Eric Cross' Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups - Hitters and Pitchers (Week 22)

Eric Cross' top fantasy baseball waiver wire adds for Week 22 of 2025 (August 25 - August 31). His favorite free agent hitters and pitchers under 40% rostered.

Just like that, we're past the three-quarter mark of the 2025 season. If you play in a head-to-head format, your playoffs are likely starting this upcoming week or the week after. If you're in a roto league, you only have five weeks left to improve your spot in the standings. Whatever spot you're in, it's never a bad time to see if you can improve your roster via the waiver wire.

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 Sal Frelick, Blaze Alexander, Noelvi Marte, Chandler Simpson, Joey Ortiz, Nolan McLean, and Hurston Waldrep.

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Samuel Basallo (C - BAL)

27% Rostered on Yahoo

This one is a no-brainer. If Basallo is still available in your league, go out and add him immediately. Already have a catcher? It doesn't matter. Basallo is the type of prospect hitter who could make an immediate, immense impact, especially in the power department.

BIG knock Basallo 💪 pic.twitter.com/1xNhiftfmu

— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) August 19, 2025

In 76 games for Triple-A Norfolk this season, Basallo blasted 17 doubles and 23 home runs with a .270/.377/.589 slash line. His quality of contact metrics was even more impressive with a 94.2 mph AVG EV, 57.4% hard-hit rate, and a whopping 21% barrel rate. Basallo should start most games at catcher while Adley Rutschman is on the Injured List with an oblique strain, and that might end up being for the remainder of the season.

It's not very often that I recommend picking up a catcher in a single-catcher format if you already have one, but Basallo's upside warrants it. Basallo has picked up four hits in his first 14 at-bats with the Orioles.

Brooks Lee (2B/3B/SS - MIN)

22% Rostered on Yahoo

When the Minnesota Twins traded away what felt like two-thirds of their Major League roster at the trade deadline, Lee was one of several players who had the chance to step into an extended role. And he certainly has made the most of it. Lee is slashing .250/.316/.528 with five home runs in his last 20 games, and has slashed .298/.365/.596 with three home runs over his last 13 games.

For the season, Lee has posted an above-average 89.2 mph AVG EV and 40.1% hard-hit rate while only striking out 18% of the time. He's also been making plenty of contact with an 88.2% zone contact rate and a 75.5% overall contact rate. And to top it all off, Lee is eligible at two or three positions, depending on which platform you play on.

Brett Baty (2B/3B - NYM)

11% Rostered on Yahoo

While his career has been wildly inconsistent so far, Baty is quietly starting to show that he's worthy of consideration in fantasy leagues. After hitting a 455-foot home run with a 114.8 mph exit velocity on Wednesday and picking up four hits on Friday, Baty is now up to 15 home runs in 336 plate appearances this season with six steals and a .249/.307/.443 slash line.

Brett Baty to the second deck at Nationals Park on back-to-back nights!

455 feet! pic.twitter.com/ars8E1CSNy

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 20, 2025

Baty's quality of contact this season has been impressive with a 90.7 mph AVG EV, 13.1% barrel rate, and a 47.3% hard-hit rate. He's also been making respectable contact, with his 80.2% zone and 73% overall contact rates sitting around 2% below league average. Baty has really been heating up here in August as well, slashing .378/.440/.667 with four home runs in 50 plate appearances. He's on around a 25/10 pace right now, and you can plug him in at second base, third base, corner infield, or middle infield.

Miguel Andujar (3B/OF - CIN)

37% Rostered on Yahoo

Honestly, I never thought I'd be recommending Andujar as a waiver wire target, but that just shows that you never know what twists and turns this beautiful game is going to bring us. Andujar has been hitting very well over the last month or so, slashing .403/.448/.790 with six doubles and six home runs in his last 67 plate appearances, dating back to July 27 when he was still with the Athletics.

For the season, Andujar is now up to a solid .313/.350/.475 slash line with nine home runs in 283 plate appearances. He hasn't been walking much, but Andujar has posted a stellar 91.1% zone contact rate, 82.4% overall contact rate, and has only struck out in 14.1% of his plate appearances so far this season. And while the quality of contact metrics doesn't stand out, Anjudar has posted a respectable 35.2% hard-hit rate, and is now playing his home games in Great American Ball Park.

Ryan Bergert (SP - KCR)

24% Rostered on Yahoo

When I started putting names together for this week's waiver wire article, Bergert was one of the first pitchers to come to mind. And luckily, he had another solid outing last night against the Detroit Tigers. In 5.2 innings, Bergert allowed three hits, one walk, and two earned runs while striking out five. Bergert has gone at least five innings with two earned runs or less in all four of his July starts after being acquired from the San Diego Padres at the trade deadline.

Bergert works with a five-pitch mix, with his 4-seamer, slider, and sweeper accounting for 85.6% of his total pitches. Those three offerings all have a BAA under .180 right now, and Bergert also has two pitches with a whiff rate above 30% in his slider and changeup. It's not a flashy profile, but Bergert is getting the job done right now. For the season, he now has a 2.79 ERA and 1.09 WHIP across 58 innings.

Cam Schlittler (SP - NYY)

24% Rostered on Yahoo

You could say that rookie Schlittler had his best Major League outing so far on Wednesday. Schlittler allowed just one hit and two walks with eight strikeouts over 6.2 shutout innings against the Tampa Bay Rays. This comes after allowing just one earned run in five innings in his last outing on 8/13. Schlittler is now down to a 3.22 ERA and 1.22 WHIP in seven Major League starts to go with a 10.5% walk rate and a 24.8% strikeout rate.

Cam Schlittler, 82mph Schlitt Hammer. 🔨 pic.twitter.com/NIIiPjczG4

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 21, 2025

While he was never considered an elite prospect and doesn't have that one pitch that wows you with a big whiff rate, four of Schlittler's five offerings have a whiff rate above 23% so far. On top of that, his 4-seamer has been phenomenal with a .200 BAA, .329 SLG, and 25% whiff rate. Sure, the walk rate is a bit high, but Schlittler has settled in nicely at the Major League level and should stick in the Yankees' rotation through the end of the season.

But What About Carson Williams, Jhostynxon Garcia, and Bubba Chandler?

Are you surprised to not see any of these recent prospect promotions as recommended waiver wire targets this week? Well, their exclusions are simple. Yes, they are currently inside my Top-50 overall in my Top-500 prospect rankings. However, I question how much fantasy value they'll be able to provide this season.

For Garcia, it's all about the playing time. It was reported that both Wilyer Abreu and Rob Refsnyder will be activated when eligible next week. So while Garcia will likely play regularly for the next several days, the playing time picture becomes much cloudier once those two outfielders return from the IL.

As for Williams, the above-average power/speed blend makes him intriguing for fantasy purposes. But we're also talking about a player who had a 75.5% zone contact rate, 61.4% overall contact rate, and a 34.1% strikeout rate in Triple-A this season.

Lastly, Chandler's role appears to be in flux, with some bulk relief work on tap while starting eventually. But even when he was starting, Chandler wasn't dominating or even performing well in Triple-A with a 1.48 WHIP and 12% strikeout rate.

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