Is Sal Frelick a Good Fantasy Baseball Waiver Pickup in All League Types?

We already covered Tuesday's (and probably Wednesday's) top waiver wire option in Nick Kurtz in another story, but now it's time to look at some other fantasy baseball waiver wire hitters.

We won't cover anyone who appeared in yesterday's article. Check back later for a waiver wire story on pitchers.

Check out the top fantasy baseball waiver wire options everyday on FantasySP. 

Should You Add Sal Frelick?

Frelick is up 4.89% today, bringing his overall total to 59.1%. He's up about 17% from a week ago.

In 22 games and 88 plate appearances so far, Frelick has a .342 batting average and .432 on-base percentage. He's doubled three times, tripled twice and homered once among his 26 total knocks. Frelick also has six RBIs, seven stolen bases, 10 walks and strikeouts and 12 runs scored.

He has a five-game hitting streak, logging eight knocks in that span, including a double, triple and home run. Frelick has three RBIs, stolen bases and walks, four runs scored and just one strikeout in that span.

Frelick is not a power hitter, as the numbers clearly show, but he's getting on base plenty, while also not hurting his fantasy cause with a ton of strikeouts. The stolen bases help offset his lack of power, and when he's hitting and getting on base at this pace, it's hard to overlook him as a fantasy asset.

Frelick is in his third MLB season and is just 25 years old, so he could be simply rounding into form after going through some ups and downs in his first two seasons. Across 202 games the past two seasons, he had a .255 average and .326 OBP, which are still pretty solid marks. But because he doesn't hit for power, Frelick was pretty overlooked as a fantasy hitter.

So when Frelick is hitting this well, you can see why he's getting more fantasy attention. He's bound to regress at some point, but until that happens, Frelick is definitely an option in all fantasy leagues.

I like adding and holding Frelick all season in deeper leagues, as long as he isn't injured and out for an extended period, of course. At the very worst, he could be a bench option.

Right now though, Frelick could also be added in standard leagues. He makes most sense to add if you are lacking in the outfield, or have a roster spot to play with. I wouldn't necessarily make room for Frelick just to get a hot hitter on my team, because I think he'll top out as a deep-league fantasy option for most of the season.

In the short term though, Frelick can be utilized in all fantasy leagues. Despite his lack of pop, he's typically batting fifth in the Milwaukee order. He plays everyday and that's likely to continue all season.

Should You Add Kyle Manzardo?

Manzardo is rostered in 40.47% of fantasy leagues after a 3.79% increase today. Manzardo is on a four-game hitting streak, so it makes sense to see him on the rise a bit.

The second-year MLB player is hitting just .212, but is getting on base at a .321 clip. He's the prototypical power-hitting designated hitter/first baseman, with homers and RBIs powering his fantasy totals, but strikeouts also capping his ceiling.

Across 20 games and 81 plate appearances, Manzardo has six home runs, two doubles and one triple among his 14 total knocks. He's also walked 11 times, scored 10 runs and struck out on 20 occasions.

Over his hitting streak, Manzardo has collected five hits, including two home runs. He's got five RBIs, two runs scored, a walk and four strikeouts in that short, four-game span as well.

He was up to about 60% rostered early in the MLB regular season, but as you can see from the 40% mark above, he's dropped off considerably. Manzardo hit .234 and got on base at a .282 clip last season, so fantasy owners shouldn't have been expecting too much more than those marks.

I think over time, Manzardo is going to up his average a bit, but it's likely his OBP comes down. If he can keep the OBP mark over .300 all season though, he's got some real fantasy value still.

I brought up the own percentages because I thought Manzardo's was a bit low. I get he's not a great guy for average, but his OBP is still strong, and he's collecting extra-base hits and driving in runs to make up for the lower average.

He should be startable in most deeper leagues, and I'd like to see his own percentage stick around 50% most of the season. Of course, rostering him or not depends on your league scoring settings, and if OBP (mostly walks) is valued closely to average/hits (singles). If that's the case in your league, I'd be for adding Manzardo.

He'll have stretches where he's a standard league streaming option, but I think he's most often going to top out as a deep-league threat.

Should You Add Trevor Story?

The last two players we'll discuss today appeared in a story I did on Monday about undervalued fantasy hitters. In that article, I mentioned Story being a top-50 fantasy hitter overall, yet not being owned in nearly every fantasy league.

Story is up 3.07% today and is sitting at 78.01% overall.

The oft-injured shortstop has been spectacular to open the 2025 regular season. He's got a .318 average and .348 on-base percentage, along with 14 RBIs, six stolen bases, three walks, 10 runs scored and 25 strikeouts. Story has five home runs and two doubles among his 25 total knocks so far.

He is a career .266 hitter and gets on base at a .333 clip. The big reason why he's not owned in more fantasy leagues is because people are worried about him long term. He played just 26 games a season ago, and hasn't topped 100 games dating back to 2021.

When healthy and on the field, Story is a great fantasy asset, and until that changes, he really needs to be rostered in more fantasy leagues. He's at a stacked fantasy position too, but is performing as a daily starter, meaning he should be at least owned in all fantasy leagues.

If you already have an everyday fantasy shortstop in a standard league, then pick up Story as a backup option. You can start him as an extra infielder, or utility player, and might be able to trade him later in the season if he can stay healthy.

Story deserves to be rostered in just about every league - don't let his injury-riddled past affect your opinions on him. Add him and play him for as long as you can.

Should You Add Carson Kelly?

Kelly was also mentioned in that undervalued story, but he's in a different class than Story. Kelly is up 3.1% today, bringing his overall mark to 59.77%.

Kelly is the top fantasy catcher in points leagues right now (using ESPN's scoring settings). That's pretty wild considering he's only played in 12 games and gotten 49 plate appearances.

Kelly is hitting .371 and getting on base at an absurd .531 clip. He has a double and triple, along with six home runs among his 13 total knocks. Kelly has 18 RBIs, 12 walks and runs scored and only four strikeouts.

He's been splitting catching duties, and it's holding him back as a fantasy asset. Kelly has only had two occasions where he made starts on back-to-back days all season.

He's hitting and getting on base so well now though that he should get a majority of the starts, and might start being used as the designated hitter to get his bat involved more often.

Until he's playing more regularly though, Kelly is a better deep-league fantasy option. If you want to utilize him in a standard league, you're going to want another catching option, since Kelly is going to miss several games a week.

You could stream Kelly in standard leagues when he's in the lineup, but only do that if you have roster spots to play with, and don't already have an everyday catcher.

Kelly is worth keeping tabs on in case he starts getting more consistent playing time.