Eric Cross' Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups: Hitters and Pitchers (Week 9)

May 23, 2026

Eric Cross' top fantasy baseball waiver wire adds for Week 9 of 2026 (May 25 - May 31). His favorite free agent hitters and pitchers under 40% rostered.

In the blink of an eye, we're now at the one-third mark of the season. Doesn't it feel like the season just started? This is exactly why I've mentioned so many times that you can't just putz around and wait to make necessary moves. I'm not saying to blow all of your FAAB or use all your moves early, but don't be afraid to be aggressive on the waiver wire in the appropriate areas that make sense for your fantasy teams. And by this point, you should know what those areas are.

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: JJ Bleday (CIN), A.J. Ewing (NYM), Carson Benge (NYM), Zack Gelof (ATH), Bailey Ober (MIN), Ben Brown (CHC).

Ryan Waldschmidt (OF - ARI)

15% Rostered on Yahoo

While he's still searching for his first Major League home run, Ryan Waldschmidt has been hitting well overall since getting called up from Triple-A two weeks ago. In 49 plate appearances, Waldschmidt is hitting .326 with a .396 OBP and four steals. The AVG EV is below-average at 86.3 mph, but Waldschmidt has a 39.3% hard-hit rate, 14.3% barrel rate, and batted ball angles that tend to aid home run totals. Out of Waldschmidt's first 28 batted balls, 71.4% have been in the air, and 42.9% have been pulled.

Those last two sentences were the long version of me saying that I believe the home runs will come. And until they do, Waldschmidt can provide fantasy managers with some steals and a good AVG/OBP. He's currently running an 83.1% zone contact rate with a low 18.7% chase rate. You're not going to find someone with this much upside available in 85% of Yahoo leagues too often.

Jake Burger (1B - TEX)

21% Rostered on Yahoo

If your fantasy team is hungry for some power, I'd suggest hitting your nearest drive-thru and ordering a burger. The "Jake" Burger, to be exact. Burger has been really heating up over the last week and a half, cranking three doubles and three home runs with a .438/.526/.813 slash line and nearly as many walks (6) as strikeouts (7). He's also driven in a dozen runs in this timeframe.

Ezequiel Duran and Jake Burger go back-to-back for a @Rangers lead 🤠 pic.twitter.com/yUFusXkzXA

— MLB (@MLB) May 20, 2026

Burger has always been a streaky hitter due to his aggressive approach. We all know this. But we're also talking about a guy who combined for 63 home runs in 278 games back in 2023 and 2024. He's on a near 30-homer pace this season while also being on pace for just over 100 RBI, with his usual above-average quality of contact metrics and solid zone contact rate. Even as a .240-.250 hitter, Burger deserves to be rostered in more leagues as a potential 30/100 bat.

Jake Bauers (1B/OF - MIL)

36% Rostered on Yahoo

One thing I've learned over the years is that you don't need to shy away from platoon hitters. If used correctly, they can still provide value to your fantasy teams. That's exactly the case with Jake Bauers, who has been a Top-100 overall player this season. In 42 games, Bauers is slashing .289/.357/.493 with 27 runs, seven home runs, 29 RBI, and four steals. That's a full-season pace of around 82 runs, 22 home runs, 12 steals, and nearly 90 RBI. Despite this, Bauers is still available in nearly two-thirds of Yahoo leagues.

Yes, Bauers will land on the bench against tougher left-handers, but he actually hasn't been bad against them this season, which has helped him from being in a full platoon. Bauers also mashes right-handers to the tune of a .291/.371/.491 slash line. Overall, Bauers has posted an impressive 12.5% barrel rate, 93 mph AVG EV, and 54% hard-hit rate this season while improving his strikeout, chase, zone contact, and overall contact rates to career-best marks of 21.9%, 18.9%, 84.7%, and 76.1%, respectively.

Ezequiel Duran (1B/2B/3B/SS/OF - TEX)

39% Rostered on Yahoo

With several key members of the Texas Rangers' offense on the Injured List, Ezequiel Duran has been thrust into additional playing time this season, and he's done his best to take advantgage of the opportunity. In 147 plate appearances, Duran has slashed .286/.342/.474 with 21 runs, four home runs, 23 RBI, and four steals. He's been starting regularly at shortstop, and has hit 5th in the lineup quite frequently. It also helps that he is eligible nearly everywhere in Yahoo leagues.

Duran has been hitting the ball harder than he ever has so far this season, sporting a career-best 91.5 mph AVG EV and 43.4% hard-hit rate, the latter of which is up 12.5% from last season. And while his overall contact rate has dropped 6.7%, Duran is still running a solid 82.5% zone contact rate while walking at a career-high 8.4% clip. He's certainly not a league-winner, but Duran is worth rostering as long as he's playing regularly.

Zebby Matthews (SP - MIN)

26% Rostered on Yahoo

As someone who was fairly high on Zebby Matthews when he was a prospect, it's certainly nice to see Matthews both healthy and pitching well. Those two things haven't lined up much during Matthews first two Major League seasons, but Matthews has posted a 1.38 ERA and 0.77 WHIP in his first two outings with the Twins this season, along with his usual stellar walk rate.

Zebby Matthews, Nasty 86mph Slider. 😨 pic.twitter.com/uL0k1qIBJv

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 20, 2026

Matthews' velocity has been down around a full tick on many of his offerings, but it's been working so far. He's still averaging 95.3 mph on his 4-seamer with 16" of IVB, and his slider has a 40% whiff rate so far. Yes, it's a very small two-start sample, but Matthews has looked good in those two starts and still possesses decent upside in general. Matthews lines up for a two-start week next week, facing the White Sox and Pirates on the road.

Troy Melton (SP - DET)

13% Rostered on Yahoo

After missing the first two months of the season, Troy Melton is set to return to the Detroit Tigers' rotation on Sunday. Melton was a sneaky draft day target back before the season, but right elbow inflammation put a halt to that before the season even started. Melton is coming off a 2.76 ERA in 45.2 innings with the Tigers last season, and was impressive in his rehab stint, allowing two earned runs in 11.2 innings with 16 strikeouts.

Last season, Melton worked with a 97 mph fastball while mixing in a 95.4 mph sinker, mid-80s slider, and a low-90s cutter. He also added in the occasional upper-80s splitter and upper-70s curveball. But in his last rehab outing on Tuesday, Melton used the curveball more and the cutter less. I'm intrigued by the higher curveball usage as the one area where Melton didn't really impress last season was in the strikeout rate department.

But What About...

Since I also do prospect work, I'm sure some of you reading this have wondered about why I didn't recommend Jonah Tong, Pedro Ramirez, or Kevin Alcantara this week. Well, here's why. I'm still a believer in Tong long-term, but he was struggling to the tune of a 5.68 ERA and 1.37 WHIP in Triple-A. He also walked 14.3% of the batters he faced. As for Ramirez and Alcantara, both could be fantasy-relevant if given enough playing time, but it doesn't appear that will be the case with the Cubs' full lineup.

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