Eric Cross' Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups - Hitters and Pitchers (Week 19)

Eric Cross' top fantasy baseball waiver wire adds for Week 19 of 2025 (August 4 - August 10). His favorite free agent hitters and pitchers under 40% rostered.

Another trade deadline has come and gone, which always creates extra excitement and importance on the waiver wire. Whether you're in a daily pickups league or have to wait until Sunday night to see if you won your FAAB bids, the waiver wire is especially important directly following the trade deadline, as plenty of new opportunities arise. This was especially true on the reliever market, which I broke down below.

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 Ryan McMahon, Mickey Moniak, Matt Shaw, Ramon Laureano, Kumar Rocker, and Edward Cabrera.

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Andrew Vaughn, 1B, Milwaukee Brewers

35% Rostered on Yahoo

If Andrew Vaughn is still available in your league, I'd recommend adding him immediately, especially if you need a corner infielder.

Getting run out of town by the White Sox isn't a great look, but Vaughn's metrics under the hood at the time were solid, and he's been a force since debuting for the Milwaukee Brewers. In 17 games for the Brew Crew, Vaughn is slashing a robust .386/.448/.772 with four doubles, six home runs, 24 RBI, 13 runs scored, and nearly as many walks (eight) as strikeouts (nine).

Andrew Vaughn homers for the 4th time in his last 6 games! pic.twitter.com/VEF6HAb1Qt

— MLB (@MLB) August 2, 2025

As mentioned, Vaughn's metrics outside of the surface stats have been impressive this season. He's running a 14% barrel rate, 92.3 mph AVG EV, and a 50.8% hard-hit rate this season, all of which are career-best marks.

Vaughn also has an 86.9% zone contact rate, 76.9% overall contact rate, and has only struck out at a 20% clip. He appears poised to finish the season on a strong note and is certainly worth a look in the leagues where he's available.

Warming Bernabel, 1B/3B, Colorado Rockies

12% Rostered on Yahoo

While it's only been 25 plate appearances, Warming Bernabel has started his major league career with a bang, slashing .458/.480/1.000 with three home runs already.

Bernabel has started every game for the Rockies at first base since being called up, and appears to have that spot on lockdown for the time being due to the inconsistency and sheer ineffectiveness of Michael Toglia, who has only drawn one start (at DH) in the last six games.

In his first 25 plate appearances with Colorado, Bernabel has posted an 88% zone and 82.4% overall contact rate while hitting the ball harder than he did in Triple-A. He also has a ridiculous 40.9% Pull-Air rate and a 68.2% Air Rate so far.

I'm not expecting a ton of power the rest of the season, as Bernabel's quality of contact metrics in Triple-A were well below average, but his ideal batted ball angles and above-average contact skills certainly help.

Colson Montgomery, 3B/SS, Chicago White Sox

24% Rostered on Yahoo

With a solo shot to open the month of August, Colson Montgomery has now left the yard in six of his last nine games after not homering in any of his first 14 major league games.

The quality of contact metrics has been trending in the right direction as well, as Montgomery is now up to a 12.3% barrel rate and a 38.2% hard-hit rate. Over the last nine games, those metrics jump to a 27.6% barrel rate, 55.2% hard-hit rate, and a 93.6 mph AVG EV.

Colson Montgomery's sixth home run since the All-Star break is a no-doubter 😤

433 ft | 108.5 mph for the @whitesox No. 4 prospect: pic.twitter.com/MveQ4JYQ43

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) August 2, 2025

It's great to see Montgomery's quality of contact metrics trending up over the last week and a half, but I need to give you the full picture here.

While he's hitting the ball hard right now, Montgomery has a below-average 77.3% zone contact rate and 67.4% overall contact rate this season. The contact skills weren't great for him in the upper minors, either, so I'm not expecting a high AVG moving forward, but the power should be there.

Kyle Manzardo, 1B, Cleveland Guardians

13% Rostered on Yahoo

Speaking of the power being there, Kyle Manzardo is a solid pickup this week if you need some power and/or a corner infielder. In 69 July plate appearances, Manzardo slashed .295/.362/.574 with five home runs, and started August with a two-hit game.

It's been an up-and-down season for Manzardo in general, but he's cranked 18 home runs in 343 plate appearances total with a .240/.315/.474 slash line.

The overall quality of contact metrics has been solid with a 12.2% barrel rate, 89.8 mph AVG EV, and a 41.7% hard-hit rate, along with an SLG over .400 on all three pitch types.

However, Manzardo's zone and overall contact rates are around 2% below league average, and he hasn't been playing regularly against southpaws despite having a .531 SLG and .327 ISO against them (.204 AVG). For that reason, Manzardo is more of a target in 12-15 team leagues or deeper, and not shallower formats.

Lenyn Sosa, 1B/2B/3B, Chicago White Sox

12% Rostered on Yahoo

Two White Sox recommendations in the same week? What is going on? The White Sox are actually above .500 over the last 30 days, and Lenyn Sosa has been one of the reasons for that. Over his last 28 games, Sosa is slashing .311/.345/.553 with seven home runs and an 18.2% strikeout rate. Over his last seven games, Sosa is hitting .522 with two home runs and only one strikeout.

Overall, this season, Sosa is up to a decent .282/.308/.436 slash line with 11 home runs in 345 plate appearances. He's never been one to walk much, but Sosa keeps his strikeout rate in check, and has posted an 86.3% zone contact rate, 77.6% overall contact rate, a 90.4 mph AVG EV, and a 41.7% hard-hit rate this season.

He is also eligible for either two or three positions, depending on your league's eligibility thresholds, so that versatility and flexibility bring value as well.

Relievers Waiver Wire Roundup

There were a plethora of closers who were dealt at the trade deadline, which created new closing opportunities on several teams. If you're looking to pick up one of these new closing candidates, this is how I would rank them for the remainder of the season.

Randy Rodriguez, SF (42%): Rodriguez has been dominant all season with a 1.17 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, and a 35.8% strikeout rate across 46 innings while only walking 5.7% of the batters he's faced. He's strictly a two-pitch reliever with a four-seamer that averages 97.4 mph along with a mid-80s slider. Both offerings have a BAA under .190 and a whiff rate above 28%, with the slider leading the way with a 35% whiff rate.

Dennis Santana, PIT (37%): With the departure of David Bednar, Dennis Santana should be the unquestioned closer in Pittsburgh for the final two months of the season. While he doesn't have the elite strikeout rate we usually look for, Santana has recorded a stellar 2.31 ERA and 0.92 WHIP with a solid 6.1% walk rate. Santana has never really been a big strikeout rate arm, but he's been able to post a career-best ERA and WHIP this season thanks to his slider and four-seamer both having a BAA under .180 while combining for 75.6% of his pitches thrown.

Jack Perkins, ATH (17%): Perkins has showcased his exciting arm talent over his first eight career appearances, posting a 2.75 ERA and 0.92 WHIP in 19.2 innings. His four-seamer has been getting hit a bit with a .300 BAA and .500 SLG allowed, but opposing batters have barely been able to do anything with the rest of Perkins' arsenal, especially his sweeper, which has a .038 BAA, .154 SLG, and a 41.4% whiff rate. I'm not sure if he'll be the main guy for saves for the Athletics, but he's certainly in the mix.

Cole Sands, MIN (6%): With the Minnesota bullpen depleted and more than half full of guys who were in Triple-A last week, it appears that Cole Sands will inherit the vast majority of the save opportunities over the final two months of the season. While he'll get you some saves, Sands isn't as attractive an option as the guys above him here due to a lower 18.9% strikeout rate and an unimpressive 4.02 ERA. Sands has become more of a pitch-to-contact guy who tries to generate groundballs as opposed to missing bats. But with no real threat to the role, he should at least pick up saves for fantasy managers moving forward. So if that's all you're looking for, Sands can help.

JoJo Romero, STL (19%): So long, Ryan Helsley; hello, JoJo Romero. In 35.1 innings this season, Romero has recorded a 2.04 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 10.3% walk rate, and a 24% strikeout rate while mostly setting up for Helsley. Romero has become a slider-dominant southpaw who is tough on left-handed batters, who are slashing just .185/.262/.241 against him this season, with zero home runs in 64 plate appearances. But the reason why Romero is this low in my pecking order is that he's the only lefty currently in St. Louis' pen, which likely means he'll get brought on in non-save situations sometimes if there are tough left-handed batters due up in the sixth, seventh, or eighth innings.

Jose A. Ferrer, WAS (6%): If you're desperate for saves and miss out or don't want to spend bigger FAAB bucks on the names above, Jose A. Ferrer can be your last resort. Ferrer appears to be the leader in the clubhouse for saves in Washington following the Kyle Finnegan trade, but he hasn't exactly been overly effective this season with a 4.78 ERA and a lackluster 20.1% strikeout rate. But he's the only arm in the Nationals bullpen with any closing experience, as half of this bullpen was pitching in Triple-A last week.

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