Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Pickups: Week 5

Mike's starting pitcher (SP) fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups for Week 5 of 2025 (April 28 - May 4). These are his top free-agent pitchers to add and stream.

Welcome, everyone, to our starting pitcher fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups for Week 5 of the 2025 season (April 28 - May 4). 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.

One thing I want to point out this week: you are not going to find pitchers on the waiver wire, under the usual circumstances, who are going to help you in every single category. What you can do, however, is find flawed players who can help you in certain categories. For example, this week, we recommend Mitchell Parker and Jose Quintana, two lefties who will help you with wins and ratios but won't get you many strikeouts.

We offer a pitcher in Shane Smith, who can help right now with ratios and has strikeout potential, but won't get many wins. Many of our rotations have been besieged with injuries over the season's first month. Are there pieces on the waiver wire that can help you right now? Yes, and let's take a look at them now. Do not forego your hope, my friends.

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Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Pickups for Shallow Leagues

Recommendations for leagues of any size rostered between 30-50% on Yahoo!

Andrew Heaney, Pittsburgh Pirates (43% rostered)

I feel your stare. Yes, Heaney is worthy of being rostered in more leagues. He's doing it with a pitch mix that doesn't have a fastball topping 90 mph. Heaney has gone at least six innings in four consecutive starts, with two wins and 29 strikeouts in those games. See his Statcast page below. He limits walks (5.1 percent) and shows an above-average K% at 26.3 percent. The veteran could be worthy of a pickup in many more leagues.

Mitchell Parker, Washington Nationals (41% rostered)

What will it take for you to believe in my take on Parker? All he did this week was pitch eight innings of one-hit baseball for Washington, striking out four and earning a win. Parker now has three wins and a 1.39 ERA and a 0.93 WHIP.

The flaw here is the lack of strikeouts; his K% is only 16 percent. However, he keeps the ball on the ground, providing mostly worry-free innings. Parker is going to be rostered in more leagues this weekend, and if you are looking for a solid piece that can help you with wins and ratios, think about Parker.

Landen Roupp, San Francisco Giants (38% rostered) 

I know Roupp has been lousy the last two starts, but I think he is worth adding still. People will be rushing to drop him, but that could present an opportunity for you. The K% is up to 27.4 percent, and his walk percentage is down to a more acceptable 9.7 percent.

While his current ERA is an unsightly 4.91, his xERA is 3.22. Roupp limits hard contact, as seen below in his Statcast page. Walks have hurt him in several starts; if he is able to better manage that, results like he had last week, where he went seven innings and got nine strikeouts, are possible.

I think he is worth a chance, at least as a streaming option on your roster, while others panic and drop him. We can't make too many judgments over a small five-game sample, but I like Roupp's stuff and think you might give him a chance.

Jose Quintana, Milwaukee Brewers (31% rostered) 

I feel like Quintana makes it into this article a couple of times every season. He's fun to watch pitch, mixing sinkers, changeups, and curveballs with the occasional four-seamer to get outs. Quintana is not going to gather strikeouts for you; he has a paltry nine in 18 innings over three starts.

What he will do is help you control ratios, and I should also add here that he has earned a win in all three of his starts this season. Quintana is chronically on the waiver wire because many fantasy players are looking for that big strikeout potential, but that is hard to find in the free-agent pool. If you keep your expectations reasonable, which we all struggle with at times in this game, Quintana can be useful on the right team.

Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Pickups for Deeper Leagues

Recommendations for leagues of any size rostered in less than 30% on Yahoo!

Reese Olson, Detroit Tigers (25% rostered)

Olson is looking better these days. After rocky starts in two of his first three games, Olson has gone 12 innings in his last two starts, nabbing two wins and 12 strikeouts while surrendering zero runs in that time frame. He has lowered his ERA to 3.29 with a usable 1.24 WHIP.

The key seems to be relying on his changeup more (see the contour of it below), which he has used more than 30 percent in his last two starts and was using less earlier in the season. He relies mostly on his sinker and his slider and is using the fastball less. This is a laughably small sample size, but the early results have been encouraging.

Matthew Liberatore, St. Louis Cardinals (19% rostered)

The young lefty has had good results thus far in 2o25. He's gone at least six innings in his last four starts, winning one and striking out seven, seven, and six in the last three games.

In his last start against Milwaukee on Friday night, Liberatore again gave six solid frames, earning a win and striking out four batters. That makes four quality starts on the season for the lefty. Liberatore might have finally found his niche in St. Louis, and he should find a niche on your fantasy team as well.

Tobias Myers, Milwaukee Brewers (15% rostered)

Myers just came off the IL this week and started for the Brewers. Myers only went four innings in his debut, mostly because of a high pitch count, and only struck out two hitters. However, he gets to face the punchless Chicago White Sox in his next start, which makes him a streamer at the very least.

Last year, Myers put together a nice season out of nowhere, with nine wins, a 3.00 ERA, a 1.17 WHIP, and 127 strikeouts in 138 innings. Consider him if you need rotation depth moving forward.

Shane Smith, Chicago White Sox (13% rostered)

Smith is a pitcher the White Sox selected with the No. 1 pick in this winter's Rule 5 draft. Smith earned a rotation spot with a solid spring performance, and he has rewarded the White Sox with a 2.30 ERA and sterling 0.95 WHIP. You can see his results below.

Smith seems to be getting stronger with more starts and experience, and the potential for more strikeouts is there as well, especially as he seems to be incorporating his slider more. Consider Smith in deeper leagues.

Other Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Options

• JP Sears, Athletics (rostered in 17 percent of leagues)
• Griffin Canning, New York Mets (rostered in 15 percent of leagues)
• Michael Lorenzen, Kansas City Royals (rostered in 8 percent of leagues)
• Chris Paddack, Minnesota Twins (rostered in 5 percent of leagues)

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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