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Mike's starting pitcher (SP) fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups for Week 19 of 2025 (August 4 - August 10). These are his top free-agent pitchers to add and stream.
Welcome, everyone, to our starting pitcher fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups for Week 19 of the 2025 season (August 4th- August 10th). In this weekly piece, we search for starting pitchers rostered in less than 50 percent of Yahoo! leagues. For deeper leagues, we try to find pitchers rostered in less than 30 percent of Yahoo! leagues.
As the season stretches into early August now, we need to continue to try to stay ahead of our opponents, even as some shift attention away from fantasy baseball to fantasy football. Now is the time to keep combing that waiver wire for help.
Let's see what is on the waiver wire this week. There are options available for any league. You need to be proactive and add players before your league wakes up to them. At the end of the article, you will see players rostered in less than 15% of leagues who could help your squad.
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Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Pickups for Shallow Leagues
Recommendations for leagues of any size rostered between 30-50% on Yahoo!
Brady Singer, Cincinnati Reds (45% rostered)
Fantasy players always forget about Singer, but have you seen his last five starts? There was one dud, but the others were all usable, capped off by a six-inning, 10-strikeout performance against the Atlanta Braves on Friday night.
Over the last month, Singer has been usable, with two wins, a 4.33 ERA, a 1.15 WHIP, and 31 strikeouts over 27 innings. He should be rostered far more. Keep in mind that one bad start has skewed that data. Roster him if you still can.
Jack Leiter, Texas Rangers (41% rostered)
Leiter has three wins in his last four starts, with at least six strikeouts in those four starts. His biggest enemy is usually efficiency, leading to shorter starts when he has too many pitches. Higher efficiency would lead to longer starts.
Over the last month, Leiter has thrown 25 innings and has three wins and 32 strikeouts with a tidy 3.55 ERA and 1.16 WHIP. He seems firmly entrenched in a Texas rotation that added Merrill Kelly this week at the deadline.
You can see the growth by studying the chart below for Leiter.
Yu Darvish, San Diego Padres (34% rostered)
Many fantasy players seemed to give up on Darvish, but the veteran came roaring back this week with an electric start, going seven strong innings against the New York Mets, striking out seven hitters, and earning his first win.
It takes a pitcher like Darvish time to find himself again after a long layoff; remember, he also throws eight different pitches. It takes time to find the command, but bet on Darvish to find it. Roster him now and spot start him until he is himself again.
I am just throwing this chart at you to show how ridiculous it looks with 10 different pitches over the years. Wow.
Patrick Corbin, Texas Rangers (31% rostered)
Corbin is another pitcher who I thought was experiencing fleeting success, but here we are in August, and he has proven to be useful once again. He has gone at least five innings in 17 consecutive starts for the Rangers in 2025.
He has at least six strikeouts in four consecutive starts. Corbin now has six wins, a useful 3.78 ERA, a 1.27 WHIP, and 93 strikeouts in 109 innings. The success comes after two years of misery with ERAs well over five and WHIPS approaching 1.50.
Check out the chart below; Corbin is limiting hard contact better than ever by keeping hitters off balance. Use him while he continues to be effective.
Cade Horton, Chicago Cubs (30% rostered)
Horton was terrific on Friday, going five shutout innings and striking out three while allowing two hits. That makes three consecutive starts covering 17 innings without allowing a run. He has quietly moved into the third starter role in Chicago.
On the season, Horton has an impressive five wins, a 3.42 ERA, and a 1.29 WHIP. The only drawback is the lack of strikeouts, where he has only 53 in 73 innings.
Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Pickups for Deeper Leagues
Recommendations for leagues of any size rostered in less than 30% on Yahoo!
Jose Quintana, Milwaukee Brewers (27% rostered)
Listen, I know that Quintana is not a sexy pick here. But we know what he is at this point: he will give you mostly worry-free innings without a bunch of strikeouts, and he has two wins. a 3.95 ERA and usable 1.21 WHIP over the last month.
What Quintana is also getting: wins. He has eight of them in only 16 appearances for the Milwaukee Brewers. His career-high of 13 seems to be in reach. Go ahead and roster him if you can this weekend.
Zebby Matthews, Minnesota Twins (22% rostered)
I know the results have been mixed, but I remain a believer in Matthews. It seems clear that Matthews will get a clear chance in Minnesota after they traded nearly half their team at the trade deadline.
The ERA is 5.67, and the WHIP is 1.41. What I like: the 42 strikeouts in 33 innings, which translates to a 29% K%, and a low walk rate of 6.2%. Better results are coming. See his Statcast page below.
Luis Severino, Athletics (22% rostered)
Before you roll your eyes, let's take a look at Severino. The last three starts have been vintage. Much has been made about the splits between Severino on the road (4-2, 3.03 ERA, 1.04 WHIP) and at home (1-9, 6.34ERA, 1.61 WHIP).
Since the All-Star break, Severino is 3-0 with a 2.65 ERA, a 0.94 WHIP, and 28 strikeouts in 31 innings. At the very least, you can spot start him in good matchups at the back end of your rotations.
Cam Schlittler, New York Yankees (21% rostered)
Schlittler seems assured of a rotation spot with the release of Marcus Stroman this week. He pitched well Saturday, even though he lost, surrendering only two runs to the Miami Marlins over five innings while nabbing six strikeouts.
Both runs came on home runs, but Schlittler looks the part even as his ratios are bloated at this time. This addition is more about the opportunity than it is about the actual player, although I do think Schlittler has the stuff to stick.
J.T. Ginn, Athletics (20% rostered)
Ginn is becoming a hot addition this week, and you can understand why. He has gone at least five innings in his last two starts, where he has finally been stretched out enough to get to that inning mark. Ginn has a terrific 53.7% groundball percentage.
There is a spot open in the Athletics rotation, and Ginn should continue to fill it if he is getting results, even with the paucity of strikeouts. He was scheduled to start Saturday night as we were going to press. But he's worth taking a shot on.
See that groundball percentage listed below per month. Ginn is intriguing.
Other Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Options
- Jacob Lopez. Athletics (14% rostered)
- Aaron Civale, Chicago White Sox (13% rostered)
- Sean Burke, Chicago White Sox (7% rostered
- Bradley Blalock, Colorado Rockies (1% rostered)
Keep grinding and do not give up on your season. I know many are getting ready for fantasy football to be upon us next month. Keep your lineups active each week, please!
Happy hunting for starting pitchers this weekend! If you have questions, you can always message me on X @mdrc0508. You can even tell me you hate these picks. Remember that fantasy baseball is supposed to be fun above everything. Enjoy it!
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