Are You For Real? Surprising Fantasy Baseball Hitters Surging Including Andrew Vaughn, Angel Martinez, Harrison Bader, Kyle Higashioka

Tommy analyzes hot surging hitters - fantasy baseball sleepers, waiver wire pickups to consider for Week 16 in 2025. These are potential waiver wire breakouts.

We've made it to the All-Star break, but scouring the waiver wire for hidden gems never stops. Welcome back to another edition of "Are You For Real? - Hitter Version." Most of the time, it's deeper pitching prospects that get all the shine on waivers, as fantasy managers try to find a difference-maker for their teams in the dog days of summer. But let's not completely overlook these sluggers.

As a reminder, we're looking for lesser-owned hitters who seem to be on a bit of a hot streak of late. Then, we're digging deeper into some underlying numbers to see if the strong performance may be something that could continue moving forward, or perhaps there are red flags that suggest the recent spark should soon flame out.

Today, I will be looking at four hitters who really flashed during the final two weeks leading up to the "Midsummer Classic." They're likely available on your waiver wire, or you can probably still get them for a fair price in the deepest of leagues. All roster percentages are taken from Yahoo! and are accurate as of July 15th. Let's get to it!

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Andrew Vaughn, 1B - Milwaukee Brewers

6% Rostered

The Streak (Last 14 Days): .429 AVG, 1.500 OPS, 2 HR, 10 RBI, 3 R, 0 SB

Vaughn was the topic of plenty of discussion a month ago when the White Sox shipped him to Milwaukee in exchange for an aging Aaron Civale and cash. To no one's surprise, the struggling hitter was sent to AAA, where he batted .259 with three homers, 16 RBI, and seven walks to 13 strikeouts. Not bad, but by no means clamoring for a promotion.

When Rhys Hoskins went down with a thumb injury just before the All-Star break, the Brewers' front office got a chance to see if their backup plan could hold his weight. So far, the 27-year-old has not disappointed, getting on base in every game, driving in bunches of runs, walking twice, and striking out just twice.

Andrew Vaughn:
9 RBI in his last 28 games with the White Sox
10 RBI in his first 5 games with the Brewers pic.twitter.com/HgUpigLrUr

— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) July 13, 2025

It's way too early to say Vaughn is fixed. After all, it's literally just 16 plate appearances for the 2019 third overall pick. However, the talent has never been in question. Of his 12 balls put in play for the Brewers thus far, six were categorized as hard contact, and six were categorized as medium contact, according to FanGraphs. None of them were categorized as soft contact. Mix that with a 41.7% fly ball rate and a 33.3% line drive rate, and we could be seeing the start of something here!

Verdict: Hoskins is going to be out until at least mid-August with this injury. That gives Vaughn a nice opportunity to show what a new environment can do for a young talent full of untapped potential. The run production will surely come down a bit, and I do expect a slump or two where the strikeouts add up, but it's not often a former top prospect gets a clean slate at 27 years old. I'd be taking a shot wherever you need corner infield and/or power help.

Angel Martinez, 2B/OF - Cleveland Guardians

5% Rostered

The Streak (Last 14 Days): .244 AVG, .821 OPS, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 7 R, 1 SB

Martinez earned his cup of coffee at the MLB level in the final two months of 2024, hitting just .232 through 43 games, homering three times, and stealing three bases. He did score 16 runs and drive in 11, and his tidy 19.5% strikeout rate compared to a lovely 8.9% walk rate was encouraging to say the least.

The 23-year-old has nearly doubled that amount of games now in 2025, and while the stolen bases with a hint of power have remained intriguing, the batting average has stayed worrisome at just .236, his walk rate has plummeted to just 3.2%, and his strikeout rate is up two ticks.

In the week leading up to the All-Star Break, there was less of a notable streak for Martinez, but more of an exciting three-game stretch in which he homered twice in Houston and once in Chicago. Just enough to raise some eyebrows. However, there have still been far too many strikeouts, almost zero walks, and only one stolen base in Martinez's past 19 appearances.

Unfortunately, the underlying numbers don't suggest another power surge is coming anytime soon. Martinez is making hard contact just 21.1% of the time in 2025. He also doesn't hit the ball on the ground enough to collect infield or seeing-eye hits and take advantage of his speed. Unless the walks come back, the strikeouts go down, and the hard-hit numbers improve, there's not much to like here from a fantasy perspective.

Verdict: Martinez is far from a finished product. He's played just over 100 games in the MLB. However, it's tough to see him making drastic improvements to his plate discipline and hard contact numbers mid-season. The three-homer barrage was nice, but it seems like a typical flash in the pan when we dig a little deeper. I don't have much interest here.

Harrison Bader, OF - Minnesota Twins

3% Rostered

The Streak (Last 14 Days): .296 AVG, 1.086 OPS, 4 HR, 7 RBI, 5 R, 1 SB

Bader has quietly become a really reliable left fielder for the Twins this year. In season number nine, the speedy outfielder has seen his average jump back up above .250 with a nice power boost and just a couple fewer stolen bases at age 31. Can Bader keep this up for the rest of 2025?

The underlying numbers suggest that he has made a nice adjustment this year. In addition to walking almost twice as much as he had in each of the past three seasons, Bader has achieved his highest Hard% since 2021 at 30.1%. Sure, he's turned himself back into a bit of a strikeout liability, but perhaps this new approach of being more selective and swinging harder will work out as he starts to battle the age factor this season and beyond.

HARRISON BADER'S 2ND HOMER OF THE DAY WINS IT FOR THE @TWINS! pic.twitter.com/73u2BA3g3G

— MLB (@MLB) July 4, 2025

Bader's increased BABIP syncs up well with the fact that he's pulling the ball slightly more and hitting more balls on the ground than ever before. Blend all of those things together, and this might just be the new version of a 31-year-old corner outfielder with slightly less speed and slightly more power.

Verdict: You don't want to rely on him for any more than a fifth outfielder in a deep league, but it seems there are much worse versions of Bader on deep league teams right now. If he can stay healthy, and he doesn't get traded in order to be a bench player, the 2015 third-round pick can certainly hit 20 homers this year with 15 stolen bases while sporting a .765ish OPS. You won't be writing home about that, but it probably deserves higher than 3% ownership considering how many deeper leagues are out there these days.

Kyle Higashioka, C - Texas Rangers

1% Rostered

The Streak (Last 14 Days): .355 AVG, 1.041 OPS, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 3 R, 2 SB

You didn't think you'd get out of this article without some DEEP discussion about a backup catcher, did you!?

Higashioka has been awesome of late, and while the Rangers continue to struggle at the .500 mark, trying to make a jump back into the elite tier of MLB offenses, they probably aren't singling out the catcher position as their area of weakness.

Kyle Higashioka brings the @Rangers level with 2 outs in the 9th! pic.twitter.com/EQuwtFmxdH

— MLB (@MLB) July 13, 2025

The 35-year-old backstop is now up to .241 on the season with four homers and two steals after a crazy hot two-week stretch, noted above. Higashioka has even served as the designated hitter three times since June 29th. That's insane when you look at this Texas roster.

That all being said, a decline in Hard% and almost zero change in his approach seems to suggest this is just a nice story. Jonah Heim, while struggling in the batting average department for a second year in a row, is still the far superior catcher (and seven years younger). So, barring an injury, there's nothing to talk about with Higgy. But if an injury did pop up, he could be an interesting option in deep two-catcher leagues.

Verdict: Without a Heim injury, it's just tough to see a world in which you are begging to get a .240 hitter with almost zero power and speed in your lineup. Especially considering he's 35 years old and could break down at any moment. It's awesome to see Higashioka playing well, but I don't think fantasy managers need to rush out and grab him.

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