 pounds of muscle in the offseason and by virtue of his .242/.319/.516, 5-HR spring line coupled with Giancarlo Stanton’s injury, Rice is expected to DH for the Bombers against righties, at least to start. And the best part? Aaron Boone said he could potentially see time backing up Austin Wells behind the plate.
Managers in leagues shallow enough to leave the 26-year-old on waivers should monitor Rice closely in anticipation that he could gain eligibility at catcher.
Miguel Vargas, 3B, OF, CHW
I love this pick for the simple reason that he’s a No.5 hitter, something that carries at least some weight no matter what team a player is on. Ultimately, Vargas is extremely available on nearly any waiver wire and offers solid offense in most categories—going 15-15 in his longest MiLB season (113 games), securing an OBP over .400 (including .440 in 2024!) and an average of .300+ four times. Add in his former top-3 prospect status as recently as 2023 in a loaded Dodgers system (MLB’s No.37) and his young enough age of 25, in addition to solid positional versatility, and Vargas is a steal given his market deficiency. Monitor his success closely and consider him as an early pick-up at a massive discount if everything works out.
The Cubs Back-End
This year, the Cubs are a well of solid, enticing fantasy options. Given they’re a consensus division winner not-so-precariously placed in baseball’s consensus weakest division, and it’s not hard to see why. That’s why I’m really interested in seeing the counting stats Matthew Boyd and Ben Brown can tally at the back-end of Chicago’s starting rotation.
There’s the pitching wins, naturally, which both Brown and Boyd should be dependable for barring seriously poor performance. But Boyd—though there are concerns about an innings-limit, which fantasy managers have to bear in mind—has proven for some time that he has elite stuff from the left side, meaning he should continue to supply the ample strikeouts he gave the Guardians in last year’s playoffs (14 Ks in 11.2 IP with an okay 0.77 ERA).
Like Boyd, Brown offers a similar profile and an equally encouraging Savant line. In 15 appearances last year (8 starts), he came through with a 3.58 ERA, 64 Ks and a clean 1.08 WHIP in 55.1 IP. Both are far from proven options, but monitoring them is a must for fantasy baseball managers looking to find quality pick-ups early.
The Vandy Boys
It wasn’t that long ago when some had Jack Leiter—taken No.2 overall—and Vanderbilt teammate Kumar Rocker—No.10—as two of the best pitching prospects heading into the 2021 draft. But times change, and the Mets didn’t sign Rocker after concerns about his arm, while Leiter got rocked to the tune of a 8.33 ERA last season after struggling in the minors since 2022.
The way I see it, they’re two undervalued pitchers who find themselves starting in the Rangers rotation – a team everyone keeps bringing up in the same sentence as ‘Bruce Bochy wins every other year’—and still have the raw stuff to be taken in the early first round of a loaded draft class. Leiter has disappointed for a No.2 pick, and there still have to be concerns about Rocker (make what you will of his 9.00 spring era over 13 IP, too), which is why skippers should monitor their performances, but there’s a lot of potential. Be prepared to add either one or both after a few starts.
Jack Leiter looked every bit like a Rookie of the Year frontrunner last night, holding the Red Sox to just one run over five impressive innings!
The stuff is electric, and if he keeps this up, he’s going to make some serious noise across the league. pic.twitter.com/jVQ1DQrORh
— Pitch Profiler (@pitchprofiler) March 29, 2025
Spencer Horwitz, 1B, 2B, PIT
To put it bluntly: Don’t sleep on Horwitz. Look to him as perhaps the highest upside, lowest risk pick-up of anyone on this list. Over the offseason, Horwitz was the headline piece the Blue Jays used to acquire platinum glove winner and All-Star Andres Gimenez, and much-needed bullpen help in Nick Sandlin, which says a lot about the 27-year-old first baseman.
Right now he is out after right-wrist surgery and is expected to be out for at least a few more weeks. However, when he comes back, first base should be wide open, and he’ll no doubt be slated to hit in the middle of a Pirates lineup behind the base-stealing Oneil Cruz and OBP maestro Bryan Reynolds. With the Jays, he was dynamic, offering power and average, and he benefits potential skippers as one of the few second-base eligible players with power.
When he comes back, be prepared to act.
Blue Jays’ Rovers
The Blue Jays are at an odd phase where, after four seasons of contending, they went through a mini-rebuild and sold their expiring contracts at the deadline for Triple-A prospects and fringe big leaguers with high ceilings. But attempting to compete again this year, the Jays have a plethora of young position players with appealing skill sets fighting for playing time. That group consists of Will Wagner (3B, 2B), Alan Roden (OF), and Ernie Clement (SS, 3B), with Joey Loperfido, Addison Barger, and Jonatan Clase also worth monitoring in the minors and Davis Schneider and Nathan Lukes without a path to reliable playing time.
Each an outperforming upstart prospect, all Wagner and Roden (his major league ascension has been meteoric after slashing .293/.391/.475 with 16 HRs and 14 steals in the minors last year) have done is hit in the minors and majors while Clement comes off a gold glove award at third base and an encouraging .263/.284/.408, 12 HR line line last season. All three offer pop, average, and potentially speed in the case of Clement (12 steals).
Playing time remains unclear—one of the three will probably force the Blue Jays’ hand—but skippers looking for high upside adds that could last all season, have to monitor the situation. The Blue Jays have plenty of great, seemingly reliable pick-ups, and early on they’ve turned the corner on their offensive woes.
Alan Roden is proving that he belongs in Toronto to start the season!
He has displayed excellent batted ball metrics this Spring while maintaining strong plate discipline and contact metrics. His bat is advanced and he has the tools to be productive right away! pic.twitter.com/dIZFv9auur
— Thomas Nestico (@TJStats) March 16, 2025
Max Muncy, SS, ATH
The Athletics are at a similar stage in terms of roster configuration as the Blue Jays, albeit with younger, less developed players with higher ceilings. For me, headlining that group are Lawrence Butler, Jacob Young, and Max Muncy—the first two of whom the fantasy community has done an excellent job highlighting.
But after the injury to Zack Gelof, Muncy earned the starting job for the A’s at second base. The 22-year-old, 2021 first rounder, went on a tear at the back-end of spring (.282/.383/.385 overall) to complement a .255/.346/.427, 39 HR, 38 steal MiLB career total. He offers considerable power and speed that’s yet to know a ceiling, plus everyday at-bats on an up-and-coming team playing in a minor league park. Monitoring Muncy and the Athletics as a whole will be a must this year in deep leagues.
430 feet!
Max Muncy goes the distance for his first MLB hit and home run. pic.twitter.com/aXHATEW1De
— MLB (@MLB) March 29, 2025
Curtis Mead, 1B, 2B, TB
Once a top prospect, Mead fell off both the fantasy radar and the Rays’ major-league roster after slashing just .238/.282/.287 last season. But this spring Mead earned his way back to the big leagues by going .524/.608/.619 in the spring with X homers. Long story short, all of the sudden, Kevin Cash had him hitting leadoff on Opening Day.
With the Rays playing 19 of their first 22 games at George M. Steinbrenner Field, a spring training stadium that Fangraphs has pegged to be one of the most hitter-friendly parks in the league, monitor Mead and don’t be afraid to pull the trigger, especially this month. Skippers just might want to wait to see what Kevin Cash has in store for him, specifically vis-a-vis a platoon and other aggravating aspects of moneyball.
