Eric Cross' Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups - Hitters and Pitchers (April 21 - April 27)

April 20, 2025

Eric Cross' top fantasy baseball waiver wire adds for Week 4 of 2025 (April 21 - April 27). His favorite free agent hitters and pitchers under 40% rostered.

We're already nearing the end of April, and the Major League season is charging hard into its fourth week. We're still seeing plenty of notable names struggle and surprising names emerge with hot starts. Some of those names are below in this week's editions of my waiver wire recommendations here on RotoBaller.

The players below are all under 40 percent rostered on Yahoo! leagues. Some of them might already be rostered in your leagues, but if they're available, I'd recommend giving them a look to see if they could be good fits for your fantasy teams.

Last week's recommendations were Cam Smith, Chase Meidroth, Zach McKinstry, Sal Frelick, Mike Yastrzemski, Max Meyer, Zebby Matthews, and David Festa.

Chandler Simpson (OF - TBR)

21% Rostered on Yahoo

Do you need speed? Well, Chandler Simpson has plenty of it. After swiping 94 bags in 2023 and 104 bags in 2024, Simpson had eight steals in 17 games in Triple-A this season with a .301 AVG. Simpson has the type of speed impact that could win the stolen base category or at least majorly improve your position in the category.

But outside of speed, the impact Simpson brings to the table is limited. The contact skills are elite, as Simpson has maintained a contact rate of over 90 percent in each of the last two seasons, and so far in 2025 as well. However, Simpson's quality of contact is well below average, to the point where he's basically going to be a zero in the home run and RBI departments.

Just remember what type of player he is and what you're likely getting from him.

Pavin Smith (1B/OF - ARI)

21% Rostered on Yahoo

As I've mentioned before, I'm not one to shy away from a strong-side platoon bat. Especially one who is hitting as well as Pavin Smith is so far this season. In 58 plate appearances, Smith is slashing .408/.500/.735 with three home runs and a stolen base. All but three of those plate appearances have been against right-handed pitchers.

The redhead is red hot 🔥 pic.twitter.com/yl4ZAqafDq

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) April 17, 2025

Smith has been scalding the ball all season with a 22.6 percent barrel rate, 48.4 percent hard-hit rate, and a 91.7 mph AVG EV. He also has the best Sweet-Spot rate in baseball at a ridiculous 51.9 percent. You have to play the matchups with Smith and look ahead to see if Arizona is facing any lefties, but the only one they are slated to face next week is Chris Sale next Friday.

Caleb Durbin (3B - MIL)

8% Rostered on Yahoo

With Milwaukee not getting much production from the third base position, they're turning to Caleb Durbin, who almost won the job out of camp. Durbin had a mini-breakout in 2024 with 10 home runs and 31 steals in the minors before going on to set the stolen base record in the Arizona Fall League. He's also had more walks than strikeouts for three straight seasons with contact rates well north of 80 percent.

As I mentioned with Simpson above, you need to know what you're potentially getting with Durbin and what you're not getting. What you're getting is a player who can steal bags and hit for a respectable average, but you're not getting a player who will provide you with a ton of power. There's more power here than with Simpson, but Durbin is probably more of a 10-15 homer bat at best over a full season. There could be multi-positional eligibility here as well, depending on the platform you play on.

Heston Kjerstad (OF - BAL)

8% Rostered on Yahoo

After inconsistent playing time last season, Heston Kjerstad is finally getting a chance to start regularly for Baltimore, and he's beginning to heat up at the plate. Kjerstad has smacked three home runs in his last six games and is now slashing .261/.286/.500 in 49 plate appearances this season. Yes, that OBP is low due to his two percent walk rate, but if you're targeting Kjerstad right now, you're doing so for the power that he brings to the table.

Through his first 35 batted balls, Kjerstad has posted an impressive 17.1% barrel rate, 92,7 mph AVG EV, and a 51.5 percent hard-hit rate. He also hits the ball at ideal angles with a 17.6° average launch angle, 17.1 percent Pull-Air rate, and an elite 51.4 percent Sweet Spot rate. On top of that, Kjerstad has improved his zone contact rate and is whiffing less this season. He'll have more value in leagues that use AVG and not OBP, but the power boost makes him a viable target in non-shallow leagues right now.

Carson Kelly (C - CHC)

34% Rostered on Yahoo

What if I told you that the most valuable catcher for fantasy through the first three weeks of the season has been Carson Kelly? Well, it's true, and I just picked him up in my home keeper league while I was writing this article, as I've been getting nothing from Gabriel Moreno so far this season. Meanwhile, Kelly is currently slashing a robust .419/.578/1.097 with six home runs and 18 RBI in 45 plate appearances. This Cubs offense has been humming this season, and Kelly is one of the reasons why.

I'm sure plenty are skeptical of this start, as Kelly has been a mediocre offensive catcher for most of his career and has only been fantasy viable for small spurts during his time with the Diamondbacks. Obviously, this pace isn't going to hold, and I'm not expecting Kelly to all of a sudden become one of the elite catcher options for fantasy purposes. However, there have been some improvements that have piqued my interest at the moment.

First off, Kelly is hitting the ball harder than he ever has with a 21.4 percent barrel rate, 93.5 mph AVG EV, and a 60.7 percent hard-hit rate. He also has three times as many walks (12) as strikeouts (four), and has trimmed his whiff and chase rates as well. Is he a stud now? Unlikely. But could Kelly be a top-10 option moving forward at a weak and inconsistent catcher position? Absolutely.

Chase Dollander (SP - COL)

20% Rostered on Yahoo

It almost feels wrong to recommend a Rockies pitcher, but it's not as bad as usual when I'm talking about the most talented pitcher the Rockies have ever developed. Chase Dollander is/was one of the top pitching prospects in the game, who has held his own in his first two starts and has a 13/3 K/BB ratio in 10.2 innings so far.

Chase Dollander, 98mph ⛽️ pic.twitter.com/emqnOuBJp8

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 13, 2025

Dollander has averaged 97.7 mph on his 4-seamer in his first two outings while mixing in his cutter, curveball, and changeup, the latter two of which have a whiff rate above 35 percent so far. This comes after an impressive 2024 showing in the minors when Dollander recorded a 2.59 ERA and 33.9 percent strikeout rate. Dollander should continue to provide strikeouts at a high clip moving forward and has a better chance than most not to get ripped to shreds by Coors Field.

Andrew Abbott (SP - CIN)

20% Rostered on Yahoo

After missing the start of the season with a shoulder issue, Andrew Abbott has returned to the mound for Cincinnati and has two straight starts of at least five innings and only one earned run allowed. That includes an 11-strikeout performance against the Baltimore Orioles on Friday with 19 whiffs.

While Abbott's velocity is down a bit so far, he's missing a ton of bats with a 34.5 percent whiff rate on his 4-seamer, 43.5 percent on his changeup, and 30.8 percent on his curveball. No, he's not going to maintain a strikeout rate over 30 percent moving forward, but Abbott's 4-seamer has featured more IVB so far, and his changeup has more depth to it than we saw in 2024. Abbott has had an ERA under 4.00 in each of his two Major League seasons so far and could return Top-50 SP value with an improved strikeout rate.

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