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Three top fantasy baseball prospects - Quinn Mathews, Kade Anderson, Hector Rodriguez - that can make big impacts. These MLB prospects are waiver wire pickups or stashes.
Every season, fantasy managers see high-impact prospects earn the call and emerge as top assets for fantasy. This past week, prospects like Cole Carrigg have quickly entered must-add territory following their stellar debuts.
Below, we will look at three prospects who are knocking on the MLB door and determine if managers should look to stash them ahead of Week 13.
Should fantasy managers stash these high-end prospects? Let's dive in!
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Quinn Mathews, SP, St. Louis Cardinals
Current Level: AAA
Availability: 5% rostered
2026 AAA Stats: 56 2/3 IP, 4.13 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 72 SO, 39 BB
After a slow start to the Triple-A season, Quinn Mathews has turned things around in a big way. Over his last 16 innings, the left-hander has allowed just one earned run while racking up 23 strikeouts to only five walks.
The 25-year-old is the Cardinals' No. 3 pitching prospect and currently the highest-ranked pitching prospect at the Triple-A level. For fantasy, Mathews offers durability and an MLB-ready arsenal.
On the mound, he attacks hitters with a five-pitch mix that relies on sequencing and deception rather than overpowering velocity. Here’s a breakdown of his pitches over the years.
While his fastball sits in the 93-96 mph range, it plays up because of his secondary pitches. His best secondary pitch is his changeup. Sitting 82–84 mph, it plays off the fastball well and consistently disrupts hitters’ timing.
He also mixes in a mid-80s gyro/cutter slider that generates plenty of whiffs and serves as his main put-away pitch against lefties. A usable curveball and sinker round out the arsenal, giving hitters a few different looks.
Mathews doesn’t have overpowering stuff, but his pitch mix, command, and feel for sequencing give him legitimate SP4 upside down the road. The key question is timing: when will he receive the call?
Right now, there isn't an opening in the Cardinals’ rotation, but if they’re serious about staying in the Wild Card race, they may eventually have to move on from Kyle Leahy.
Leahy has a 4.56 SIERA with a 9.3% K-BB% over 64 innings this season, and the underlying numbers don’t help much either. He's posted a 89 Stuff+ and 98 Pitching+. Because of that, Mathews could find himself in St. Louis sooner rather than later.
When he gets the call, he’s more of a 15-team streaming option at first, just until you can trust him.
-Written by Marty Tallman
Kade Anderson, SP, Seattle Mariners
Current Level: AA
Availability: 15% rostered
2026 AA Stats: 55 2/3 IP, 1.13 ERA, 0.66 WHIP, 82 SO, 7 BB
Another week has gone by, which means another week of Kade Anderson's dominance in Double-A. Anderson tossed 6 2/3 shutout innings on Saturday and has now gone four straight outings without allowing an earned run.
In fact, Anderson has only allowed seven earned runs in 11 starts this season, with five of those coming in a start back on May 15. In his other 10 starts combined, Anderson has allowed just two earned runs in 51 2/3 innings. Hot damn.
Kade Anderson had 6.2 more shutout innings today.
ERA now sits at 1.13 in 55.2 innings this season.
Top pitching prospect in the game.#TridentsUp pic.twitter.com/TyGlT5CRsq
— Eric Cross (@EricCrossMLB) June 13, 2026
At this point, the only thing holding Anderson back is Seattle's embarrassment of pitching talent and depth. Anderson is my top-ranked pitching prospect and my #2 overall prospect just behind Jesús Made, and it's quite obvious that he doesn't have much or anything left to prove in the minors. But unfortunately, the Mariners' rotation is already overflowing with six arms as it is.
You have to imagine that Anderson forces their hand at some point; it's just hard to pinpoint when that might be.
- Written by Eric Cross
Hector Rodriguez, OF, Cincinnati Reds
Current Level: AAA
Availability: 5% rostered
2026 AAA Stats: 69 G, .281/.358/.514, 12 2B, 15 HR, 4 SB
Rodriguez originally signed with the Mets out of the Dominican Republic in 2021, but he was traded to the Reds in exchange for Tyler Naquin approximately 18 months later. The young outfield prospect has hit the baseball at every level he's been, including Triple-A here in 2026.
Rodriguez is a power-first bat, and the quality of contact has been super impressive. This year, his 107.3 mph EV90 ranks in the 93rd percentile. His barrel rate and hard-hit rate are both north of the 70th percentile, and he has a 23.3% pull-air rate. Despite chasing more than you'd like to see from a Triple-A prospect (35.8%), he has kept his whiff rate at a modest 22.7%.
Last week, Rodriguez went 10-for-27 with four homers, 14 RBI, one walk, and six strikeouts. His best game of that stretch came between Tuesday and Wednesday. Over that two-game span, he logged eight hits and a whopping 14 RBI. Rodriguez has now played 120 career games at Triple-A, so it appears that he'll be ready to make his MLB debut sooner rather than later.
108 mph | 427 ft 💥@Reds No. 5 prospect Héctor Rodríguez launches his FIFTH homer in his past SEVEN games for the Triple-A @LouisvilleBats: pic.twitter.com/r2FKkB1SJG
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) June 14, 2026
2026 Prospect Fantasy Baseball Redraft Stash Rankings
Who are the top fantasy baseball prospects to know? Check out our latest 2026 prospect fantasy baseball rankings which are updated regularly by Eric Cross:
Promoted Last Week: Braden Montgomery (CHW), Cole Carrigg (COL), Blaze Jordan (STL), Cooper Pratt (MIL), Denzer Guzman (LAA)
Honorable Mentions (Hitters): Lazaro Montes (SEA), Harry Ford (WAS), Ryan Clifford (NYM), Jacob Melton (TBR), Michael Arroyo (SEA), Jonathon Long (CHC), Joshua Kuroda-Grauer (ATH), Zach Ehrhard (LAD)
Honorable Mentions (Pitchers): Jack Wenninger (NYM), Hunter Barco (PIT), Owen Murphy (ATL), Quinn Mathews (STL), George Klassen (LAA)
| Rank | Player | Position | Team | ETA |
| 1 | Kaelen Culpepper | SS | Twins | June |
| 2 | Joshua Baez | OF | Cardinals | July |
| 3 | Kade Anderson | SP | Mariners | July |
| 4 | Charlie Condon | 1B | Rockies | July |
| 5 | River Ryan | SP | Dodgers | June |
| 6 | Max Clark | OF | Tigers | August |
| 7 | Ryan Waldschmidt | OF | Diamondbacks | July |
| 8 | Walker Jenkins | OF | Twins | August |
| 9 | James Tibbs III | OF | Dodgers | June |
| 10 | Karson Milbrandt | SP | Marlins | August |
| 11 | Luis Lara | OF | Brewers | June |
| 12 | Zac Veen | OF | Rockies | July |
| 13 | Hector Rodriguez | OF | Reds | August |
| 14 | Yohandy Morales | 1B/3B | Nationals | June |
| 15 | Hagen Smith | SP | White Sox | July |
| 16 | Jett Williams | SS/OF | Brewers | July |
| 17 | Ralphy Velazquez | 1B | Guardians | August |
| 18 | Jonah Tong | SP | Mets | July |
| 19 | Elmer Rodriguez | SP | Yankees | July |
| 20 | George Lombard Jr. | SS | Yankees | July |
| 21 | Jaxon Wiggins | SP | Cubs | July |
| 22 | Kemp Alderman | OF | Marlins | July |
| 23 | Abimelec Ortiz | 1B | Nationals | July |
| 24 | Brody Hopkins | SP | Rays | July |
| 25 | Wei-En Lin | SP | Athletics | August |
Who Should I Pickup Fantasy Baseball Tool
Trying to decide who to pick up off the waiver wire? Check the Who Should I Pickup tool:
Compare up to four players and we'll tell you who to pickup...
2026 Player Decisions. Looking to pick up someone else instead? Today's focus is on specific players like Quinn Mathews, Kade Anderson, Hector Rodriguez, Colt Keith, Carson Benge, Jacob Latz, Elvis Alvarado, Cade Cavalli, Ryne Nelson, Braden Montgomery. These are some common searches for 2026 fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups.
Using The Tool. This is a simple tool but very powerful. The first step is to enter the player names that you want to compare. In the first box, search for the first player's name. In the second box, search for the second player's name. Compare up to four MLB players at once, and then click the Who To Pickup? button to see who the recommended waiver wire pickups are based on fantasy baseball rankings, projections, and more.
Improvements For Who Should I Pickup? You may have noticed, our Who Should I Pickup? tool has gotten an overhaul. We've added lots of great features for you to give you as much information as possible to win on the waiver wire in 2026. You'll see MLB player tiles with stats, projections, and a slick new interface. We hope you enjoy!
How It Works. Our RotoBaller staff puts together their weekly fantasy baseball waiver wire rankings and projections based on their research, and updates them constantly throughout the week. That information is the core data that is powering the decision-making in this tool. When you search for player names, you will only see those players who are ranked.
Popular Player Comparison Searches - Who To Pickup
Looking to pick up someone else instead? Below are some popular searches and comparisons from our Who To Pickup tool for 2026 for players like Quinn Mathews, Kade Anderson, Hector Rodriguez, Colt Keith, Carson Benge, Jacob Latz, Elvis Alvarado, Cade Cavalli, Ryne Nelson, Braden Montgomery:
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