Fantasy Baseball Pickups: Race to the waiver wire for Matt Shaw

OK, folks, if I am gonna reach my quarterly transaction quota around here, I am gonna need everyone to commit to this week’s fantasy baseball pickups. Corporate is all over me. No excuses this week, people. Just please add these widely available (and quite useful) players as soon as possible…

Matt Shaw, 2B/3B/SS, Chicago Cubs (44% rostered)

Shaw has been terrific since he returned from exile in Iowa. He just went 5-for-11 with 2 runs, 2 RBI and 2 steals in the Miami series, and his late-inning stolen base on Wednesday was basically the game-winning play. There should be a spot for Shaw on someone's roster in pretty much any league. If the power/speed potential doesn't do it for you, the multi-position eligibility should. He was raking at Triple-A before he was recalled and he's sustained that level of play so far in the big leagues.

[Smarter waivers, better trades, optimized lineups — Yahoo Fantasy Plus unlocks it all]

Chase Meidroth, 2B/3B/SS, Chicago White Sox (20%)

Meidroth is something like the south side version of Shaw, except A) he’s batting at the top of the lineup and B) he doesn’t offer the same power upside. He’s hit safely in nine straight games for the Sox and he’s swiped five bags in his last six. This is some serious professional hitting right here, on a tough pitch:

Meidroth was part of the prospect haul sent to Chicago in the Garrett Crochet deal and he’s been plenty impressive to this point, batting .301 and getting himself on-base at a .381 clip. The 23-year-old was a career .285/.425/.414 hitter in the minors, so his OBP skills were already well-established.

Victor Scott II, OF, St. Louis Cardinals (34%)

It's pretty wild that Scott remains eligible for the pickups feature, unattached in roughly two-thirds of Yahoo leagues. He's hitting a respectable .275 with an OBP of .349 and he's a clear contender to lead the National League in steals this season. Scott has top-of-the-charts sprint speed, he's stolen 13 bags in 14 attempts so far and he swiped 94 bases in the minors back in 2023. This is a potential category leader just hanging out in the free-agent pool. Let's correct this situation.

Jordan Beck, OF, Colorado Rockies (33%)

Beck is basically having the season you might have reasonably expected from Brenton Doyle, claiming the leadoff spot in Colorado’s lineup. He has eight homers this season among his 18 extra-base hits and he’s stolen six bases. Beck has previously demonstrated 20/20 ability in the minors, so there’s reason to believe the 24-year-old’s breakout is legit. He’s worth a test-drive this weekend, with the Rockies at home in Coors Field.

Gavin Sheets, 1B/OF, San Diego Padres (13%)

Sheets raced out to a scorching start for San Diego and never really faded. He's coming off a two-homer, five-RBI game on Thursday, which gives him eight bombs for the year. He was a buzzy name in the spring (6 HR, 1.077 OPS) and he's carried that level of performance into the regular season. Sheets has made significant gains in bat speed and exit velo, improvements that have clearly boosted his fantasy profile. If you're searching the free-agent pool for power, this is your guy.

Will Warren, SP, New York Yankees (43%)

Warren has struck out 34 batters over his last four starts (22.2 IP), walking just six and earning a pair of wins. He's worth adding simply for his bat-missing ability. Dalton Del Don made the full case for Warren earlier this week, so I will simply function as his cosigner. When a young pitcher with an appealing profile on a good team begins producing K totals like this, we need to act. Warren's next start is on Sunday against Colorado, the team that currently leads the majors in strikeouts while ranking near the bottom in run-scoring.

Jack Leiter, SP, Texas Rangers (35%)

Here’s one for those who stream starting pitchers. Leiter, 25, is still a work in progress with a promising arsenal, including elite velocity. He’s coming off a pair of excellent starts against the Astros and Rockies (13.0 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 5 BB, 9 K), taking a no-hitter into the seventh against Houston last weekend. On Saturday, Leiter is on track to face the White Sox, a team that’s already 20 games below .500. You know what to do.

Daniel Palencia, RP, Chicago Cubs (9%)

If we're being completely honest here, I'm not fully committed to this pickup. Palencia earned the most recent save for the Cubs, closing out Wednesday's one-run win with a 1-2-3 inning. All three outs were hammered to the warning track, however. Palencia routinely hits 101 on the radar gun, but he doesn't actually have any other tricks — it's all gas, all the time. We would have loved this guy 30 years ago, but, today, it might not be enough.

Still, Palencia is the man getting save chances in this flawed bullpen, so he’s an auto-add in fantasy.