Eric Cross' Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups - Hitters and Pitchers (Week 16)

Eric Cross' top fantasy baseball waiver wire adds for Week 16 of 2025 (July 14 - July 20). His favorite free agent hitters and pitchers under 40% rostered.

Just two more days until the all-star break, where we can all step back and take a quick breather for a few days. We won't have to set lineups until later in the week, but that doesn't mean you can't be looking for ways to improve your team between now and then. Make that trade, add that player, do whatever you need to do to set your team up for the second half of the season.

The players below are all under 40 percent rostered in Yahoo! leagues. Some of them might already be rostered in your leagues, but if they're available, I'd recommend considering them to see if they could be good fits for your fantasy teams.

Last week's recommendations were Trevor Story (BOS), Noelvi Marte (CIN), Evan Carter (TEX), Eury Perez (MIA), Justin Wrobleski (LAD), Ronny Henriquez (MIA), and Grant Taylor (CHW).

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Colt Keith, 1B/2B, Detroit Tigers

27% Rostered on Yahoo

After a slow start to the season, Colt Keith has quietly been hitting incredibly well over the last two months. Since May 4, Keith is slashing .310/.360/.520 with 14 doubles and six home runs in 189 plate appearances, with four of those six home runs coming over his last 18 games.

CHIEF KEITH 💣 pic.twitter.com/dAObx9TUpb

— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) July 9, 2025

Keith's underlying metrics have taken a notable step forward this season in several areas. After having a 5.6% barrel rate, 87.8 mph AVG EV, and a 35.3% hard-hit rate as a rookie in 2024, those metrics are up to 10.7%, 89.9 mph, and 45.2% respectively this season. Keith has also increased his walk rate from 6.5% to 10.8% while still maintaining his above average 85.6% zone and 77.9% overall contact rates.

Keith now has better-than-league-average metrics in contact, approach, and quality of contact. He's also eligible at two or three positions, depending on your league settings, and the ability to slot him in at multiple spots, including both corner infield and middle infield, gives him added value.

Romy Gonzalez, 1B/2B, Boston Red Sox

34% Rostered on Yahoo

The injury to Tristan Casas opened up additional playing time for Romy Gonzalez this season, and he's fully taken advantage of it. In 151 plate appearances, Gonzalez is slashing an impressive .333/.371/.594 with five home runs, four steals, 28 RBI, and 26 runs scored. That's a 650 plate appearance pace of 22 home runs, 17 steals, 120 RBI, and 112 runs. Not too shabby for a guy who was supposed to just be a reserve infielder entering the season.

This performance from Gonzalez hasn't been fluky either. While the 80.3% zone and 69.3% overall contact rate are a bit below average, Gonzalez's quality of contact metrics have been excellent this season. Gonzalez is currently running a 17.8% barrel rate, 95.3 mph AVG EV, and a 61.7% hard-hit rate, all while posting a career-best 22.5% strikeout rate.

The return of Alex Bregman could cut into Gonzalez's playing time slightly, but with how well he's been hitting this season, I'd expect Gonzalez to still play at least 4-5 times per week between first base and second base, especially if Boston winds up sending Marcelo Mayer back down to Triple-A.

Otto Lopez, 2B/SS, Miami Marlins

39% Rostered on Yahoo

Otto Lopez being under 40% rostered on Yahoo is a crime against humanity. Okay, maybe that was a bit much, but you get my point. In 319 plate appearances this season, Lopez has racked up 10 home runs, 10 steals, 46 RBI, and 40 runs scored with a .250/.320/.385 slash line. Sure, that slash line doesn't jump off the page at you, but Lopez is on pace for around 70 runs, 80 RBI, and close to 20 home runs and steals.

I'm expecting that .250 AVG to tick up over the remainder of the season as well due to Lopez currently having an 89.7% zone contact rate, 81.1% overall contact rate, and a 13.5% strikeout rate. Lopez puts the ball in play regularly and is running quality of contact metrics, which are all around league-average right now.

Lopez is locked in as the Marlins' starting shortstop and has regularly been hitting in the third spot in Miami's lineup, right in front of Agustín Ramírez and Kyle Stowers, which is the most ideal spot to be in for a Miami hitter. If you need a middle infielder who can provide steady production across the board, Lopez is your guy.

Mickey Moniak, OF, Colorado Rockies

11% Rostered on Yahoo

Has the former #1 overall pick finally found his groove with the Colorado Rockies? Coors Field can certainly have that effect on hitters. In 244 plate appearances this season, Moniak is slashing .256/.303/.520 with 28 extra-base hits, 13 home runs, and five steals. He's been especially potent at the plate over his last 23 games, racking up 15 extra-base hits, eight home runs, 17 RBI, and three steals with a .352/.395/.817 slash line.

Can Moniak be trusted, though? I'm sure that's the question going through every manager's mind when they see him sitting on their league's waiver wire. One year ago, my answer would have been a resounding "heck no", but Moniak's metrics under the hood are actually somewhat encouraging right now.

👀 LOOK OUT IN THE BULLPEN pic.twitter.com/FeKdpjLBWE

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) July 6, 2025

To start, Moniak is hitting the ball harder than he ever has with a 12.5% barrel rate, 89.6 mph AVG EV, and a career-best 47% hard-hit rate so far this season. He's also trimmed his strikeout rate to 24.6%, while improving his zone and overall contact rates to 81% and 71.7% respectively. Those last three metrics are all career-best marks for Moniak as well.

Moniak still chases at an alarming rate and has a sub-70% contact rate on non-fastballs, but he's slugging above .400 against non-fastballs while pummelling fastballs to the tune of a .301 AVG and .602 SLG. If you need an outfielder and/or some power, I'd consider giving Moniak a look.

Emmet Sheehan, SP, Los Angeles Dodgers

28% Rostered on Yahoo

While Emmet Sheehan's role is currently piggybacking Shohei Ohtani, he's still pitching enough innings to provide decent fantasy value in the short term for fantasy managers. In his two outings so far, Sheehan has allowed just two earned runs in nine innings with one walk and 10 strikeouts. He was also pitching well in Triple-A with a 0.92 WHIP and a ridiculous 36/2 K/BB ratio in 19.2 innings.

Sheehan works with a conventional four-pitch mix and has ditched his sweeper in favor of a curveball this season as his 4th offering. He'll sit in the 95-96 range on his 4-seamer while mixing in his slider and changeup nearly half of the time, which have both been big bat-missing offerings for him. In 2023, both pitches had a whiff rate above 43% in the Majors, and Sheehan currently has a 46.7% whiff rate on the changeup and 33.3% on his slider through two outings with the Dodgers this season.

The long-term picture for Sheehan is a bit cloudy once Ohtani's workload increases and Blake Snell returns from the IL. But who are we kidding? This Dodgers' rotation is the definition of fragile, so Sheehan has a good chance of continuing to get work with the big club over the remainder of the season, and he has the stuff to be an impact arm for fantasy as long as he's getting those innings.

Slade Cecconi, SP, Cleveland Guardians

12% Rostered on Yahoo

I honestly didn't think I'd be including Slade Cecconi as a waiver wire target at any point this season, let alone adding him myself in my home keeper league for a start against Houston a few days ago, which went extremely well. Wednesday's outing against the Astros was Cecconi's seventh straight start allowing three earned runs or fewer, and he's only allowed more than three earned runs once in his 10 starts this season.

Slade Cecconi, Wicked 82mph Slider...and Sword. ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/jcPx2MjUtK

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) July 10, 2025

Overall, Cecconi currently sports a 3.44 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 7.8% walk rate, and a 24.1% strikeout rate in 55 innings this season. A big reason for his success has been his ability to miss bats more than he ever has. Cecconi has increased his strikeout rate by over 5% this season and his whiff rate by 5.9% while also allowing less contact in the zone. Y

ou can thank Cecconi's curveball and slider for the whiff rate increase, as the curveball currently has a 41.8% whiff rate and the slider sits at 36.3%. Both offerings also have a BAA under .160 and a SLG allowed under .290. Cecconi's 4-seamer is still getting hit around, but he's cut the usage rate on the offering from 54.9% last season to 39.7% this season in favor of more sliders and curveballs.

Eric Lauer, SP, Toronto Blue Jays

30% Rostered on Yahoo

Coming into 2025, Eric Lauer was completely off the fantasy radar following a terrible showing in 2023 and subsequently spending the entire 2024 season in Triple-A or the KBO, where he didn't pitch well. But as we inch closer to the all-star break, Lauer has put himself back on the map with a 2.78 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 7.3% walk rate, and a 26.8% strikeout rate in 55 innings for the Blue Jays.

Lauer's fastball velocity isn't overly impressive, but he's nearly a full tick up from where he was in 2023, and he's been using his changeup more as well, giving him a deep five-pitch arsenal which he'll fully use against both right-handed and left-handed hitters. And while Lauer doesn't have a big whiff rate on any single offering, he does have a whiff rate above 20% on all five offerings.

Overall, Lauer's 7.3% walk rate and 26.4% strikeout rate are career-best marks, and his barrel rate allowed has been nearly cut in half from 2023's ridiculous 13.9% mark. His 3.15 xERA, 3.38 FIP, and 3.53 SIERA are also encouraging. Is he a stud? No. But Lauer is worth a look right now if you're searching for some pitching help.

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