Points League Pitchers: Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 8 (May 19 - May 25)

Nicho's H2H points fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups for pitchers in Week 8 (May 19 - May 25). Free-agent pitchers to add in points leagues.

What’s up, RotoBallers! Welcome to Week 8 of our weekly column discussing starting pitchers in points leagues! This column has been such a blast for me. I was a former college pitcher; examining MLB pitchers weekly has been a dream. Enough about me, that’s not why any of you are here. Last week, we found some diamonds in the rough, including Matthew Boyd, Jameson Taillon, and Michael Wacha. All these arms had 10 or more fantasy points in points leagues in Week 7. We will try to keep it going, but bookmark this page if you want to look back at any of my recommendations, or other RotoBallers' recommendations, or are just trying to be a step ahead of your league mates regarding waiver wire streamers.

For back-to-back weeks, I planned to feature a player who skyrocketed to over 50 percent rostered right in front of my eyes. Insert my shameless plug here to go pick up right-hander Merrill Kelly if he is available. For those new here, this column targets starting pitchers in points leagues that are rostered in less than 50 percent of leagues, according to Yahoo. At the bottom of each player I talk about, I will recommend how to approach streaming that player and if I view them as a long-term or short-term investment.

Keep following @RotoBallerMLB and me, @NichoRoessler, on X to stay updated with the latest content. You can always message me your fantasy baseball questions; I am happy to provide input! Best of luck this week, and let's keep swinging for the fences!

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Max Meyer, SP, Miami Marlins

49% Rostered

It's time to buy low (again) on right-hander Max Meyer. It's been a tough stretch for the 26-year-old right-hander; over his past four starts, he has thrown 20 1/3 innings, allowed 18 earned runs, nine walks, and struck out 18 batters. Rough, right? He was on a trajectory to be one of the top waiver wire pickups of the season after his first five starts, in which he only allowed seven earned runs. He has seen his ERA go from 2.10 to 4.47 during this time.

At this point, I am mostly optimistic because he still generates an impressive 30.6 percent whiff rate, a 27.3 percent strikeout rate, and a 53.2 percent groundball rate. In addition, his 3.17 SIERA and 2.96 xFIP suggest room for progression after this recent rough stretch. His slider remains his best pitch, and he throws it 37.1 percent of the time, allowing an opponent .183 BA on that pitch.

His four-seamer, offspeed velocity, and breaking velocity have all seen an uptick in mph from 2024, with 0.6 mph on the four-seamer, 2.2 mph on the offspeed velocity, and 0.8 mph on the breaking velocity. He has a Pitching+ of 105, which is above average, which is why he is still generating a high whiff and strikeout rate. However, he needs to pitch better with runners on base and get better control of his four-seamer so he can continue to put batters away with his offspeed.

Max Meyer's 2Ks in the 1st. pic.twitter.com/vuvzRrjVY3

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 16, 2025

The bottom line is that perhaps his first five starts showed what his potential might be, and the last four starts are him showing his youth. I would imagine that the real Meyer is somewhere in the middle, which in a points league, a 3.5o ERA with a pitcher with an excellent groundball rate and strikeout upside should be rostered in most formats with 10 or more teams.

Recommendation: Plan to spend 10-15% of your FAAB or a top waiver wire bid to add him to your team. I like him for the long haul. Next week, he gets the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday, which is a tough matchup, but his upside is too much to pass up at this point. 

Gavin Williams, SP, Cleveland Guardians

36% Rostered

Cleveland Guardians right-hander Gavin Williams has been hovering around the 40-50% owned for the past few weeks, and I spoke about him in my Week 4 article, but it’s time to double down on him because his strikeout upside is too good to pass up. 

In his last two outings, he has thrown 10 innings, allowed eight hits, two earned runs, and struck out 14 batters. He owns a 4.29 ERA, 4.05 SIERA, and a 10.93 K/9 in 42 innings pitched on the season. There is no denying that he needs to be more consistent and limit the walks (12.8% walk rate), but he ranks in the top 35th percentile in whiff (81st percentile), chase (66th percentile), and strikeout rate (78th percentile). 

His stuff is excellent. With a Stuff+ of 102, his curveball has 14.5 inches of drop and only allows a .188 opponent BA. His sweeper is also solid, holding opponents to a .186 BA. It doesn’t have as much horizontal (glove-side movement) as the league average, but similar to his curveball, it “drops off the table” and has good movement. 

Gavin Williams, 99mph ⛽️ pic.twitter.com/AiERob70Yg

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 14, 2025

The other side of the coin is his need to improve his command of the four-seamer. He throws gas, evident by his 97.1 mph four-seamer (90th percentile in fastball velo), but he has a Location+ of 87, which is very bad. In 2023 and 2024, when healthy, he had a 103 and 104 Location+, respectively, so I am banking on him finding that consistency, combined with his high strikeout potential.

Recommendation: Plan to spend 10-15% of your FAAB or a top waiver wire bid to add him to your team. I like him for the long haul. Next week, he gets the Minnesota Twins (Tuesday) and the Detroit Tigers (Sunday), who have both been red-hot, but this recommendation is a matter of helping your team win a championship, not just Week 8. I would still start him in both matchups and take advantage of his two-start week.

Ryan Weathers, SP, Miami Marlins

19% Rostered

Okay, I know I featured him in my article last week. Still, left-hander Ryan Weathers has become a must-add after his debut in Week 7, and I doubt I will have the opportunity to feature him in this weekly column after he puts together another good start or two. He went five strong against the second-best offensive team (in runs scored) in MLB, the Chicago Cubs; he struck out five, allowed two hits, and was only charged with one run on only 76 pitches—an extremely efficient outing for his 2025 debut.

I am double-clicking on him because the long-term upside he provides is too good to pass up, and I want to make sure our audience realizes it. His fastball velocity touched 99 mph while averaging 97.3 mph, 1.6 mph higher than in 2024. Against the Cubs, he featured his four-seamer 45 percent of the time, and allowed one hit on it. He also threw his sweeper and changeup on 24% of his pitches, and mixed in a few sliders and sinkers. 

His offspeed and breaking velocity also saw an uptick in mph, 0.3 mph and 2.2 mph, respectively. In his outing against the Cubs, he generated 10 whiffs and had an impressive 33 CSW%. All four pitches (besides his sinker, which he only threw three times) had a 25% or better whiff rate.

Ryan Weathers looked good in his 2025 debut yesterday.

5 IP, 2 H, ER, BB, 5 K

This was a pre-season draft darling in fantasy leagues and that talent hasn't gone anywhere...#MarlinsBeisbolpic.twitter.com/5j277ROzSM

— Eric Cross (@EricCrossMLB) May 15, 2025

Ultimately, success breeds success, and the Marlins have done an excellent job of developing young arms, and they will continue to do the same with Weathers. In points leagues, targeting pitchers that fill up the zone and have a high strikeout potential are always arms I am looking to target (think Jesus Luzardo), and I believe Weathers fits that mold. 

Recommendation: Plan to spend 15-20% of your FAAB or a top waiver wire bid to add him to your team. I like him for the long haul. Next week, he gets the Cubs again, which I don’t love, but this is a matter of helping your team win a championship, not just Week 8. I would still start him in Week 8.

Jordan Hicks, SP, San Francisco Giants

9% Rostered

Alright, maybe I am on an island with San Francisco Giants right-hander Jordan Hicks, but hear me out. Unfortunately for Hicks, he has been the victim of bad luck at times this season with weak hits scoring runs or "ground balls with eyes" finding their way to the outfield grass. Such is the life of a sinker-baller at times. He owns a 3.73 SIERA, 3.74 xERA, 3.47 FIP, and a 3.67 xFIP. Therefore, let's try to make sense of his 6.55 ERA.

With Hicks, it boils down to his sinker. It's the pitch he relies on the most (54%), and it is getting rocked as opponents are batting .330 off it. For the 28-year-old, it's all about location, because he has excellent stuff, which is evident by his 109 Stuff+. On the other hand, his Location+ sits at 99, which is not terrible but not great.

Although his velocity has dipped slightly from his time as a reliever, he still averages 97.2 mph on a pitch that moves almost one inch in on right-handed batters and away from left-handed batters. His velocity ranks in the 91st percentile, making it an elite pitch based on the rest of MLB pitchers. His sweeper is okay, and it is worth noticing that it has seen a decline in effectiveness from 2024 to 2025, as hitters were hitting .152 on it in 2024, and .255 thus far in 2025.

Jordan Hicks, Wicked 98mph Front Door Two Seamer. 🤢

17 inches of Run pic.twitter.com/4vOiKDraZA

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 3, 2025

Most of his advanced stats are better thus far in 2025 than in 2024, as his K/9, BB/9, HR/9, and strikeout percentage are all better. Combined with his underlying metrics mentioned above with xERA and SIERA, I would be willing to buy the dip. I can understand why fantasy managers have become frustrated with him and dropped him, but in Week 8, he gets an excellent matchup against the Kansas City Royals, who rank 27th in the MLB in runs scored.

Recommendation: I would stream him against the Royals and spend about five percent of your FAAB. In addition, do not use a top waiver wire bid. Based on his advanced numbers, I feel he won't be rostered in only nine percent of leagues in a few weeks. The only risk I see is if he is moved to the bullpen in favor of Kyle Harrison or Hayden Birdsong. In that case, feel free to drop him.

Honorable Mentions - Others To Prioritize

I understand that deeper leagues may not have the players listed above available, so check out the list below for pitchers to add to your watch list or stream this week based on their matchups (Tier 2).

Tier 1: Team Streamers

Pitchers Who Could Stick Around, But We Need To See More Consistency From or Improved Underlying Numbers

• Brayan Bello, BOS
• Lucas Giolito, BOS
• Stephen Kolek, SDP
• Jack Leiter, TEX
• Justin Verlander, SFG
• Gunnar Hoglund, ATH
• Tomoyuki Sugano, BAL
• Cade Horton, CHC
• Logan Henderson, MIL
• Zebby Matthews, MIN
• Tyler Anderson, LAA
• Luis Severino, ATH
• Michael Lorenzen, KC
• Michael Soroka, WSN
• Chase Dollander, COL

Tier 2: Plus Matchup Only

One And Done

• Jose Soriano, LAA (two-start week with MIA on Sunday)
• Patrick Corbin, TEX (NOT Monday vs NYY, but Sunday vs CWS)
• Logan Evans, SEA (faces CWS)
• Ben Brown, CHC (faces MIA Tuesday and gets CIN on Sunday)
• Jameson Taillon, CHC (faces MIA)
• Nick Martinez, CIN (faces PIT)
• Tobias Myers, MIL (faces PIT)
• Quinn Priester, MIL (faces PIT)

Tier 3: Desperation Tier

You've Probably Made Some Bad Choices Already

• Cal Quantrill, MIA
• Kyle Freeland, COL
• Antonio Senzatela, COL
• Kyle Gibson, BAL
• Sean Burke, CWS
• Jonathan Cannon, CWS
• Bryse Wilson, CWS

Tier 4: The Stashbox

If you can stash these players on your IL or NA spot, I would do it sooner rather than later.

• Bubba Chandler, PIT
• Brandon Woodruff, MIL
• Eury Perez, MIA
• Aaron Civale, MIL
• Luis Gil, NYY
• Andrew Painter, PHI (Made Triple-A debut on May 8)
• Max Scherzer, TOR
• Sean Manaea, NYM
• Hayden Birdsong, SFG (reliever right now, but could be in line for a big starting spot in the Giants rotation with an injury or performance issues)
• Kyle Harrison, SFG (similar to Birdsong, could replace Landen Roupp or Hicks if they continue to struggle)
• Spencer Arrighetti, HOU
• Kutter Crawford, BOS
• Yu Darvish, SD
• Max Scherzer, TOR
• Clayton Kershaw, LAD
• Shane Bieber, CLE

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