Eric Cross' Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups - Hitters and Pitchers (April 28 - May 4)

Eric Cross' top fantasy baseball waiver wire adds for Week 5 of 2025 (April 28 - May 4). His favorite free agent hitters and pitchers under 40% rostered.

As the first month of the season draws to a close, standings in fantasy leagues are really starting to take shape. You should have a pretty good idea of what positions and stat categories your teams are strong in and what areas you could stand to improve in.

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 Chandler Simpson, Pavin Smith, Caleb Durbin, Heston Kjerstad, Carson Kelly, Chase Dollander, and Andrew Abbott.

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Noelvi Marte (3B - CIN)

20% Rostered on Yahoo

Welcome back to fantasy relevance, Noelvi Marte! After a rough 2024 filled with suspension and poor performance, Marte is starting to look like the Marte of old. He's picked up 11 hits in his last five games, which include three doubles and two home runs. Yes, two of those hits were off position players in his five-hit game earlier this week, but Marte is still hitting well right now.

116.7 MPH off the bat on this crush job by Noelvi Marte! 😳 pic.twitter.com/Tl0yRdep4K

— MLB (@MLB) April 22, 2025

Over the last week, Marte has posted an 89.8 mph AVG EV, a 10.5 percent barrel rate, and has hit a ball 116.7 mph. He's also only striking out 10.8 percent of the time in his 37 plate appearances so far this season with a 93rd percentile sprint speed and near-elite 74.8 mph bat speed. With his blend of skills and hitter-friendly home ballpark, Marte is worth a look in all fantasy leagues right now to see if this is the start of a breakout season.

Jordan Beck (OF - COL)

11% Rostered on Yahoo

Jordan Beck has as many multi-homer games in the last two days as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has total home runs this entire season. After hitting three home runs in Colorado's doubleheader on Thursday, Beck added a pair of solo home runs on Friday to cap off a ridiculous two days for the young outfielder. For the season, Beck has five home runs and four steals in 46 plate appearances with a .282/.391/.718 slash line.

While Beck's 34.8 percent strikeout rate and 68.3 percent zone contact rate are a concern right now, he also has recorded a 52.2 percent hard-hit rate, 94.3 mph AVG EV, and a 21.7 percent barrel rate, along with a 15.2 percent walk rate and a 75th percentile sprint speed. Beck will be prone to notable peaks and valleys given the contact and strikeout rates, but this is a hitter who combined for 33 home runs and 26 steals in 168 minor league games between 2023 and 2024.

Agustin Ramirez (C - MIA)

31% Rostered on Yahoo

After seeing Agustín Ramírez live in Double-A early last season, I've been very high on the Dominican backstop, pushing him inside the Top-50 of my prospect rankings. That's an area not many catcher prospects reach, but the blend of offensive skills warranted a ranking that high. In his first three Major League games, Ramírez wasted no time showcasing those offensive talents with a stolen base and seven hits, including four doubles and his first Major League home run.

Agustín Ramírez cracks his first major league homer!

The 23-year-old is 7-for-10 to start his career 👀 pic.twitter.com/0OFDndbIVS

— MLB (@MLB) April 26, 2025

Ramírez broke out in a significant way in 2024, slashing .267/.358/.487 with 26 doubles, 25 home runs, and 22 steals in 126 games between Double-A and Triple-A. He was acquired by Miami in the Jazz Chisholm trade last summer, and finished the season with 15 extra-base hits, four steals, and an 11.7 percent walk rate in 39 games for Triple-A Jacksonville.

Ramírez is a rare catcher who can steal some bags, and he posted a 44.4 percent hard-hit rate and 13 percent barrel rate in Triple-A this season. The long-term upside is a catcher who can push double-digit steals annually while exceeding 20 home runs and adding a respectable AVG as well. For the rest of this season, Ramírez could easily bring top-10 value at the catcher position.

Hunter Goodman (C/OF - COL)

23% Rostered on Yahoo

If you need a catcher, this week's waiver wire recommendations are right up your alley, as I have another one here with Hunter Goodman. Over the last 10 games, Goodman has at least one hit in nine of them and is slashing .306/.419/.528 with two doubles, two home runs, and nearly as many walks (seven) as strikeouts (eight).

The below-average contact skills will likely continue to cause peaks and valleys within Goodman's performance, but there are some positives to be encouraged by from his metrics in the first month of the season. After posting a 3.6 percent walk rate and 28.6 percent strikeout rate in 2024, Goodman has improved those rates to 11 and 23.1 percent, respectively, this season. He's also decreased his chase rate by five percent while still maintaining a solid 10.3 percent barrel rate and 41.4 percent hard-hit rate.

Reese Olson (SP - DET)

26% Rostered on Yahoo

Reese Olson was a pitcher I heavily targeted during draft season, and one I'll continue to recommend in waiver wire articles while his roster rate remains so low. As of Saturday morning, Olson is still available in 74 percent of Yahoo leagues, and his roster rate should continue to rise if he continues to pitch as well as he has over his last two starts.

After allowing 10 earned runs in his first 15 innings this season, Olson has tossed a combined 12.1 shutout innings over his last two starts, allowing just six hits and three walks with 12 strikeouts.

Olson has gone to his sinker more and 4-seamer less this season, and continues to miss bats at a high clip with both his slider and changeup, the latter of which currently has a .071 BAA, .143 SLG, and 50 percent whiff rate. Olson has also allowed just one home run all season and has a solid 48.7 percent groundball rate. It was also encouraging to see Olson go to his changeup and slider a bit more in his last outing, which resulted in a combined 17 whiffs on those two offerings.

Matthew Liberatore (SP - STL)

24% Rostered on Yahoo

I've been more of a Matthew Liberatore skeptic over the last few seasons, but it's hard to argue against what he's doing so far this season. In his first five starts of the season, Liberatore has recorded an impressive 3.19 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, and a 21.5 percent K-BB rate thanks to a tiny 1.7 percent walk rate. There's been no flukiness to this performance either, as Liberatore has a 3.06 xERA, 1.83 FIP, 2.69 xFIP, and a 2.97 SIERA so far.

Liberatore's drop in walk rate has been a notable improvement this season, as walks were an issue for him when he started in the past. He's also been throwing a slightly slower slider with more drop and glove-side movement, which has resulted in a 36.7 percent whiff rate and .270 SLG allowed on the pitch so far. Liberatore's chase rate has also improved from 27.9 percent in 2024 to 31.7 percent this season.

His overall whiff and strikeout rates are still middle of the pack, which limits his upside to some degree, but Liberatore is worth targeting in non-shallow missed leagues right now.

Bubba Chandler (SP - PIT)

23% Rostered on Yahoo

If you've followed my Top 25 prospects to stash article each week here on RotoBaller, you should already know that I've had Bubba Chandler very high in those rankings each week this season. Chandler and Andrew Painter are my two top pitching prospects to stash in redraft leagues right now, and we're likely going to see Chandler up with Pittsburgh several weeks before Painter debuts with the Phillies.

Chandler has been dominating all season and had his pitch count up to 69 and 70 in his last two outings. In five starts total, Chandler has posted a stellar 1.33 ERA, 0.64 WHIP, 8.1 percent walk rate, and a 36.5 percent strikeout rate. With an elite fastball and two potential plus secondaries in his slider and changeup, the upside for Chandler is off the charts, and he has the potential to return Top-30 SP value once he's up with the Pirates. That time should be very, very soon.

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