El Mago’s Back? Javier Baez Headlines Wednesday’s Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Hitters

After checking out some fantasy baseball waiver wire pitching options, let's check in on some hitters.

We won't discuss anyone who appeared in stories on Monday or Tuesday.

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

Should You Add Javier Baez?

Baez is the top fantasy hitter waiver add of the day so far. He's up 5.49% and sitting at 70.03% overall now.

Baez has been on a tear at the plate, and has fantastic season-long numbers. Over 34 games and 126 plate appearances, Baez is hitting .319 and getting on base at a .357 clip.

He has eight doubles and five home runs among his 38 total knocks. Baez also has 27 RBIs, a stolen base, 20 runs scored, five walks and 32 strikeouts.

Baez hit two homers and drove in six runs on Tuesday night. He has five hits over his past two appearances, and has racked up 21 hits over his past 14 games. He has five doubles and homers among his hits in that span.

We mentioned Baez in a waiver wire story a couple weeks back, and I mentioned that I thought he'd top out as a deep-league option. There's still a chance he eventually becomes that, but Baez is squarely on the standard league line now.

He should be rostered in all deeper redraft leagues, and should be starting until further notice. Baez could be a standard league streaming option until he cools off, and it's possible he remains a season-long asset.

Baez has played 20 games in center field this season, which gives him extra fantasy value. He's played 12 games at third base and six at shortstop. He should be eligible to start at all three of those spots, which makes him a better waiver add.

He's a career .253 hitter with a .295 OBP, but hasn't performed well in several seasons. In his first three years with the Tigers, Baez had a .221 average and .262 OBP, while racking up 341 strikeouts over 360 games played.

Baez has not only turned back the clock, but he's enjoying a career season. It's not crazy that it's happening in his age-32 season, but it's wild to see given his numbers over the past several years.

Assess your fantasy team and see if Baez is a better option than someone near the end of your bench. He can be picked up and started immediately, and there's a chance he remains rosterable all season, even if his numbers drop, because of his position versatility now.

Should You Add Moises Ballesteros?

Ballesteros was called up to the big leagues on Tuesday. I wrote about it in full in a separate article, but wanted to highlight him again now that he's played in a game. Ballesteros is rostered in 13.42% of leagues after a 5% increase today.

Ballesteros batted seventh and was the team's designated hitter against the Marlins on Tuesday. He got four plate appearances in the contest - he didn't collect a hit or walk and didn't strike out, but he did hit into a double play.

He had really strong numbers in the minor leagues, but it was a surprise to see him called up after Ian Happ was put on the injured list with an oblique issue. Ballesteros has played catcher and first base, but Chicago is pretty set at those two spots.

There was a video I saw yesterday of Michael Busch (one of the team's first basemen) taking reps at third base before the team's game. That could be a way for Ballesteros to stick with the big league team when Happ returns, but the youngster is going to need to hit to stick around.

If he struggles over the next week, he'll likely be sent back down when Happ is ready to go. Still, a good amount of deep-league fantasy owners are scooping up Ballesteros, and I think that's the right course of action.

I wouldn't call him a must-add hitter, unless he starts delivering at the plate. He's more a stash-and-hold option for the next week to see if he latches on.

If you have a roster spot to play with in deeper redraft leagues, I wouldn't mind adding Ballesteros. Everyone else needs to keep tabs on him in case he excels in his first taste of the big leagues.

Should You Add Jordan Lawlar?

Lawlar is another highly-regarded prospect who got called up this week. He got into Tuesday's game, so let's discuss him a bit too. Lawlar is up to 52% rostered - it was around 30% before he got the call.

Lawlar batted eighth and started at shortstop against the Giants on Tuesday night. He got four plate appearances, failing to register a hit, but he did walk once. He also was a strikeout victim.

Lawlar was tearing it up in Triple-A before getting called up. He's the No. 4 prospect in baseball now, so fantasy owners have high expectations for him.

It was reported that he's not going to start everyday, and instead bounce around the field and start 3-4 times a week. I'm not sure why a team would do that to a promising young hitter, but I just report on how to assess things.

Instead of being a possible waiver wire add in every league, Lawlar looks more like a deep-league pickup for the time being. It's possible he takes off as a hitter, earns more starts and then is worthy of a standard league spot, but for now, I'd try to avoid adding Lawlar in standard leagues.

We'll track Lawlar and update you if there's any noticeable changes in his fantasy outlook.

Should You Add Jacob Wilson?

Wilson is another bright and promising young hitter. He's up 2.74% today, bringing his overall mark to 86.41%.

He's enjoying a breakout showing in his second season in the big leagues, but is someone I thought was undervalued and overlooked. Wilson popped two homers on Tuesday, so that got people's attention, and has him on the rise again.

Across 40 games and 168 plate appearances so far, Wilson has a .363 average and .389 OBP. He has nine doubles and five homers among his 58 total knocks. Wilson has 26 RBIs, two stolen bases, 24 runs scored, seven walks and only nine strikeouts.

The shortstop is batting leadoff every game now, and while that limits his run production totals a bit, Wilson is still putting up monster fantasy totals. He's starting to hit for more power too, which was one of the few knocks against him.

I think Wilson should be rostered in just about every fantasy league now. He's not going to keep his average and OBP as high as it is now, but he's one of the better fantasy shortstops in the game already, and isn't going to post many negative points with strikeouts.

Add Wilson if you still can.

Should You Add Addison Barger?

I've wanted to talk about Barger for the past couple days, but his own percentage was just too low to include over other guys. He's still at just 10% after a 2.09% increase today, but I wanted to mention him finally.

Over his past six games and 24 plate appearances, Barger has eight hits, including three doubles and a home run. He has six RBIs, four runs scored, two walks and five strikeouts over that span.

For the season, Barger has a .224 average and .286 OBP across 20 games and 63 plate appearances. He has a homer and six doubles among his 13 total knocks. Barger has eight RBIs, six runs scored, four walks and 12 strikeouts.

You can see that he's done most of his damage of late, and that his overall numbers are not great. He got in 69 games in 2024 and finished with a .197 average and .250 OBP across 225 plate appearances.

Most are skeptical of Barger remaining this hot, but the 25-year-old is in just his second season in the big leagues and might be starting to figure some things out. 

He's played 10 games at third base and in right field, so the double position eligibility makes him a touch more valuable as a fantasy asset. Barger is only an option in deeper redraft leagues, but his position versatility makes him a decent option.

Assess your team and see if adding Barger makes sense. If you aren't ready to add Barger, keep a close eye on him to see if he keeps hitting or not.