Week 15 Waiver-Wire Targets: Now’s your last chance to add Jurickson Profar, plus more players to add

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Jurickson Profar is back. Okay, well, as you’re reading this, he’s not quite back – he has one game left on his suspension, which will be over Tuesday. And he’s still available in 33% of CBS Fantasy leagues as of Sunday night, and that’s way too many. I’d argue Profar isn’t just a must-roster player; he might just be a must-start player the rest of the way.

That’s not a guarantee, of course. It wasn’t a guarantee coming into the season, and it’s even less of a guarantee after he served an 80-game suspension for a banned performance-enhancing substance. Baseball players are creatures of habit, and having to leave the team for half a season can impact anyone’s production, even if you assume whatever gains Profar might have received from PEDs stick – no sure thing, though not something I’m too worried about. Even if Profar’s skills are intact, his timing might be off, especially with the knowledge that, even if he does help the Braves turn their season around, he won’t be eligible for the postseason. 

But let’s not forget how good Profar was last season. He hit .280/.380/.459, pairing his usually strong plate discipline with power we’ve never een before, as he hit 24 homers and added 29 doubles. The power came out of nowhere, but it wasn’t exactly a fluke – he posted his highest max exit velocity since 2018 and his highest average exit velocity ever by 3.6 mph. That combination made him a top-20 outfielder in all Fantasy formats, and if he can hit like that again, he’ll be doing so primarily from the No. 2 spot in the Braves lineup, which should put him in line for pretty huge counting stats.

It’s not at all a guarantee that Profar will hit like last season. But there just aren’t typically players with this kind of proven upside available in this many leagues at this point in the season. In a best-case scenario, we’re looking for some top prospect promotions who are totally unproven at the MLB level; more typically, you’re choosing from also-rans and never-weres who happen to be hot right now.

I’ll take the chance on Profar’s 2025 being real. Because if I’m right, you probably won’t find a more impactful addition off the waiver wire the rest of the season. 

Here’s who else we’re looking to add ahead of Week 15 of the Fantasy Baseball season. 

Week 12 Waiver Targets

Catchers

Agustin Ramirez, Marlins (77%) – Ramirez has been pretty streaky as a rookie, which isn’t a surprise for a guy with as big a swing as his. But the thing about that is, when the hot streaks are happening, you’ve gotta take advantage, and he’s definitely hot right now. In his past 15 games entering play Sunday he is hitting .333/.349/.600 with 14 RBI and 11 runs scored. There aren’t many catchers who play as consistently as Ramirez, and few of them have as much power upside – the ones who do are universally rostered. Ramirez is the No. 4 catcher in both Roto and H2H points leagues since the day he made his MLB debut, so he probably needs to be universally rostered, too. 

Deep-league target: Gary Sanchez, Orioles (16%) – With Adley Rutschman on the IL, Sanchez is getting some real run lately, and he’s been terrific for the Orioles. Since coming off the IL in mid-June, Sanchez is hitting .342 with four homers and 14 RBI in 11 games. And he’s actually been getting some DH opportunities lately too, which only helps his value. I’m as surprised as anyone that Sanchez might be Fantasy relevant in 2025, but here we are.

First Base

Michael Toglia, Rockies (29%) – There are still too many strikeouts, and it’s keeping the batting average down to .229 since he returned from Triple-A. But Toglia also has six extra-base hits and eight RBI in 12 games, and is about to play a whole week in Coors Field. Jordan Beck (46%) and Ryan McMahon (52%) also made Scott White’s Sleeper Hitters for Week 15 column, if you’re looking for some names to add to take advantage of the thin air this week. 

Deep-league target: Casey Schmitt, Giants (13%) – The biggest issue for Schmitt at this point is that he’s been fighting through a wrist injury for the better part of a week. When healthy, he’s been a big part of the Giants lineup, hitting .333/.412/.550 since the start of June with four homers, 12 runs, and 12 RBI in 20 games. And he figures to have a starting spot somewhere even when Matt Chapman is healthy enough to play thanks to his defensive versatility, which also makes him extra useful in Fantasy, as he’s eligible at second and third base as well as first.

Second base

Caleb Durbin, Brewers (24%) – Durbin doesn’t have a ton of raw power, but his swing has always been well suited to generate more than expected thanks to strong contact skills and a pull-heavy approach. That wasn’t really showing up at the MLB level early on as he had just one homer through the end of May, but he hit three in June, to go along with a .300 average, eight RBI and 18 runs. You’d like to see more steals to tie the whole profile together – he had four in May but just one in June – but Durbin looks like a pretty solid option in both points and Roto now that he seems to be figuring things out.

Deep-league target: Nick Gonzales, Pirates (9%) – Gonzales is a former top prospect who might just be starting to figure things out, too. The sample size is still extremely small, but he’s doing absolutely everything you could want right now, hitting .300/.347/.478 with the underlying data to back it up. He’s making more contact than ever before and hitting the ball harder with fewer ground balls and fewer infield pop ups. I don’t think Gonzales is suddenly a superstar or something, but he should be a solid source of batting average and hopefully run production from a middle infield spot in deeper leagues.

Third base

Cam Smith, Astros (77%) – The homers are starting to show up. After going 43 straight games without a long ball, Smith has four in his past 11 games, while going 17 for 49 with just eight strikeouts in that span. Smith was starting to show signs of turning things around even before that, but it was a very batting-average-reliant approach that made it tough to get too excited about for Fantasy. Well, the plus power is now starting to show up, and his expected wOBA is up to .458 over the past 50 plate appearances. This might be the very last time Smith is available in this many leagues for the next decade or so. 

Deep-league target: Nolan Gorman, Cardinals (10%) – Even when things are going well, Gorman strikes out too much to really be viable in the long run. He’s hitting .267/.353/.547 in June, but with a 31% strikeout rate that’s actually slightly higher than his season-long rate. It’s going to fall apart at some point. On the other hand, he’s hitting .267/.353/.547 with six homers in June, and the underlying numbers do actually back this hot streak up. Ride it while you can.

Shortstop

Ernie Clement, Blue Jays (37%) – You want multi-eligibility? Well, Clement can play everywhere in the infield except for catcher, and I’m not convinced he doesn’t at least own a mitt at this point. And his hot streak isn’t just confined to June – Clement is hitting .333/.376/.471 since the start of June while starting 48 of 52 games in that stretch. It’s a pretty empty batting average, with just four homers, two steals, and 16 RBI in that span, but he is at least on a 100-run pace. Clement isn’t a star, but he’s a useful player to have around with all that eligibility. 

Brooks Lee, Twins (36%) – Lee is a lot like Gonzales, in that he’s a former top prospect who probably isn’t ever going to be the star he was once expected to be, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be useful for Fantasy. Lee has been extremely hot in June, hitting .360/.387/.551, with solid run production numbers and even four homers. You’d like the whole profile more if he stole more bases, because the power is pretty marginal. But he’s hot and is eligible at both middle and corner infield positions, making him a viable add in deeper categories leagues. 

Outfield

Austin Hays, Reds (47%) – Injuries have derailed the season for hays, but when he’s been on the field, he has been a perfect fit for his hitter-friendly home. He’s back from his latest issue, a foot injury, and is hitting .289/.331/.531 with a career-best .346 expected wOBA on the season. The batting average is probably unsustainable, but I think a 25-homer pace with plenty of RBI and a .260-ish average isn’t asking too much. That’ll play in every league. 

Jo Adell, Angels (70%) – Adell has been running behind his expected stats all season, but it’s hard to complain too much about that lately when he’s hitting .284/.364/.670 with 11 homers in 100 PA in the month of June. And the turnaround really started in May when he hit five homers and bumped his batting average to a much more manageable .239 mark. I think a .240-ish average is probably what we should expect from Adell moving forward, but his quality of contact metrics have been so good all season that he might be an elite source of power even with that poor batting average. His poor plate discipline doesn’t help in H2H points leagues, but even with that, he’s the No. 18 OF in that format since May 1. He might just be a starting option in either format at this point. 

Spencer Steer, Reds (67%) – At this point, we’re just looking for reasons not to drop Steer, and he is actually giving us some lately – even before his three-homer game Friday. Steer had two more hits Sunday and now has multiple hits in seven of his past 11 games, with four homers and even a couple of steals in that span, while striking out just eight times in that stretch. Steer has been a very good Fantasy option in years past, but a preseason shoulder injury was clearly holding him back in the early going. He looks a lot healthier right now, and is worth looking for in leagues where he was inevitably dropped. 

Chandler Simpson, Rays (53%) – Six games back from Triple-A and Simpson already has two steals. And, perhaps most importantly, he has started six games in a row since returning to the Rays, answering, for now at least, questions about how committed the Rays would be to him. I’m surprised they’ve thrown him back out in center field in every start so far, but again, that can be taken as a sign of confidence in the youngster. We know he’s going to hit for average and steal a lot of bases, and if the Rays have faith in him, I’m going to as well. 

Evan Carter, Rangers (54%) – Carter is hitting .338/.419/.538 since coming back from the IL in early June, and while his underlying metrics aren’t nearly that impressive, they’re still the best we’ve seen from him since his rookie season. Carter is averaging 89.3 mph on contact with a 16-degree launch angle and just a 16.3% strikeout rate, which at least shows he belongs in the majors still – that was, honestly, an open question based on how he played last season. His platoon role limits his ceiling, but he’s good enough to be useful in more leagues than where he is currently rostered. 

Chase DeLauter, Guardians (24%) – DeLauter has to be close, right? The Guardians have a huge hole in right field, and DeLauter is actually healthy right now and hitting .311/.427/.522 in 25 games at Triple-A. Scott White recently added him to the “Five on the Verge” section of his Prospects Report column, and I think the Guardians kind of have to give DeLauter a chance at some point soon – he isn’t being challenged in the minors at this point, despite his lack of experience, and his injury history makes it feel like they’re just wasting reps at Triple-A at this point. 

Starting pitcher

Jacob Lopez, Athletics (67%) – Lopez doesn’t throw hard, but he’s one of the weirdest pitchers in the game, and that’s one way to overcome lackluster stuff. He throws from a funky angle with unusual movement profiles on his entire arsenal, which is enough to keep hitters uncomfortable, especially early in his career. I think hitters will eventually catch up, and homers will probably be an issue when that happens. But for now, I’m buying Lopez and riding until the wheels fall off. 

Kumar Rocker, Rangers (27%) – Any discussion about Rocker in the past has always started with discussions about his breaking ball – sometimes called a slider, sometimes called a curveball, but almost always called an elite pitch. Last season, he threw it 38.5% of the time and had a 50% whiff rate in his limited stint in the majors, even as he generally struggled. Rocker has now allowed two or fewer runs in three straight starts, with 16 strikeouts in 16.1 innings, and obviously that slider has to be a big part of him finally finding success, right? Right? Nope! As BaseballProspectus’ Daniel R. Epstein pointed out last week, Rocker has actually ditched that pitch entirely, throwing two distinct breaking balls instead – a slower curveball and a much harder cutter that he’s now using as his primary pitch. Rocker has always struggled with his fastballs, despite strong velocity, and the cutter has very quickly become his go-to pitch in basically all counts – he throws it 42.5% of the time in two-strike counts and 31.4% of the time to open plate appearances. It’s a new look for Rocker, and hitters tend to perform worse the more they see pitchers, so it might end up being unsustainable in the long run. But given the talent we’re talking about, it’s worth taking Rocker’s apparent breakthrough seriously. 

Eduardo Rodriguez, Diamondbacks (61%) – Rodriguez is now down to a 1.98 ERA in the month of June, a nice bit of regression after he struggled to a 7.05 ERA through his first 10 starts of the season. The strikeout upside here is rare – three starts in 15 tries with at least 10 – and now the ERA is starting to normalize. He gets the Royals this week, who are last in the majors in runs scored, making him a viable streamer, at least; he might be more than that. 

Emmett Sheehan, Dodgers (44%) – So, here’s the problem for Sheehan: Can he get fully stretched out before the Dodgers’ rotation reinforcements arrive? He went back to Triple-A and dominated in his first start, striking out 13 in six no-hit innings, but he still threw just 73 pitches – a season-high mark, but not quite what teams are looking for in the rotation. He’ll make at least one more start at Triple-A, and I’m hoping he can get closer to 85 pitches and force the Dodgers to get him back up into the big-league rotation. He’s worth stashing in all formats for the tremendous upside we’ve seen from him so far. 

Quinn Priester, Brewers (64%) – Priester has pretty terrific lately, even before his 11-strikeout gem against the Rockies Saturday. All in all, his ERA is down to 3.35 for the season, and he hasn’t allowed more than three earned runs in an outing since May 2. In his past four starts since returning to the rotation on June 10, Priester has 25 strikeouts in 22.1 innings with a 2.01 ERA and 2.42 FIP, and now he gets the Marlins in his next start. That sounds like a solid start. 

Matt Waldron, Padres (1%) – Things fell apart for Waldron last season, and then he never really got a chance to get going in 2025 after suffering an oblique injury during the spring. He wasn’t great in the minors (5.04 ERA, 1.582 WHIP in eight starts), but I’m willing to give Waldron a chance to see if he can rediscover the form that had him putting up a 3.71 ERA in the first half of last season. 

Relief pitcher

Matt Strahm, Phillies (12%) – Strahm’s been a little shaky lately, which is bad timing with the Phillies’ closer role petty wide open. He and Orion Kerkering have swapped the past five saves for them, and both are decent choices if you’re speculating for saves. But Strahm got the save Sunday and is generally the better pitcher, I think, so if I’m picking between them, I’ll go with Strahm and hope his struggles lately are just a slump. 

Mike Soroka, Nationals (38%) – Soroka might just be … kinda good now? He struggled to open the season, but has turned things around in June, with 36 strikeouts and a 3.49 ERA in 28.1 innings over his past five starts. That has coincided with a new changeup grip that has led to better results against lefties, while his killer slurve continues to dominate against righties. There will be some bumps in the road that make it tough to trust Soroka in, say, a 10-team, shallower categories league. But his SPaRP eligibility helps in points leagues, and I think even in 12-team categories leagues he’s worth rostering. I’ll start him this week against a slumping Red Sox lineup.

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