Should You Be Picking Up Roman Anthony in Fantasy Baseball Leagues Already?

It's the final day of the work week, which means it's time for the final fantasy baseball waiver wire story of the week.

We'll combine hitters and pitchers into one story with not a lot of options available that we haven't already covered earlier in the week.

Explore the best in-season tool to manage lineup/start decisions including waiver pickups, projections, trade suggestions, trade value charts, rest of season rankings, power rankings, and tons more with Fantasy Assistant.

Should You Add Pavin Smith?

Smith is up 4.04% today, bringing his total mark to 18.29%.

Smith has been scorching hot at the plate, with a .404 batting average and .491 on-base percentage across 18 games and 55 plate appearances. He has seven doubles and three home runs among his 19 total hits, along with seven RBIs, a stolen base, eight walks, 10 runs scored and 18 strikeouts.

Smith has been especially hot of late, with seven hits over his past four games. He has four extra-base hits in that span, along with three RBIs and walks, two runs scored and five punchouts.

This is a .250 hitter with a .330 OBP we're talking about, so his strong start has definitely caught some people by surprise. He hit .270 and got on at a .348 clip last season, but also only played 60 games.

He's been starting most days, but still starts on the bench against left-handed starting pitchers. That limits Smith's fantasy ceiling a little bit, but his big numbers early on also speak for themselves.

Smith is definitely hitting well enough to add and utilize in some deeper leagues right now. His hot streak isn't going to last all season, so you'd best take advantage of things while you can.

He's likely going to top out as a deep-league option, especially if he's not starting against lefties. For short spurts though, Smith could be a standard league streaming option.

Like right now, if you have a roster spot to play with, and notice he's going to be facing a string of right-handed hitters, a standard league owner could definitely add and take advantage of Smith's hot bat. I always prefer to find more long-term options though, and he's likely not going to be that.

Should You Add David Peterson?

Peterson is another streaming option on Friday. He's currently rostered in 53.81% of synced leagues here at FantasySP at the time of publication.

Peterson faces the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday, who are a pretty favorable matchup right now. Peterson should be in for some solid fantasy results.

In his first three starts, Peterson is 1-1 with a 2.70 earned run average. He's allowed five runs on 15 hits and eight walks, while striking out 17 batters.

So far, Peterson has faced the Marlins, Blue Jays and Athletics, which are all not-so-great offenses. Peterson really has been a good streaming option all season.

With another pretty nice matchup on Friday, Peterson is a streaming option in all leagues. I think Peterson deserves to be rostered in deeper leagues right now, and if he keeps pitching well, he might move to a standard league keeper too.

Should You Add Chase Dollander?

Dollander is another streaming option on Friday. He will start in Colorado against the Nationals, which would be a really good matchup if he weren't pitching at home.

In two starts, Dollander has a 1-1 record and 10 2/3 innings pitched. He's allowed six runs on 10 hits and three walks, while striking out 13. Dollander has already surrendered four home runs.

He had one favorable matchup against the Athletics, and then a tougher test against the Padres. Dollander went at least five innings in both starts, allowing two runs against San Diego and four against the Athletics. He struck out at least six in each game, while also surrendering two long balls.

I wouldn't call Dollander, who is rostered in 32.27% of leagues, a must-add streaming option on Friday. Because the game is in Colorado, I think I'd only be comfortable starting Dollander in deeper fantasy setups. I'd try to avoid him in standard leagues if possible.

Dollander just hasn't performed well enough in his short time in the big leagues to trust in a start in Colorado. Should he excel in this start though, he'll be added as a keeper in some deeper leagues, and maybe even some standard leagues if the matchup is right going forward.

Should You Add Jack Dreyer?

Dreyer is owned in just 7% of leagues. He's a non-closer reliever, so to even have his own mark that high is notable.

Dreyer has appeared in eight games so far. He's 2-0 with a 0.75 ERA. Dreyer has allowed a run on three hits and five walks over 12 innings, while punching out 16 batters. 

This is his first year pitching in the big leagues, so he's really come out of nowhere. Dreyer has mostly pitched early in games, but it's allowed him to earn a couple wins, and he's been shutting down opponents, so it's led to good fantasy results.

He's pitched at least one inning in all eight appearances. He's gotten more than three outs on five occasions, covering two or more innings twice. 

Dreyer allowed his run against the Cubs, but has scoreless appearances against the Braves (x2), Cubs, Rockies, Tigers, Phillies and Nationals. 

Dreyer has at least one strikeout in every appearance, along with four appearances with two or more Ks. He's punched out four batters in two outings, also earning a win in one of those games.

It's not often that you find a non-closer fantasy reliever worth adding in deeper leagues, but Dreyer is exactly that at this point in the season. He's pitching for the best team in the league, which ups his chances of earning wins.

As long as Dreyer is putting up zeros and throwing in some strikeouts, he's going to remain a decent fantasy asset. Of course, only really deep-league owners are going to consider adding Dreyer. He's someone to hold onto until he starts giving up runs.

Should You Add Roman Anthony?

Anthony is one of the top MLB prospects this season. He's rostered in 41.52% of fantasy leagues right now.

Anthony is the No. 2 prospect, only behind LA Dodgers' Roki Sasaki. Anthony was selected with the 79th overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft, and has been a quick riser.

He's got a 65 overall grade, with 60 marks in hitting and power. He's a 50 in run, arm and field.

Anthony has played in parts of four minor league seasons. Across 260 games, he has a .284 average and .400 OBP. Anthony has 65 doubles, nine triples and 36 home runs among his 277 total hits, along with 153 RBIs, 188 walks, 40 stolen bases, 189 runs scored and 271 strikeouts.

He's been great at Triple-A to start the season. In 15 games, Anthony has a .283 average and .433 OBP, with two doubles, a triple and four home runs among his 15 total knocks. He also has 12 RBIs, 14 walks, two stolen bases, 11 runs scored and 17 strikeouts this season.

There was a thought that he'd make the big league team out of spring training, but that clearly didn't happen. The outfielder has been dealing with shoulder soreness, but it clearly isn't slowing him down at the plate.

It's only a matter of time before Anthony gets called up. Deep-league fantasy owners should be the first ones adding him, and even stashing him now isn't the worst idea, if you have a roster spot to play with.

He'll be a must-add waiver addition as soon as he gets called up, so standard league owners need to keep a very close eye on him. I'd expect him to get called up very, very soon.