Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Kyren Paris hits two more homers during Wednesday night’s action, and more

Kyren Paris hit two more homers Wednesday night, and neither was actually his hardest hit ball of the night – that one was a 108.1 mph lineout that actually had a .680 expected batting average. That’s not a bad day out at the ballpark, and it pushes Paris’ season line to .440/.533/1.120, with five homers in 10 games. All this from a guy who had a .378 OPS in 36 career MLB games entering this season and who hit .167/.254/.278 in the minors last season and has a pretty mediocre .757 OPS in his minor-league career.

It’s probably just a fluke, the kind of random hot streak we see every year from players you’ll soon forget about – remember Rece Hinds hitting five homers in his first six career games last summer? Professional baseball players are capable of these kinds of runs, even ones who aren’t actually good MLB hitters.

And yet, I can’t bring myself to just ignore this. Paris completely reworked his swing last offseason, and the early returns have been tremendous, as he also hit .400 this spring. And he has decent athleticism, so his bat doesn’t have to do all of the heavy lifting for Paris to be Fantasy-relevant. I wrote about Paris yesterday, and nothing has changed about what I wrote: Believing he can be a viable major-league hitter requires a leap of faith, but I can’t just rule it out at this point. He’s up to 52% rostered, and at least in category-based leagues, I’m fine continuing to add him. Just in case. 

Here’s who else we’re looking to add coming out of Wednesday’s action: 

Max Meyer, SP, Marlins (61%) – Meyer’s velocity was down in this one, which could be the result of the temperature – I went to this game and can confirm it was uncomfortably cold for a baseball game, though probably worse up in the cheap seats where I was sitting. But it didn’t really matter for Meyer, who took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and ended up allowing just two hits and two walks in 6.1 innings of work. The Marlins were cautious with him, pulling him after 82 pitches, and the bullpen held on to get him the win. It wasn’t the most dominant showing we’ve seen from Meyer so far this season, but it continues the very strong start from the former top prospect, who now has a 2.00 ERA and 19 strikeouts to five walks in his first 18 innings of work. His slider looks better than ever, his fastball is playing a lot better than it did last season – especially when he averaged 95-plus, which I’m hoping he can get back to – and he has a more well-rounded arsenal in general after adding a sweeper, refining his changeup, and introducing a sinker. The team context will hold Meyer’s value back a bit, but I think he’s shown enough to be universally rostered at this point. 

Noelvi Marte, 3B, Reds (14%) – I only mentioned Marte’s promotion in passing in Wednesday’s FBT Newsletter, because I don’t really expect him to play much. The Reds seem to have soured on him organizationally after a lost 2024 season that saw him suspended for PEDs and then struggle in both the minors and majors. He came off the bench in Wednesday’s game behind Santiago Espinal, which seems to confirm that the Reds don’t have Marte in their plans with Matt McLain on the IL. But here’s the thing: They probably just need to give him a chance at this point. This Reds offense was miserable with McLain, and now it looks like a one-man shoe, and Elly De La Cruz isn’t doing much with his main billing right now. I’m skeptical Marte will do much to change that, but at least he brings theoretical upside to the table. You can’t say that about Espinal. 

Quinn Priester, SP, Brewers (5%) – The Brewers’ total desperation for pitching help pushed them to acquire Priester, and they paid a pretty hefty price for the right, so I expect him to be in the rotation for the long haul. He’ll make his team debut Thursday in Colorado, and while I want no part of him in that situation, there’s some upside here – Priester had a very strong 19.9% K-BB% rate in Triple-A and was throwing harder in Spring Training before the Red Sox optioned him to Triple-A. In deeper leagues, I don’t mind adding Priester just to see if he can turn into something. 

Zebby Matthews, SP, Twins (26%) – Let’s go with another speculative add. Matthews is another guy who has shown some upside in the minors and then had a velocity jump this spring, and he’s off to a big start at Triple-A, with 13 strikeouts to one run in his first 10 innings of work. To be clear, there’s no sign that the Twins are calling him up, but with Pablo Lopez dealing with a mild right hamstring strain, they may need someone to pitch at least this weekend. It’s worth noting that this could also potentially be an opportunity for David Festa, but Matthews looks like the better bet right now if Lopez misses time. 

Tony Gonsolin, SP, Dodgers (15%) – Oh, what the heck, let’s do one more totally speculative target. Gonsolin is working his way back from Tommy John surgery and looks like he’s not far off at this point despite a back injury this spring. Gonsolin made his second start at Triple-A Wednesday and looked exactly like a major-league caliber pitcher should, allowing just one unearned run on one hit while striking out seven over 3.1 innings of work. The Dodgers probably want to get Gonsolin a bit more stretched out – he threw just 46 pitches in this one – but with Justin Wrobleski and Landon Knack stumbling in spot starts this week and Blake Snell on the IL, they may not have the luxury to keep Gonsolin out much longer. Remember, he had a 2.14 ERA in 2022, backed up by a 3.12 xERA, so if he can get back to that level, he could certainly be very useful for Fantasy.