Sneaky Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups, Buys: Week 10 - Hot Pitchers To Sustain Success?

June 2, 2026

Andy looks at four sneaky fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups for starting pitchers in Week 10 (2026) on hot streaks, and sees if they can sustain their success.

Welcome, RotoBallers, to another edition of our weekly starting pitcher waiver wire column. With the calendar turning to June, we have officially hit our stride, making it more important than ever to be aggressive on the waiver wire as we will soon be reaching the halfway point of the season.

This week, we will spotlight an intriguing pitcher on the Detroit Tigers and a starter from the Athletics who continues to find success and is entering must-roster territory.

Be sure to follow RotoBallerMLB on X for all of our league-winning content and me, @A_Smith_FS, for any questions! Additionally, be sure to use code SMITH at checkout for 30% off on all premium packages. Let's dive in! Note - All advanced statistics referenced are updated as of Monday, June 1.

Kai-Wei Teng, Houston Astros

15% Rostered (Yahoo)

The 27-year-old spent his first two seasons in the majors with the San Francisco Giants, where he logged just 40 2/3 innings to the tune of a high 7.30 ERA and 1.70 WHIP. During this short stint, Teng struck out 46 hitters while walking a high 25 batters. As a result, managers kept Teng off their fantasy radar heading into the 2026 season.

However, he opened the 2026 campaign with the Astros and has surprisingly taken a massive step forward. Overall, Teng has logged 42 innings of work with a 2.57 ERA and a strong 1.10 WHIP. During this stretch, Teng has struck out 43 hitters, but his command has remained an issue, allowing walks at a high 11.4% rate.

While he has typically spent most of his time in the bullpen, Teng has begun to earn starts in the rotation, which has made him a more valuable player for fantasy. Since May 10, his last four appearances have come out of the rotation and have been rather promising for his long-term outlook.

During this four-game stretch, Teng has posted a 2.84 ERA with a 1.26 WHIP. Through 19 frames, he has totaled 21 punchouts while walking 12 hitters. On May 16 and May 23, Teng tossed back-to-back scoreless starts with 13-straight shutout frames with a 13:7 K:BB.

Can Teng sustain this use and emerge as a valuable SP5 with upside?

While we do not have the largest sample to analyze, given that most of his time in the majors has either been very short or spent in the bullpen, Teng does carry some impressive metrics under the hood. Overall, the right-hander has generated a 3.55 xERA with a .218 xBA, both of which sit above the average marks of qualified hitters.

His 25.7% K% puts him in the 74th percentile, and his strong 5.8% barrel rate and 35.9% hard-hit rate are also well above average, suggesting he limits hard contact.

Since moving to the rotation (primarily in May), Teng has not opted to change his pitch-mix as shown below. His sweeper and four-seamer continue to lead his arsenal and have been thrown more than 71% of the time this season.

His swing has been a very effective primary pitch, as it carries a stellar .186 wOBA with a 32.8% whiff rate. While the underlying .247 xwOBA suggests it is overperforming, the mark remains well above average. His four-seamer has posted a .433 wOBA on the surface but is due for some positive regression, as shown in the .343 xwOBA.

His secondary options have not found much success, limiting his overall upside. The one pitch to monitor in his curveball, which currently stands as his fourth-most-used pitch. So far, this pitch has generated an elite 45.5% whiff rate but holds a modest .317 wOBA and .273 BA.

If Teng can continue to develop his curveball, this could give him an optimal No. 3 pitch to mix in with his sweeper and four-seamer. His command remains his Achilles heel and will always lower his floor for fantasy.

However, if he can continue to use his primary whiff pitches to get out of deeper counts, he should find more success. Given that he is largely limiting hard contact, the command is the one major factor preventing him from truly reaching viable fantasy territory. For now, he is a streaming option in a favorable matchup, with the potential to enter SP4/SP5 territory.

Troy Melton, Detroit Tigers

20% Rostered

Troy Melton had a delayed start to the season recovering from an elbow injury, but he has looked just as advertised in his return to action. Through his first two outings post-injury, the former fourth-round pick has logged 12 2/3 innings with a 1.42 ERA and a sharp 0.95 WHIP. While he only struck out four hitters, he has allowed just two total runs while walking only four batters.

Last summer, Melton made his MLB debut and tossed 45 2/3 innings with a 2.76 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP. During this stretch, Melton struck out just 36 hitters but posted a strong 8.3% BB%.

Is this pitch-to-contact profile worth trusting over the long term?

While Melton has slightly tweaked his pitch mix compared to last season, much of it remains the same, with his four-seamer and slider leading the way, and his split-finger and cutter mixing in as secondaries. This season, his split-finger has moved up to his No. 3 pitch, up from the No. 5 spot it held in his usage last summer.

While the sample for this season is very small, his four-seamer carries some concerning metrics. While it has generated a .247 wOBA on the surface, the looming .386 xwOBA suggests major regression is coming. His slider has generated a .205 wOBA but carries a near 90-point jump (.292 xwOBA) under the hood.

The most notable drop in these pitches is the whiff rate. As shown in the visual below, both pitchers generated a high total of swings and misses last season but have dropped significantly this season, drastically lowering their upside for strikeouts.

The only pitch in his repertoire that has a whiff rate of higher than 20% is his curveball, which he has only thrown 4.8% of the time.

Given that Melton carries a 4.87 xERA and a .301 xBA under the hood suggests that his hot start will be very hard to remain sustainable. While his pitches could eventually begin to rekindle the same swing-and-miss upside, he is allowing loud contact (42.9% hard-hit rate), which will prevent him from enjoying long-term success.

While Melton holds some intrigue in deeper leagues as a starter, his limited strikeout profile significantly hinders his upside for those in standard 12-team formats.

J.T. Ginn, Athletics

30% Rostered

One of the most impressive early-season performances has been J.T. Ginn. Ginn opened the season at the back of the Athletics rotation after posting a 5.08 ERA and was not even guaranteed a role over the course of the next summer. However, the 27-year-old has enjoyed a stellar season to date and is quickly approaching the 40% rostership mark.

Overall, Ginn has logged 59 2/3 innings with a 2.87 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP, both of which are set to be the best marks of his career. During this stretch, Ginn has struck out 52 hitters while serving up walks at a 10.8% rate.

Additionally, since allowing five runs to the Guardians on May 1, Ginn has quietly been one of the game's most dominant pitchers in May. Over his last five starts (since May 7), Ginn has logged 30 1/3 innings to the tune of a 1.48 ERA and a strong 1.02 WHIP. During this stretch, Ginn has struck out 29 hitters while lowering his BB/9 to 3.6 (was 4.3 over the first month of the season).

Is this recent production suitable and worth "buying" into?

His pitch mix has not changed since April, but his per-pitch production has changed drastically. As shown in the visual below, his cutter has taken a drastic step forward in xwOBA, while the other pitches in his repertoire have begun to allow much less favorable contact.

Ginn's primary pitch, his sinker, was very effective in April (.263 xwOBA), but took a massive step back in May, as shown in the .457 xwOBA. However, the cutter's low .047 wOBA helped offset this rise.

In terms of whiff rates, his primary secondary, his slider, and changeup have remained high-end whiff options, generating whiff rates of 28.0% or greater this month. His sinker, despite being a fastball, has posted a strong 23.7% whiff rate this month, which is in line with the 21.7% whiff rate it posted last month.

Overall, Ginn sits at a decent 3.86 xERA, suggesting his current run in May is not sustainable, but he should not see much regression. He is generating barrels at a low 6.3%, which has helped him find success even when his strikeouts have not been there.

Given that he boasts a productive cutter with a sinker that can generate whiffs and a component of secondaries, Ginn should continue to keep hitters off balance. Managers should not look to "buy him high" following his impressive May, but those needing a high volume SP4/SP5 should look his way.

Anthony Kay, Chicago White Sox

20% Rostered

Rounding out this week's column will be Anthony Kay of the White Sox. Kay spent a two-year stint in Japan from 2024 to 2026, and it appears he has made an impressive step forward against MLB hitters this summer. Prior to the 2026 season, Kay carried a 5.59 ERA over his first 85 1/3 MLB innings.

However, this season, Kay has posted a much-improved 3.77 ERA and 1.40 WHIP over 57 1/3 innings. While his ratios do not jump off the page, the southpaw has put together a strong streak of outings entering Week 10. Since the start of May, Kay has quietly been just as impressive as Ginn, logging 32 1/3 innings with a 1.95 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP.

In his first 25 innings of the season, the lefty posted a much higher 6.12 ERA with a 1.68 WHIP, which has greatly inflated his ratios in the early going.

Even though the season has just hit the quarter mark, Kay has made some drastic changes to his repertoire this past month, which has helped him enjoy his success. As shown below, the 31-year-old has begun to lower his four-seamer usage and instead lean on his sinker and sweeper as his primary options.

Given that his four-seamer generated a high .483 xwOBA in April, this was a worthy tweak. In May, his sweeper posted a high .388 wOBA on the surface but carried a .296 xwOBA under the hood with a strong 32.4% whiff rate, suggesting he should see some positive regression in June. However, his "new" primary option, his sinker, posted a .355 xwOBA (.349 wOBA) with a low 13.6% whiff rate, which will not cut it over the course of a full season.

Overall, Kay sits in the 10th percentile in xERA and the 11th percentile in xBA, suggesting, as his pitch-mix shows, his recent surge on the bump is not sustainable over the course of a full season. However, with increased usage of his sweeper, managers should expect his strikeout total to continue climbing and could finish around the "strikeout per inning" mark.

While he has flashed upside at times, the lack of a true fastball makes Kay carry high risk going forward and could be hit with massive regression in June, especially in tougher matchups.

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