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Mike's starting pitcher (SP) fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups for Week 21 of 2025 (August 18 - August 24). These are his top free-agent pitchers to add and stream.
Welcome, everyone, to our starting pitcher fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups for Week 21 of the 2025 season (August 18 - August 24). In this weekly piece, we search for starting pitchers rostered in less than 50 percent of Yahoo! leagues. For deeper leagues, we try to find pitchers rostered in less than 30 percent of Yahoo! leagues.
Week 21 finds fantasy players scrambling for every counting stat and available points in their leagues. Are you in need of wins? Are you looking for strikeouts? Perhaps you are searching for ratio help? We have someone who can help you in each category here.
Let's see what is on the waiver wire this week. There are options available for any league. You need to be proactive and add players before your league wakes up to them. At the end of the article, you will see players rostered in less than 15% of leagues who could help your squad.
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Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Pickups for Shallow Leagues
Recommendations for leagues of any size rostered between 30-50% on Yahoo!
Will Warren, New York Yankees (50% rostered)
Warren continues to be solid for the Yankees. He has four consecutive starts with at least five innings pitched, with only one win to show for those efforts. However, he has a 3.33 ERA, a 1.19 WHIP, and 28 strikeouts in 27 innings over his last five appearances.
With the Yankees in the thick of the playoff chase, Warren will continue to get the ball every fifth day and should be in line for quality outings and wins. He fits nicely into the middle of your rotation.
Jose Quintana, Milwaukee Brewers (39% rostered)
Quintana will never be a sexy pick, but more often than not, he gets you quality innings with little worry. That being said, he is not going to help you with strikeouts, but he is pitching for the best team in baseball, and wins should be there with decent ratios.
Quintana is the quintessential do-no-harm stabilizer you may need in your rotation. Do not hesitate to add him, especially when you consider he has 10 wins in only 18 appearances for the Brewers this year, matching his total in 31 starts in 2024.
Jose Soriano, Los Angeles Angels (38% rostered)
Soriano continues to be underutilized in many leagues, but he's been solid all year. He has eight wins, a solid 3.84 ERA, a 1.38 WHIP, and 125 strikeouts in 113 innings. Prone to a blowup at times, he has six outings where he has gone six scoreless innings in 2025.
I isolated his groundball percentage below. Soriano uses a heavy sinker that elicits a high groundball yield. His whopping 67.5% groundball percentage is in the 100th percentile in all of baseball. Roster him if you need back-end of the rotation help. 
Hurston Waldrep, Atlanta Braves (35% rostered)
Waldrep had been a revelation for the Braves this month, with three wins in three appearances thus far, two of them starts. He has gone six innings in both of his starts, with six and seven strikeouts, respectively. I think he is worth speculating on now.
A top prospect for them, he should get an opportunity down the stretch to prove that he belongs in the major league rotation in 2026. I like guys with these kinds of chances in the dog days of summer.
Charlie Morton, Detroit Tigers (31% rostered)
Morton is a wily veteran who knows how to best use his stuff to get outs in baseball games. He has become less reliant on his fastball, but has moved to using his other pitches more as he works for a division-leading Detroit Tigers team.
Morton still gets a ton of swing-and-miss in his game, mostly by utilizing a wicked curveball and changeup that offset his still useful fastball. See the chart below; skewed a bit by the brevity of August thus far, but you get the gist of it.
Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Pickups for Deeper Leagues
Recommendations for leagues of any size rostered in less than 30% on Yahoo!
Cristian Javier, Houston Astros (27% rostered)
Javier is back, and you know the Astros will tread carefully with him initially as they hope to build him up for a deep playoff run. They need him to be a valuable piece of their playoff rotation, so you know they are using these August starts to shake off the rust.
Javier looked like himself in his first start: a win, five innings, five strikeouts, coughing up only two runs on three hits and two walks. I would speculate on him here, knowing there could be some rough outings as he works through getting the feel back.
Zebby Matthews, Minnesota Twins (24% rostered)
I'm sorry, but I like Matthews and I will keep recommending him. His biggest issue has been the home run ball. If he can harness that issue, Matthews becomes a bankable weekly pitcher. For example, he gave up three solo shots last time out but struck out nine hitters.
What I love: the strikeouts and low walks. His current ERA is 5.11, but his xERA is a full run lower at 4.11. See his chart for yourself below. I feel like there is much to like here, albeit with the aforementioned issues, which he is sure to work on.
Nolan McLean, New York Mets (20% rostered)
McLean is a great speculative add right now, as it looks like he might get some extended runway in New York, with the Mets mightily struggling to find an answer to their slide into regression. With a hole in their rotation, McLean could stick around this season.
McLean had eight wins, a sparkling 2.45 ERA, a 1.13 WHIP, and 127 strikeouts in 113 minor league innings this year. He seems to have nothing left to prove in the minor leagues. McLean is said to command six pitches without an elite fastball. Grab him this weekend.
Jason Alexander, Houston Astros (18% rostered)
Alexander has been a revelation for the Astros this month, as you can see in his box below. Check out the post All-Star line. Will he keep the rotation spot long-term? Hard to say, but if you are living in the short term right now, Alexander could be a decent pickup.
Ryan Bergert, Kansas City Royals (13% rostered)
Bergert was dealt to Kansas City in the Freddy Fermin trade last month and has pitched into the sixth inning in his two most recent starts. That is four good starts in a row for Bergert, dating back to his time in San Diego.
Manager Matt Quatraro announced that Bergert will keep his rotation spot even through the return of Michael Lorenzen. Instead, Bailey Falter will move to the bullpen. Bergert has only one win to show for a 2.87 ERA and 1.09 WHIP. Need ratio help? Here you go.
Other Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Options
- Kyle Bradish, Baltimore Orioles (14% rostered)
- Michael McGreevy, St. Louis Cardinals (12% rostered)
- Sean Burke, Chicago White Sox (11% rostered)
- Michael Lorenzen, Kansas City Royals (11% rostered)
- Joey Wentz, Atlanta Braves (7% rostered)
Keep grinding and do not give up on your season. I know many are getting ready for fantasy football to be upon us next month. Keep your lineups active each week, please!
Happy hunting for starting pitchers this weekend! If you have questions, you can always message me on X @mdrc0508. You can even tell me you hate these picks. Remember that fantasy baseball is supposed to be fun above everything. Enjoy it!
More Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Advice
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