Eric Cross' Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups: Hitters and Pitchers (Week 7)

May 8, 2026

Eric Cross' top fantasy baseball waiver wire adds for Week 7 of 2026 (May 11 - May 17). His favorite free agent hitters and pitchers under 40% rostered.

If you're like me, you're probably pretty fed up with all the injuries lately. We've lost two big-name pitchers over the last two weeks, along with several notable hitters, including Roman Anthony. So, where do we go to fill these holes on our fantasy rosters? The waiver wire. Luckily, there are some pretty intriguing options this week to consider adding.

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 waiver wire recommendations: Carlos Cortes (ATH), Cole Young (SEA), Daniel Schneemann (CLE), Kyle Harrison (MIL), Jared Jones (PIT), Jack Perkins (ATH)

Samuel Basallo (C - BAL)

33% Rostered on Yahoo

While catcher is very deep right now, Samuel Basallo being available in two-thirds of Yahoo leagues was surprising to see. Getting off to a .140/.234/.298 line through 16 games certainly played a factor in that, but Basallo has been a force to be reckoned with over the last few weeks.

In 52 plate appearances over his last 14 games, Basallo has slashed a stellar .396/.442/.667 with eight extra-base hits, two home runs, seven runs scored, and 10 RBI.

Samuel Basallo rips his first career triple!

He's a home run shy of the cycle 👀 pic.twitter.com/kO1xuVBSh1

— MLB (@MLB) May 6, 2026

As expected, Basallo is hitting the ball hard this season with a 10.7% barrel rate, 92.6 mph AVG EV, and a 48.7% hard-hit rate. He's also been hitting the ball in the air at a 63.2% clip, albeit with a below-average pull and pull-air rate.

I'm not really anticipating Basallo's average to climb much higher than what he's currently at due to his below-average contact rate, but he's already established himself as one of the best power-hitting backstops in the game with a real shot at hitting 25 home runs in his rookie season.

Spencer Jones (OF - NYY)

23% Rostered on Yahoo

I'm not going to sit here and pretend like I have a crystal ball for this one. Honestly, I have no idea how this season and beyond will play out for Spencer Jones. Yes, I could say that about every prospect that gets called up, but it's especially true with someone like Jones whose potential range of outcomes is so incredibly large. Jones' upside is enormous. But so is his downside.

Spencer Jones, the @Yankees’ No. 6 prospect, has now homered 4 times in 4 May games for the @swbrailriders! pic.twitter.com/4iiSJVVvSN

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) May 5, 2026

In 33 Triple-A games this season, Jones racked up seven doubles, 11 home runs, and seven steals with a .258/.366/.592 slash line. This comes after a 35-homer, 29-steal season in 2025. Jones could easily become one of the top power bats in the game, and one who can also add double-digit steals annually.

In Triple-A, Jones' quality of contact metrics were elite with a 95.7 mph AVG EV, 58.7% hard-hit rate, and a 29.3% barrel rate.

However, the downside with Jones is that his contact and strikeout rates have been downright terrible. Jones has run a strikeout rate above 32% in each of the last three seasons, and had a 70.6% zone and 56.7% overall contact rate this season in Triple-A. With this level of upside, it's worth taking a shot on him to see if it works out, but don't be surprised if you're dropping him for another hitter in a couple of weeks.

Isaac Collins (OF - KCR)

3% Rostered on Yahoo

This one is a little deeper, but I believe it's time for people to pay attention to and consider Isaac Collins again in 12-team mixed leagues if you need an outfielder. Collins was a surprisingly impressive rookie last season, slashing .263/.368/.411 in 441 plate appearances, but he was slashing just .183/.269/.250 this season after a hitless game on April 21.

But since that game, Collins has slashed .350/.491/.575 over his last 13 games with seven runs, five extra-base hits, three home runs, two stolen bases, and more walks (11) than strikeouts (10).

This more closely resembles the version of Collins we saw last season with Milwaukee, not the early-2026 version where he was oddly striking out at an alarming clip. Collins can get on base at a good clip and rarely chases, currently sporting an elite 17.5% chase rate. He's also slightly above average when it comes to power and speed as well, with a 67th percentile sprint speed, 89 mph AVG EV, and a 41.5% hard-hit rate.

While Collins is far from an impact player, he can provide a little of everything, and should continue to start regularly for Kansas City in left field as long as he's hitting well.

Sean Burke (SP - CHW)

36% Rostered on Yahoo

The Chicago White Sox have had a few surprising pitching standouts so far, with Sean Burke being one of them. Burke was a mixed bag in 2025, but has gotten off to a nice start here in 2026, posting a 2.72 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, and a 5.1% walk rate in his first seven outings, along with a 3.38 xERA. However, Burke's strikeout rate has ticked down to just 20.5% this season, which is below the Major League average.

When digging into the profile, the most notable difference is that Burke has been incorporating his sinker more frequently, especially to right-handed hitters. After using it just 4.8% of the time in 2025, Burke is going to the sinker 15.5% of the time this season, and it's become his second most used offering against righties.

This increased sinker usage has helped Burke's groundball rate rise from 36.1% last season to 44.3% this season. But subsequently, his whiff rate has dropped from 25.1% to 18.8%. Moving forward, I believe Burke can be a viable fantasy arm, but the limited strikeout upside caps his value a bit. Just keep that in mind.

Robby Snelling (SP - MIA)

31% Rostered on Yahoo

The other big prospect promotion this week was Robby Snelling, who will make his major league debut on Friday at home against the Washington Nationals. Snelling rose to top prospect status back in 2023 before a down 2024 season let some of the helium escape from his prospect balloon. But fortunately, Snelling rebounded nicely in 2025, posting a 2.51 ERA and 30.3% strikeout rate in 25 starts.

Robby Snelling tossed five no-hit innings with 9 K today to lower his ERA to 1.86 this season.

Bring him up Miami. Free Snelling!#FightinFishpic.twitter.com/AEI05SKNPd

— Eric Cross (@EricCrossMLB) May 2, 2026

That momentum carried over into 2026 as well, with Snelling recording a stellar 1.86 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, and a 40% strikeout rate in six Triple-A outings. Opposing hitters were only hitting .116 off of Snelling, but he did see his walk rate tick up to 13.6%. That's not a concern for me, however, as Snelling has always shown solid command and control during his time in the minor leagues.

Snelling is one of the top pitching prospects in the game, and absolutely should be added in all but the shallowest of leagues. Long-term, Snelling projects as a No. 2 starter for me, and is someone who could provide top-40 SP value over the remainder of this season.

Rico Garcia (RP - BAL)

28% Rostered on Yahoo

I'm actually a bit shocked that Rico Garcia is rostered in less than 30% of Yahoo leagues. With Ryan Helsley on the IL with elbow inflammation, Garcia has stepped into the closer role and performed quite well, picking up a pair of saves.

For the season, Garcia has a stellar 0.53 ERA and 0.41 WHIP in his 18 appearances, to go along with a 33.3% strikeout rate, 10.5% walk rate, and plenty of red on his Savant page.

Garcia mixes four different pitches, with two of them having a whiff rate above 40%. His changeup leads the way with a 55.9% whiff rate, and surprisingly, this is the only offering Garcia has allowed a hit on. That's right, Garcia has only allowed one hit in 17 innings. Limiting opposing hitters to an 82.5 mph AVG EV and 21.9% hard-hit rate has certainly factored into that.

Once Helsley is back, he'll almost surely take back over in the ninth inning, but it sounds like that's still at least a week away from happening. For now, Garcia is a great short-term option if you're looking for some saves, and could stick around as a high-end option in any format that values holds in some capacity.

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