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Jeremy's catcher fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups for Week 8 of 2025 (May 19 - May 25). His top catcher streamers and free-agent adds to target on waivers.
Week 8 is approaching, and there are once again plenty of good catching options that are available in most Yahoo leagues.
The position was already turning out to be deeper than it has been for a really long time, and this past week brought even more youngsters into the spotlight. The mix of reliable veterans with all this young, exciting upside is making it hard to choose who to roster in shallower leagues. That's a good problem to have, as it means there's never a shortage of good streaming options.
Below, we’ll take a look at catcher fantasy baseball waiver wire adds for Week 8 of the season — May 19 to May 25. There are recommendations for shallow leagues (30-49 percent rostered) and deep leagues (0-29 percent rostered). Additionally, there's one player who you should keep an eye on in deeper leagues, as he could be in for a breakout later on in the season.
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Fantasy Baseball Catcher Waiver Wire Pickups for Shallow Leagues
Ivan Herrera, St. Louis Cardinals (49% rostered)
Ivan Herrera is still under 50 percent rostered, with absolutely no good reason as to why. After going on the injured list on April 7, only a few days after a three-home run game, he’s recently returned with just as much impact. Through five games since being activated on May 9, he’s gone 10-for-22 with a home run, four doubles, seven RBI, and six runs.
Iván Herrera stays hot and has 4 RBI tonight! pic.twitter.com/9vaVKVdwi8
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) May 17, 2025
It’s a limited 13-game sample, but his .334 xBA, .728 xSLG, and 19.4% barrel rate are about as good as you can get. Combine that with his 72 games from 2024, where he also posted a .293 xBA, and he’s looking more and more like a truly elite bat. The 24-year-old has top-three upside at the position and seems to have an easy path to be at least top-10 for the rest of the way. This should make him rostered in just about every league, yet he’s still available in over half of them. Pick him up now before it’s too late.
Agustin Ramirez, Miami Marlins (33% rostered)
Agustin Ramirez has continued to produce, most recently launching his fifth home run on Thursday and tacking on another double on Friday night. His slash line through 21 games sits at a robust .263/.322/.575.
This is looking like a legitimate breakout for the rookie, who has transitioned to the major leagues seamlessly after batting .267 with 25 home runs and 22 stolen bases in 126 minor league games in 2024. The stolen bases have been a little slow to carry over, as he has only one so far, but there’s still plenty of season left for him to bring out that part of his game.
Ramirez looks to be a particularly good streaming option for week 8, as the Marlins play six games against the Cubs and Angels. He’s set to face pitchers such as Ben Brown, Cade Horton, Yusei Kikuchi, and Kyle Hendricks, which will present plenty of opportunities to add to his growing home run total. He has a good chance to be a top-12 catcher moving forward, too, which would make him worth holding onto past this upcoming week.
Fantasy Baseball Catcher Waiver Wire Pickups for Deeper Leagues
Drake Baldwin, Atlanta Braves (9% rostered)
Drake Baldwin was expected to be an afterthought once Sean Murphy returned from the injured list, but he’s continued to earn more and more playing time thanks to his great performance at the plate. He’s slashing .360/.407/.573 with four home runs through 27 games.
His underlying metrics look just as good, if not better, as he’s featuring a 62.9% hard-hit rate, 93.5 mph average exit velocity, and .305 xBA that all grade out as elite. His 16.0% strikeout rate is also a very encouraging sign. To be doing this at just 24 years old in his first taste of the big leagues shows upside that not many catchers have.
The main concern here is playing time, but manager Brian Snitker recently said that Baldwin could see more starts behind the dish moving forward. A 50/50 split with Murphy would give him enough at-bats to be a must-roster in all two-catcher leagues if he continues hitting like this.
Moises Ballesteros, Chicago Cubs (7% rostered)
Moises Ballesteros was called up by the Cubs on Tuesday and has made two starts since. He went 0-for-4 in his first taste of major league action but hit a two-run single and scored twice on Friday. He started both games as the DH, which is where he will see most of his playing time after replacing Ian Happ’s spot on the roster while he spends time on the injured list.
Mo Baller is on the board!
Congrats on your first career Major League hit, Moisés Ballesteros. pic.twitter.com/BEVB31rjCP
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) May 16, 2025
Despite the possible inconsistent playing time, he’s still worth an add in deep two-catcher leagues. The 21-year-old slashed .368/.420/.522 with four home runs, 18 RBI, 19 runs, and three stolen bases in 34 games in Triple-A this season. He looked extremely advanced for the level, striking out at a rate of only 10.7%. Playing time could be tricky once Happ gets healthy again, but for now, you could definitely do worse if you need a deep league streamer.
Fantasy Baseball Catchers Waiver Wire Watch List
Dalton Rushing, Los Angeles Dodgers (17% rostered)
Dalton Rushing is another prospect who recently earned a promotion, but playing time once again looks to be an issue. Dave Roberts said the plan is for Rushing to serve as the backup catcher and a left-handed batter off the bench, and he is expected to start a couple of times per week. Two starts per week definitely isn’t enough to confidently use him in fantasy, but his ceiling is still very high. In his first start for the Dodgers, he went 2-for-3 with a walk and three runs scored.
Through 31 games in Triple-A this season, he was slashing .308/.424/.515 with five home runs, 17 RBI, and 23 runs. Those numbers speak for themselves, and I’m sure you can imagine the counting stats he’d rack up as part of the Dodgers’ lineup. He has true top-5 upside at the position, but first, he needs to earn more playing time. The good news is that he has experience at first base and in the outfield, making him an option to give Freddie Freeman some rest days, along with mixing into the outfield if he hits well enough early on. He could still be worth an add in 15-team two-catcher leagues, but it’s best to keep him on your watch list in any leagues shallower than that.
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