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Joey's FAAB fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups and bidding guide for Week 20 (August 10 - August 16). His recommended FAAB dollars to spend on waiver wire adds.
Welcome back, RotoBallers, to our Week 20 fantasy baseball FAAB waiver wire pickups for August 10 - August 16. For those new to this weekly series, we dive into the best fantasy baseball waiver wire targets every week for leagues that use FAAB (free agent acquisition budget) and our recommended dollar bid amounts for waivers.
For this week, we will look at the 10 best waiver wire pickups for Week 20. This list will include six hitters and four pitchers fantasy managers should be bidding on this weekend. As a reminder, we only look at players rostered in under 40% of Yahoo! leagues.
Let's examine the best waiver wire targets for Week 20 of the fantasy baseball season.
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Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Hitters to Target
Chase Meidroth, 2B/3B/SS, Chicago White Sox
35% rostered
FAAB Bid: ~4-5%
Chicago White Sox infielder Chase Meidroth has been hitting the ball well over the last few weeks. He's slashing .312/.400/.545 with four home runs, five doubles, 15 RBI, and 10 walks over his last 22 games dating back to July 10. Meidroth has raised his batting average eight points during this stretch and just had a two-home run game against the Red Sox on Thursday night.
Chase Meidroth opens the scoring with a LONG home run over the Green Monster 💥 pic.twitter.com/ZO6jPEuKLq
— MLB (@MLB) August 6, 2026
Even though his underlying metrics don't look great at this point in the season, Meidroth is still a nice pickup in Week 20. He'll be able to maintain a nice batting average while contributing solid numbers in the runs scored department. His power has also ticked up a bit from last year, as he has already launched a career-high 11 home runs with 47 games still to go.
JJ Bleday, OF, Cincinnati Reds
26% rostered
FAAB Bid: 5-6%
Cincinnati Reds outfielder JJ Bleday has returned to the 20-home run club. Bleday hit his 20th home run of the year on Thursday, marking the second time in his career that he has crossed the 20 home run threshold. The lefty slugger is enjoying a resurgent season after struggling for most of 2025. He is currently slashing .228/.343/.466 with 20 home runs, 11 doubles, 47 RBI, and six stolen bases across 87 games this year.
Bleday has really been a consistent source of power throughout the 2026 campaign. He has seven home runs over the last month, and his metrics suggest that he should remain a solid fantasy option down the stretch. His .366 xwOBA, .465 expected slugging percentage, 11% barrel rate, and 41.5% launch angle sweet-spot rate all rank in the top 30% of the league.
Andruw Monasterio, 1B/2B/3B/SS, Boston Red Sox
16% rostered
FAAB Bid: ~4-5%
Boston Red Sox utility specialist Andruw Monasterio is on fire at the plate right now. He is slashing .361/.429/.653 with three home runs, 10 doubles, one triple, 16 RBI, and two stolen bases across his last 21 games since July 7. Monasterio has really gone from just sitting on the waiver wire to being a reliable fantasy option.
This hot streak means it's time to pick up the 29-year-old infielder. The way Monasterio has hit the ball over the last few weeks won't last forever, but he's providing solid all-around fantasy numbers for managers right now. That's enough reason to pick him up in some 12-team leagues and most 15+ team leagues.
Kaelen Culpepper, SS, Minnesota Twins
7% rostered
FAAB Bid: 5-7%
The Minnesota Twins finally called up shortstop Kaelen Culpepper ahead of Friday's series opener against the Brewers. Culpepper has risen up prospect rankings this season amid a strong year at the plate. MLB Pipeline's No. 29 overall prospect batted .271 with 14 home runs, 46 RBI, and 17 stolen bases across 74 games at Triple-A St. Paul in 2026.
Culpepper has a mixture of power and speed. He had a .263 expected batting average, .418 expected slugging percentage, 90.6 mph average exit velocity, 7.5% barrel rate, 46.9% hard-hit rate, and elite speed on the base paths. The 23-year-old should see most of the starts at shortstop moving forward, and just hit a home run in his MLB debut on Friday.
WELCOME TO THE SHOW KAELEN CULPEPPER pic.twitter.com/Mn0ETtRPEw
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) August 8, 2026
Endy Rodriguez, C/1B, Pittsburgh Pirates
7% rostered
FAAB Bid: 4-5% if you are in need of a catcher
If you need a catcher, Pittsburgh Pirates backstop Endy Rodriguez could be a nice option to pick up off waivers. Rodriguez is batting .294 with two home runs, four RBI, and four stolen bases since coming off the injured list on July 27. The switch-hitting catcher has a hit in eight of nine games, including back-to-back home runs earlier this week on August 4 and August 5.
There's a lot of optimism surrounding Rodriguez's game. His .338 xwOBA, 92.4 mph average exit velocity, 10.8% barrel rate, 47.3% hard-hit rate, 37.6% launch angle sweet-spot rate, and 14.6% walk rate are all encouraging signs that the Pirates catcher can remain a viable fantasy option the rest of the season.
Osleivis Basabe, 2B/3B/SS, San Francisco Giants
3% rostered
FAAB Bid: 2-5%
San Francisco Giants infielder Osleivis Basabe has come out of nowhere to produce strong numbers at the plate. The 25-year-old was called up by the Giants on July 28 and continues to hit the ball well in the lineup. Basabe is batting .333 with three home runs, one double, and eight RBI in his first eight career games.
With the Giants in a lost year, expect them to give Basabe consistent at-bats in this lineup the rest of the way. He has started each of the team's last six games and has a hit in each of those contests. Fantasy managers in deeper leagues should ride the rookie's hot streak and see what happens. He was once a top-10 prospect in the Rays' organization back in 2023.
Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pitchers to Target
Clay Holmes, SP, Chicago Cubs
39% rostered
FAAB Bid: ~7-10%
Chicago Cubs pitcher Clay Holmes will return from the injured list on Saturday. He will make his first start since mid-May after fracturing his fibula and will debut with his new team. Holmes was traded from the New York Mets to the Cubs at the deadline. The 33-year-old will now get to pitch in front of a defense that includes five Gold Glove winners (Pete Crow-Armstrong, Ian Happ, Nico Hoerner, Alex Bregman, and Dansby Swanson).
Holmes was phenomenal before that injury on May 15. He had a 2.39 ERA, 1.101 WHIP, and 45 strikeouts across 52 2/3 innings pitched. Now, he gets to pitch in front of a better defense, and his strength will play well on this Cubs team. The veteran right-hander is an extreme ground-ball pitcher with a 55.3% groundball rate. Chicago has the best defensive infielder in baseball. It's a match made in heaven.
Jackson Jobe, SP, Detroit Tigers
18% rostered
FAAB Bid: ~5-6%
It has been a while since Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Jackson Jobe has pitched in the big leagues. He threw 49 innings pitched during the 2025 season before undergoing season-ending Tommy John surgery. Jobe is now returning to the Major League mound again and is set to make his season debut on Saturday against the San Francisco Giants.
Jackson Jobe, Evil 97mph Sinker. 👿
19 inches of Run pic.twitter.com/IOEPxwvhqI
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 18, 2025
Jobe was fantastic in his five rehab assignment starts as part of his build-up. The hard-throwing right-hander had a 1.76 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, and 17 strikeouts across 15 1/3 innings pitched at four different levels (rookie ball, Single-A, High-A, and Double-A). He's an add in most 12+ team leagues this week.
Matthew Liberatore, SP, St. Louis Cardinals
10% rostered
FAAB Bid: ~2-5%
St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Matthew Liberatore has been so hit-or-miss on the mound recently. He threw six shutout innings against the Braves on July 11, gave up five runs across 5 1/3 innings against the Angels on July 21, allowed three runs across 3 2/3 innings against the Cubs on July 27, and recently threw six shutout innings with seven strikeouts against the Blue Jays last week.
With two scoreless performances over the past few weeks, Liberatore could be worth grabbing in some deeper formats. His strikeout rate is way up over his last few outings (28.5% strikeout rate in his last six starts), and he has a solid 3.48 ERA since June 30. He also draws a start against the Rockies on Saturday, further solidifying that he should be added in 15+ team leagues.
Steven Cruz, RP, Kansas City Royals
4% rostered
FAAB Bid: ~5-7% if you need saves
Kansas City Royals reliever Steven Cruz appears to have taken over the closer job. After Alex Lange struggled in this role for the past few weeks, Cruz has stepped in and saved some games recently. He saved Kansas City's most recent win on August 5 by throwing one scoreless inning with one strikeout.
Although the Royals don't win many games, Cruz is a solid add if you need some saves.
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