Eric Cross' Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups - Hitters and Pitchers (Week 14)

Eric Cross' top fantasy baseball waiver wire adds for Week 14 of 2025 (June 30 - July 6). His favorite free agent hitters and pitchers under 40% rostered.

We're nearing the end of June, and the halfway mark of the Major League season is officially behind us. But this is no time to take your foot off the gas pedal. Improving your fantasy teams now is just as important as improving your teams in April and May.

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  Agustin Ramirez (MIA), Cam Smith (HOU), Alec Burleson (STL), Jurickson Profar (ATL), Quinn Priester (MIL), Jacob Lopez (ATH), Orion Kerkering (PHI).

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Otto Lopez (2B/SS - MIA)

11% Rostered on Yahoo

Not many pay attention to the Miami Marlins, but there's some sneaky fantasy value to be had on that team right now. Over his last 20 games, Otto Lopez is slashing .333/.398/.474 with three home runs, three stolen bases, 15 RBI, and 14 runs scored. He's now up to seven homers and eight steals in 268 plate appearances for the season, which is a 650 plate appearance pace of 16 homers and 19 steals.

OTTO LOPEZ ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? pic.twitter.com/vy8T96cCq7

— Miami Marlins (@Marlins) June 28, 2025

Lopez has never been a big power guy, but his quality of contact metrics aren't terrible with a 7.3% barrel rate, 87.6 mph AVG EV, and a 33.7% hard-hit rate. But where Lopez does stand out is in the contact department. Lopez currently has an 89.9% zone contact rate and an 80% overall contact rate while only striking out 13.8% of the time. He also has a .299 xBA and .480 xSLG which are both higher than his surface AVG and SLG.

The upside is a bit capped, but Lopez can provide steady production across the board with dual 2B/SS eligibility. He appears to be mostly entrenched in the #3 spot in the Marlins lineup as well.

Kyle Stowers (OF - MIA)

28% Rostered on Yahoo

Two Marlins bats in one week? I told you there was sneaky fantasy value on this Miami squad. Without much fanfare, Stowers has quietly become one of the better young power bats in the game this season. He has 13 home runs in 294 plate appearances so far with a 19% barrel rate, 91.4 mph AVG EV, and a 52.5% hard-hit rate. That barrel rate ranks 7th in baseball among qualified hitters, trailing only Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Oneil Cruz, Pete Alonso, Cal Raleigh, and James Wood.

When Stowers makes contact, he does damage. The quality of contact metrics are the key here as Stowers' 74.8% zone contact rate and 66.4% overall contact rate are both below league average by around 7-8%. These contact rates, along with his 28.6% strikeout rate, will probably cause the current .277 average to dip some over the remainder of the season, but this is a 30-homer bat in the making who could finish with around 75-80 runs and 80 RBI as well.

Jo Adell (OF - LAA)

41% Rostered on Yahoo

I'm going to ever so slightly break my 40% rule on this one with Jo Adell. Listen, I know Adell has burned most everyone reading this in the past, probably more than one. I'm included in that as well. But I wouldn't be recommending Adell this week if I weren't encouraged by some of the gains he's been making this season. He's also been red hot of late, smacking 12 home runs in his last 25 games with 19 runs scored, 20 RBI, and a .276/.364/.701 slash line.

look at Jo man, so inspirational 💫

Adell launches his 11th home run in June! pic.twitter.com/L5Tyy5orS6

— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) June 28, 2025

This season's version of Adell is the best version we've ever seen in his six seasons in the Major Leagues. After being well over a 30% strikeout rate in 2022 and 2023, Adell trimmed that rate to 27.9% last season and 24.5% this season. He's also increased his zone and overall contact rates to a career-best 80.5% and 71% respectively. These are all still slightly below league average overall, but make for a profile that I feel more comfortable investing in moving forward.

If Adell can maintain these contact and strikeout rates with his level of power, he can absolutely provide value for fantasy teams moving forward. Not only has Adell improved his contact, but he's also improved his quality of contact this season with a career-best 15.8% barrel rate, 90.7 mph AVG EV, and 48% hard-hit rate.

Caleb Durbin (2B/3B/SS - MIL)

12% Rostered on Yahoo

While you're going to target Stowers and Adell for their power contributions, that's not the case here with Caleb Durbin. In fact, Durbin is one of the worst power bats in all of baseball right now with an AVG EV, hard-hit rate, and barrel rate all in the 13th percentile or lower right now. But what Durbin does better than most hitters in baseball is make contact, and he's been making a lot of it lately.

Over his last 13 games, Durbin has slashed .383/.423/.532 with two home runs, a steal, and 14 runs scored. He's still hitting 8th most games for Milwaukee, but getting on base in front of the top of Milwaukee's order at a high clip lately has helped Durbin score a run per game over the last two weeks or so. For the season, Durbin has only struck out 9.6% of the time while recording an 88.9% zone contact rate and an 85.6% overall contact rate.

This is far from a flashy hitter, and the upside is capped due to his lack of power, but Durbin can provide a solid average with some runs and steals for your fantasy teams while providing eligibility at either two or three positions, depending on your league settings.

Tyler Freeman (SS/OF - COL)

I'm not quite sure what has gotten into Tyler Freeman lately, but he's put himself back on the map for fantasy purposes. After being a non-factor for fantasy in his first three seasons and in the beginning of this season, Freeman has slashed .389/.477/.528 in June with seven extra-base hits, six steals, and three times as many walks (9) as strikeouts (3). He's seemingly settled in as the Rockies' regular leadoff hitter as well.

Entering 2025, Freeman was a high-contact but low-power bat. Not anymore. Freeman has increased his average exit velocity from 87.7 mph to 90.3 mph and his hard-hit rate from 34.6% to 44.2%. Freeman didn't have to sacrifice any contact to increase his quality of contact, either. And in fact, Freeman's contact rates have even improved to 95.6% in zone and 90.6% overall, while also having a higher walk rate (9.1%) than strikeout rate (7.6%).

I'm still not expecting many home runs as Freeman doesn't hit the ball at ideal angles, but a 10-12 homer pace is reasonable to pair with a good AVG and OBP.

Michael Soroka (SP - WAS)

When you see the 5.06 ERA, most will probably skip by to the next name on the waiver wire. However, Michael Soroka has pitched much better than his 5.06 surface ERA would indicate. Just look at his 3.20 xERA, 3.73 xFIP, and 3.33 SIERA for evidence of that. Soroka also has a solid 1.09 WHIP and a 20.3% strikeout rate. He's one of just 13 pitchers who have posted a WHIP under 1.10 and a K-BB rate above 20% this season.

Soroka's 4-seamer has been inconsistent this season, but his slurve has been phenomenal, especially here in June, where the offering has recorded a .033 BAA, .067 SLG, and a 50.9% whiff rate. Soroka also has a 28.4% whiff rate on his 4-seamer this month. That 4-seamer has a .282 BAA and .692 SLG allowed for the season, but his other three offerings all have a SLG allowed under .320, and Soroka has cut his walk rate in half this season from 12.7% to 6.3%.

Soroka is scheduled to face the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday before a home tilt against the struggling Red Sox next week, followed by a road matchup with St. Louis before the all-star break.

Emmet Sheehan (SP - LAD)

While Emmet Sheehan is currently in Triple-A and can't be recalled for a few more days, I'm still recommending adding him this week as I believe he'll be back soon and good make a solid impact moving forward. Sheehan allowed one earned run in four innings with six strikeouts for the Dodgers last week and is coming off a dominant outing in Triple-A where he struck out 13 batters across six perfect innings.

Emmet Sheehan brought the goods to Sacramento.

6.0 IP | 0 H | 0 R | 0 BB | 13 K

In other words, six perfect innings. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/39zOrigSXd

— Oklahoma City Comets (@OKC_comets) June 25, 2025

The Dodgers still have 306 pitchers on the IL and are rolling with four consistent starting options right now, with one of those being Shohei Ohtani who is still limited with how much volume he can provide. I'm expecting the Dodgers to bring Sheehan back up later this week and give him plenty of run in the rotation moving forward. With that said, Sheehan will probably be on somewhat of an innings limit himself after missing all of 2024 due to injury.

In his return to the Major League mound last week, Sheehan was averaging 95.2 mph on his fastball while mixing in plenty of sliders and changeups. He was throwing his changeup over two ticks harder than he was in 2023, and he was able to pick up five of his six strikeouts on either the slider or changeup.

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