Friday's Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Targets: Chandler Simpson, Parker Messick and More

It's time for one more fantasy baseball waiver wire story for the week!

We won't cover anyone who appeared in stories on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, and will also avoid any starting pitcher options mentioned in Friday's streaming article.

More waiver wire options can also be found on FantasySP.

Should You Add Chandler Simpson?

Simpson is rostered in 53% of fantasy leagues right now. He's been ever so slightly trending up over the past couple days.

He is riding a four-game hitting streak, with eight knocks over that span. Simpson has three doubles among the hits, along with three RBIs, four runs scored, two stolen bases, a walk and three strikeouts.

In September, Simpson has a .349 average and .369 on-base percentage over 16 games and 67 plate appearances. He has three doubles among his 22 total knocks. Simpson has four RBIs and stolen bases, nine runs scored, two walks and six strikeouts this month as well.

The rookie outfielder has gotten his MLB career off to a strong start. He's hitting .301 and getting on base at a .333 clip over 103 games and 413 plate appearances.

Simpson has 116 hits, but no homers. He's doubled 14 times and tripled on three occasions. He also has 26 RBIs, 50 runs scored, 42 stolen bases, 20 walks and 42 strikeouts this season.

You can see in his numbers that there's very little power, and his RBI total is very low. He helps make up for that with the high average and OBP, plus stolen base numbers. He doesn't hurt himself with a bunch of strikeouts.

I get that fantasy leagues are tailored to power hitters, but Simpson is really a pretty good fantasy option despite being a contact hitter. He gets on base enough to put up plenty of fantasy points.

I'd look into him a little deeper to see if he's outperforming some of your other fantasy outfielders. Hopefully, he will get some more fantasy respect, and maybe find a little power surge, in his seasons to come.

Should You Add Parker Messick?

Messick has been added in 3.57% of leagues leading into a Friday start. He's rostered in 56.86% of fantasy leagues overall.

He will start against the Twins today. Messick hasn't faced them across five five big league starts so far.

Messick is 3-0 and has covered 29 1/3 innings in his starts so far. He has a 1.84 earned run average, allowing six runs on 35 hits and four walks, while striking out 22 batters.

His time in the big leagues has been brief, but Messick has been stellar so far. He's gone over six innings in all but one of his starts, and allowed one or no runs in four of the five outings.

Messick has worked six innings in back-to-back starts, also allowing one run in each contest. He allowed eight hits against the Rays on September 7, while striking out four and walking none. Messick earned another win on September 13 against the White Sox, giving up seven hits and a walk, while striking out four.

He's faced some weak lineups, especially of late, and that continues on Friday against Minnesota. The Twins weren't a very good lineup to begin with, and after selling at the trade deadline, they really are a favorable matchup for pitchers.

I'm not all-in with Messick, even though his overall numbers look good at first glance. He's allowed between 7-9 hits the past three starts, but only five runs. If he continues to allow that many hits per start, at some point it's going to lead to a big earned run total.

Luckily, the Twins are a good matchup, so I'm a fan of adding and streaming him in a ton of leagues. I like adding and starting him in all deeper fantasy setups, and would be happy to do the same in most standard leagues, depending on your other options available.

I see Messick as a pretty solid fantasy asset tonight. He has a solid floor, and a really high fantasy ceiling if he can limit hits a bit better. Give him a start if you don't love the other options available.

Should You Add Jakob Marsee?

Marsee is owned in 73% of fantasy leagues. He too is up ever so slightly over the past couple days.

He is riding a four-game hitting streak, with two doubles among his five hits in that span. Marsee has three RBIs and runs scored, two stolen bases, a walk and four strikeouts in that span too.

Since September 3, which is 14 games and 65 plate appearances, Marsee has a .300 average and .354 OBP. He's collected 18 hits, including five doubles and a homer. Marsee has five RBIs, eight runs scored, three stolen bases, four walks and 11 strikeouts over that span.

He owns a .320 average and .392 OBP over his first 46 MLB games and 194 plate appearances. Marsee has 55 total hits, including 16 doubles, three triples and five homers. He has added 30 RBIs, 26 runs scored, 12 stolen bases, 20 walks and 41 strikeouts.

Marsee typically bats leadoff for the Marlins, but has hit second and third over the team's most recent five games. Miami isn't the best lineup to be in, but he gets a ton of plate appearances from those early spots in the lineup, which means he's in a spot to succeed.

He definitely should be rostered in every deeper league already, and he's really done enough to be owned in a lot of standard leagues too. Marsee has a little more pop than Simpson, so it's fair to see his own percentage higher, even though I still think both guys are underowned.

Being fantasy outfielders doesn't help either guy, but they are probably outproducing a couple of your guys. Hopefully they both get more fantasy love going into 2026.

Should You Add Mitch Keller?

Keller is up 3.52% and sits at 64.05% overall now. He too is starting on Friday.

He's expected to start for the Pirates on Friday night against the Athletics. Keller has not faced them yet this season.

Keller has made 30 starts in 2025, and he's 6-14. While that's not a great look, he has an OK 4.13 ERA.

Keller has covered 167 2/3 innings, allowing 86 runs (77 earned) on 164 hits and 45 walks. He's struck out 140 batters along the way.

Keller has pitched pretty well of late. Over his past four starts, he has a 2.78 ERA, although four of the 11 runs he's allowed were unearned. He has given up 16 hits and three walks over 22 2/3 innings, while striking out 24 batters.

The Athletics are an OK fantasy matchup. It helps that this is a home game for the Pirates.

In a game that really doesn't mean a whole lot, it's always tough to guess how things might go. Keller could be stellar, or the Athletics could get to him for several runs.

I'd say Keller deserves starts in deeper leagues and a few standard ones, but he's not a must-start pitcher in standard setups tonight.

Should You Add Chase Meidroth?

Meidroth has been added in 1.85% of leagues and now he's owned in 19.61% of leagues.

He has a hit in 14 of his 15 games played this month. Meidroth has 20 knocks in total, with a double and two homers among them. He has four RBIs, eight runs scored, six walks and nine strikeouts this month.

Overall in 113 games and 465 plate appearances, Meidroth has a .269 average and .346 OBP. He has 15 doubles and five homers among his 111 total knocks, along with 23 RBIs, 51 runs scored, 13 stolen bases, 44 walks and 55 strikeouts.

He continues the waiver wire hitter theme of today - a contact hitter with not much pop. He too is on a bad team, so his fantasy outlook is affected negatively by that too.

Meidroth either hits first or ninth, and neither of those spots are very favorable for a fantasy hitter, especially in such a weak lineup. He gets a slight boost as he's played second base and shortstop this season.

Meidroth is a better deep-league asset, but probably is underowned and underappreciated. He's worth an add right now as he's been hot at the plate, but don't expect top-end fantasy numbers from him. He's still doing enough for more fantasy ownership though.