We’re nearly a third of the way through the 2025 fantasy baseball season. At this point, statistics are beginning to hold more weight than they did the first couple weeks of the year. Players who’ve performed well thus far with supportive underlying metrics are fairly likely to continue their success, and time is beginning to dwindle for players – or teams – off to cold starts.
This week, there are four players on the waiver wire – all hitters – who could make a big impact on their fantasy teams for the rest of the season. Whether it’s a power-hitting corner infielder or an underrated catcher, these bats can be a boost to any fantasy manager especially those in deep leagues.
Best Waiver Wire Adds for Week 10
Addison Barger
(3B, Toronto)
Percent Rostered (Fantrax): 37%
Barger was drafted in the 6th round of the 2018 draft by the Blue Jays. That pick is now paying off for Toronto. Barger is slashing .253/.320/.418, which means he’s been roughly an average MLB hitter. However, his batted ball quality metrics are off the charts; his average exit velocity in 100 plate appearances is 95.4 MPH, which is the same mark as that of Yankees slugger Aaron Judge. Despite hitting the ball so hard, the Blue Jays third baseman has an above-average whiff rate (23.1%) and walks at an 8.2% clip.
Ranked as the Blue Jays’ sixth overall prospect in the 2024 MLB Pipeline rankings, Barger has carried his exciting production from the minor leagues to the big league level. Here’s what the aforementioned scouting report had to say about Barger:
“In 2022, Barger climbed three levels to reach Triple-A while batting .308 with 26 homers, flashing his incredible upper-body strength and producing exciting exit velocities almost every night. Barger could break a bat in half just by looking at it. You can pick him out from a distance based solely on the size of his upper body, which he’s put to good use during his hot stretches.”
That strength and raw power – combined with his middle-of-the-road counting statistics – has made Barger a bargain for fantasy managers looking to add power in week ten of the regular season.
Dillon Dingler
(C, Detroit)
Percent Rostered: 34%
While the back of Barger’s baseball card may not jump off the page, Dingler’s does. The Tigers catcher has the second-highest batting average (.298) of any catcher with at least 140 plate appearances, and he’s a top-five catcher by fWAR this season.
Despite all that, the man behind the plate for the upstart Tigers hasn’t garnered much attention in fantasy baseball circles. While he does present some red flags – he doesn’t walk much, wasn’t known to hit for average in the minor leagues, and his barrel rate is below league average – he’s worth rostering in deep leagues based on his production so far, and a 75th-percentile xSLG (per Baseball Savant).
Dingler has solid power numbers despite not hitting the ball exceptionally hard. That’s because his SwSp% (Sweet-Spot rate) is very high, enabling him to make the most of the power he does have. The Tigers catcher has pulled 21.6% of batted balls in the air this season, which is a higher rate than the league average.
Alexander Canario
(OF, Pittsburgh)
Percent Rostered: 14%
Canario has been extremely impressive during his third year in the big leagues. He only had 42 at-bats across 2023 and 2024, but he has an 18% barrel rate in 91 at-bats this year. His 76.5 MPH bat speed ranks 10th in the big leagues among hitters with at least 100 swings, which enables him to barrel balls at such a high rate.
What he’s done thus far in the big leagues matches up pretty well with what we’ve seen from Canario in the minor leagues. Per his MLB Pipeline scouting report while with the Cubs:
“While he did curb his extreme pull-happy tendencies a bit last year, strikeouts will always be a byproduct of his plus power. He may not produce high batting averages but his power plays from the left-field pole to right-center and against both lefties and righties.”
While he’s slashing just .209/.265/.341 this season for Pittsburgh, Canario has superior expected statistics. His xBA of .240 indicates he’s due for some better luck at the plate, and his .512 xSLG is significantly above the MLB average.
Fantasy managers looking for power production in the outfield can find it with Canario, whose light-tower power is for real. It’s now simply a question of whether or not he can make contact often enough to utilize that power.
Canario’s plate discipline leaves room for improvement, so fantasy managers who pick him up will need to keep a careful eye on his tendency to strike out. He may not be as productive of an option in points leagues, where strikeouts often bring negative points.
Chris Paddack
(SP, Minnesota)
Percent Rostered: 48%
According to Pitching+, a pitch modeling statistic hosted by FanGraphs, Paddack has been the 17th-best pitcher in baseball this season. His excellent command (113 Location+ ranks third among qualified pitchers) has helped his 93.6 MPH four-seam fastball play up.
Batters are hitting just .216 on his heater, which has enabled him to get ahead in the count and expand the zone. His pinpoint command on the edges of the strike zone forces hitters to chase pitches that aren’t strikes, leading to a 77th-percentile chase rate.
Paddack was an 8th-round draft pick in 2015 who always had lots of potential. In 2019, MLB Pipeline rated him as the 34th-best prospect in all of baseball, and he cruised to a remarkable 1.92 ERA in 187.1 minor league innings. Paddack hasn’t found the same success in the big leagues, but perhaps this season is when he turns it around.
All four players above are available in a majority of leagues. Paddack, Dingler, Canario, and Barger will all help out fantasy baseball managers, but the latter two will be extra effective in rotisserie leagues due to their power. Make sure to check back next week for our week 11 waiver wire breakdown!