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Mike's starting pitcher (SP) fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups for Week 24 of 2025 (September 8- September 14). These are his top free-agent pitchers to add and stream.
Welcome, everyone, to our starting pitcher fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups for Week 24 of the 2025 season (September 8- September 14). 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.
Most leagues have less than two weeks left to get those final statistics we need to try and capture that elusive championship. Many players have drifted away from their baseball leagues to fantasy football, which is a mistake you will not make this year.
Let's see what is on the waiver wire this week. Several of the players here are young guys getting robust chances, with much potential. Be proactive and add 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!
Noah Cameron, Kansas City Royals (42% rostered)
I recognize that Cameron has not been great the last two times out and that he may be tiring. The one red flag is the six runs in one outing, and then five walks in the next. However, Cameron continues to initiate soft contact. See below; he's 87th percentile in this metric.
On the season, Cameron has seven wins, a tidy 3.03 ERA, a 1.13 WHIP, and limits barrels to 5.4%. He gets the Cleveland Guardians this coming week. The Royals are still alive, barely, in the AL playoff hunt. Cameron will stick in the rotation.
Luis Morales, Athletics (42% rostered)
Morales looks terrific in this extended audition for the Athletics. He has gone at least five innings in four straight starts, nabbing three wins and 26 strikeouts in 23 innings. Morales gets the Los Angeles Angels this weekend. The runway is long here; roster him.
Justin Verlander, San Francisco Giants (40% rostered)
Verlander has become a hot add lately, and that is because he has pitched far better. In three of his last four games, the veteran has pitched at least five innings and struck out at least five batters while earning two wins.
Over that time, Verlander has struck out 33 hitters in 27 innings while posting two wins, a 1.64 ERA, and a 1.35 WHIP. He is usable in deeper formats at this time.
Ryan Bergert, Kansas City Royals (35% rostered)
Bergert continues to pitch well under the radar. Never a big strikeout pitcher, he continues to get outs. Since he came to Kansas City, Bergert has pitched at least five innings in six consecutive games, never surrendering more than two runs.
Check out his impressive box below. Of course, we wish he had more wins for his efforts, but he has been controlling ratios all season.
Payton Tolle, Boston Red Sox (33% rostered)
Tolle pitched well in his first start, going into the sixth inning and striking out eight while not factoring into the decision. The second start did not go as well; only three innings, two strikeouts, and five runs on four walks, taking his first loss in the process.
Tolle is still worth rostering despite that tough start. He will remain in the rotation and will get to face off against the Athletics this coming week. I am still rolling with Tolle.
Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Pickups for Deeper Leagues
Recommendations for leagues of any size rostered in less than 30% on Yahoo!
Ian Seymour, Tampa Bay Rays (29% rostered)
I like what I have seen from Seymour in an admittedly small sample size. He has matching five-inning starts with eight strikeouts in each one. This is an open tryout for the 2026 roster, and he is acing the test thus far.
If we go back to July, though, we can see the seeds of what he is doing at the game's highest level. Seymour has 42 strikeouts in 33 innings covering that time. The changeup looks to be a plus pitch for him, generating eight whiffs in his last start.
Emmet Sheehan, Los Angeles Dodgers (29% rostered)
Since giving up six runs three games ago, Sheehan has been solid. In his last three games, he has surrendered six total runs with 23 strikeouts in 17 innings. He has five wins, a 3.59 ERA, a 1.16 WHIP, and 60 strikeouts in 52 innings this season.
You can see the graphic below that shows how much chase Sheehan is getting on his pitch mix, specifically the slider. Sheehan has been good this season and should be able to make a few more starts as part of a six-man rotation, and he gets Colorado next week.
Shane Smith, Chicago White Sox (21% rostered)
Smith is vastly underrated because he plays for a bad team. He has been a bulwark of the White Sox rotation all season. A bumpy stretch of July sent him to the IL and then the waiver wire, but he is worth another look down the stretch.
In six August starts, he posted a win, a 2.67 ERA, a 0.95 WHIP, and 31 strikeouts covering 33 innings. The Sox's lone All-Star can help you win your league.
Martin Perez, Chicago White Sox (21% rostered)
Perez has been great since returning from injury. He has gone at least five innings in four straight starts, nabbing at least five strikeouts in each one. His ERA over that time is a sterling 1.38 with a sparkling 0.62 WHIP. The 21 strikeouts in 21 innings help, too.
Perez is auditioning for next season and should make the rest of his starts in 2025.
Zebby Matthews, Minnesota Twins (20% rostered)
Very quietly, because he plays for a moribund team, Matthews has put together a quality stretch over the last month for the Twins. Five of his last six starts have been serviceable or better. He has surrendered three earned runs or fewer in five of those last six.
Efficiency is an issue as he walks too many at times, but the strikeout rate is appealing to me: 75 punchouts in 64 innings as he auditions for a rotation spot in 2026. The swing and miss below is intriguing to me. I am looking for that next step here.
Brandon Sproat, New York Mets (10% rostered)
Sproat will make his anticipated debut this weekend, and for a team that needs a boost in their rotation to keep their flagging pennant hopes alive. It's unknown at this time how many starts Sproat will make; it could be a one-off for him. But he could stick, depending on what the Mets want to do.
Other Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Options
- Stephen Kolek, Kansas City Royals (13% rostered)
- Javier Assad, Chicago Cubs (12% rostered)
- Michael Lorenzen, Kansas City Royals (10% rostered)
- Johan Oviedo, Pittsburgh Pirates (6% rostered)
Keep grinding and do not give up on your season. I know many are getting ready for fantasy football to be upon us this weekend. Keep your lineups active each week, please!
A quick thank you to all who have read my articles this season. You keep me motivated each week to find players who can help your teams. I appreciate the feedback, both the praise and the criticism.
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!
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