Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Week of July 20

The All-Star break has come and gone, and fantasy baseball leagues are getting serious. If you play in head-to-head leagues, you likely only have around five more matchups to battle for playoff positioning. If your league runs on rotisserie scoring, you’re running out of time to make a meaningful jump in the standings.

I scoured the ESPN waiver wire for five players owned in less than 25% of leagues that caught my attention and gave a brief synopsis of each below, to help you in your pursuit of a title. Check back every Monday for updated waiver wire pieces here at Just Baseball.

Stats updated prior to games on Monday, July 20. Ownership percentages via ESPN.

Heliot Ramos, SF, OF (14% owned)

2026 Stats: 246 PA, .277/.310/.460, 8 HR, 0 SB, 110 wRC+

Ramos was a fringe top-200 pick in fantasy drafts entering the season, offering power upside and consistent playing time prospects. He got off to a decent start to the season but strained his quadriceps in mid-May, causing him to miss about a month and a half.

Since his return, Ramos has resumed his role as an everyday player for San Francisco, swatting four home runs in 17 games with an .890 OPS. The 26-year-old is barreling the ball at a strong 15.8% clip, which should allow him to continue to hit for power despite calling pitcher-friendly Oracle Park his home.

Ramos won’t steal much and does struggle with swing-and-miss in his approach, but he’s a rosterable depth outfielder in leagues of 10 teams or greater.

Yoendrys Gomez, MIN, RP (12% owned)

2026 Stats: 44.2 IP, 11 SV, 3.43 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 9.4% K-BB%

Each time I put together a waiver wire piece, I try to point out one reliever who can help fantasy managers scouring for saves. I considered writing about the Orioles’ committee or Kansas City’s Alex Lange because they are newer emergent closers, but I don’t trust any of those relievers to even hold the role.

Gomez, 26, is a pitcher that I presumed was owned in most serious leagues, but his ownership rate still sits at a measly 12% on ESPN. He’s been Minnesota’s primary closer for over a month now and hasn’t given them much reason to displace him from the role yet.

You can try to ride the wave and hope that he doesn’t have too many meltdowns down the stretch. His sub-10% K-BB% is a huge indicator that he is not nearly dominant enough to be a consistent, effective closer long-term. However, if you need saves now, Gomez is an arm that could get a couple of saves this week.

Christian Scott, NYM, SP (9% owned)

2026 Stats: 59.2 IP, 2.87 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 18.2% K-BB%

Scott is the most talented pitcher available in at least 90% of leagues on ESPN. His 28.5% strikeout rate is elite for a starter, making it unclear why fantasy managers on that platform haven’t gravitated toward him.

The 27-year-old right-hander has struggled to command his pitches consistently (10.3% walk rate) but punches out enough batters that he should be able to get by in spite of that. Scott offers little upside for wins (the Mets have a bad record) and quality starts (Scott has yet to pitch six innings in a start this season), so these drawbacks may have deterred fantasy managers from adding him in shallower leagues.

Scott may be a five-and-dive guy right now, but the 2026 season is his first full campaign as a big leaguer. After missing half of 2024 and all of 2025 due to a torn UCL, Scott is still figuring out how to be the best version of himself. We saw a glimpse of that upside on Thursday in Philadelphia (5.2 IP, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 K), and hopefully he can keep that momentum rolling through the remainder of the season.

Heriberto Hernández, MIA, OF (3% owned)

2026 Stats: 241 PA, .237/.315/.470, 13 HR, 6 SB, 111 wRC+

It’s astonishing to me that Hernández is owned in just 3% of ESPN leagues. Since I discussed him in a waiver wire preview last month, Hernández has clubbed six homers in 21 games, recording a .951 OPS over that span. If you missed out on adding him then, there’s a reasonable chance that he’s still available in your league currently.

Hernández does a lot of things well that we look for in fantasy. He has good bat speed (74.9 mph), hits the ball hard and in the air often (12.3% barrel rate), has a sense of the strike zone (24.9% chase rate, 10.1% walk rate), and can run (top 15% in sprint speed among all position players). Hernández is a legitimate power threat who has the ability to steal bases.

After beginning the year on the Marlins’ roster fringe and spending time in Triple-A, Hernández is now a regular in Miami’s lineup. The 26-year-old has batted second in the order against opposing lefties recently, and fifth against righties. Hernández is a priority add for outfield help.

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Joshua Kuroda-Grauer, ATH, SS (3% owned)

2026 Stats: 59 PA, .404/.424/.526, 0 HR, 0 SB, 167 wRC+

As I mentioned in Gomez’s section, I try to cover players who are eligible at different positions in these waiver wire articles with hopes that I can assist fantasy managers with a variety of needs. I liked a lot of the outfield options this week, but infield depth is thinning on the wire.

Kuroda-Grauer was called up by the Athletics for his big league debut on June 29 and has been a valuable bat over a small sample size. A third-round pick in the 2024 draft, Kuroda-Grauer doesn’t swing the bat hard (he’s yet to record a barrel) but sprays the ball around the field and owns an impressively low strikeout rate thus far (10.9%).

This isn’t the kind of bat that would excite me normally, but I scooped him up in a 15-teamer where I needed some batting average help. The fact that he gets to call hitter-friendly Sutter Health Park his home is a nice plus, and he maintained high batting averages and low strikeout rates at each stop in the minor leagues.

Kuroda-Grauer may not be a regular once Nick Kurtz and Zack Gelof return from the IL, but he could be a short-term aid to your batting average for a couple of weeks.