Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Week of May 25th

In my time playing fantasy baseball, I have come to believe that I cannot make any overarching judgements about a player’s performance until Memorial Day weekend.

With a good portion of the season under our belt, but a significant amount remaining – I think we finally have a large enough sample to start making claims about which players are for real and which are a facade.

That knowledge can help us be more informed on the waiver wire. While free agency is comprised of many rookies, injured players, and part-timers who don’t play as frequently, we have some data to back our decision-making process.

With that being said, here are five players that are owned in less than 25% of ESPN leagues that are worth monitoring for your fantasy squad.

Stats as of first pitch, May 24th. Ownership percentages via ESPN.

Jac Caglianone, KCR, OF (22% owned)

2026 Stats: 168 PA, .247/.310/.416, 5 HR, 1 SB, 101 wRC+

Caglianone, the former sixth-overall pick in the 2024 draft, rocketed up fantasy draft boards as March progressed. Fantasy managers fantasized about a young player with elite bat speed taking a leap and becoming a potential 30-homer hitter.

While we haven’t seen those results yet, Caglianone is showing that he hasn’t lost his ability to drive the baseball. His top five-percentile bat speed and top seven-percentile barrel rate tell us that this guy is more than capable of bopping some homers.

Unfortunately, Caglianone’s 30.4% strikeout rate is causing him to waste too many plate appearances without putting a ball in play.

At just 23 years of age, Caglianone could make an adjustment that leads him to have a monstrous hot streak. While there’s no guarantee that it happens this year, he’s not having a terrible season by any means and stole his first base this week. I’m holding Caglianone in the ten-team league I own him in, for now.

Jacob Latz, TEX, SP, RP (14% owned)

2026 Stats: 23.2 IP, 5 SV, 1.90 ERA, 0.54 WHIP, 18.6% K-BB%

Latz may be the most unlikely archetype for an effective closer (thus far) in all of baseball. A lefty whose fastball comes in at just 94 mph has somehow been shutting down the opposition to earn saves.

Projected to be the Rangers’ sixth starter on Opening Day, Latz was initially relegated to the bullpen to serve in long relief.

While all of the Rangers’ other options struggled, Latz held strong and wound up closing games. He’s been operating as Texas’ primary closer for at least a few weeks now, and that’s worth rostering on your fantasy squad.

While I don’t think Latz will continue to be this effective all season, all four of his pitches rate as above average, per Stuff+. He could hold onto this job for the foreseeable future.

Ben Brown, CHC SP, RP (11% owned)

2026 Stats: 38.2 IP, 2.09 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, 18.2% K-BB%

Brown has been a Swiss Army knife for the Cubs so far this season. He began the year in the bullpen, where he was quickly forced into leverage innings when closer Daniel Palencia went on the IL.

Then, injuries struck Chicago’s rotation and Brown has been stretching out as a starter – where he’s also been succeeding.

A former Cubs top prospect, Brown has an above-average sinker to neutralize righties and an above-average change-up and knuckle-curve to succeed against lefties. He’s given up some hard contact but has only surrendered barrels at a 4% rate, which is limiting serious damage.

Brown lines up for a two-start week in Pittsburgh and in St. Louis, so he could be very productive in weekly leagues. In shallower daily leagues, it’s worth monitoring his status as his workload increases over time.

Ryan Waldschmidt, ARI OF (8% owned)

2026 Stats: 53 PA, .340/.404/.426, 0 HR, 4 SB, 139 wRC+

Waldschmidt was Arizona’s top prospect entering this season and he has made an impact early on in the majors. We’ve seen him make his biggest fantasy impact on the basepaths, where he’s stolen four bags already.

The 23-year-old righty has posted above-average bat speed (73.3-mph) and barrel rate (12.5%) marks early on, though his well-below average strikeout rate (28.3%) and average exit velocity (85.5-mph) results are reason for some concern.

Waldschmidt had never struck out more than 18% of the time at any stop in the minors before this season, so hopefully he’s just working out the kinks of facing big-league arms.

Waldschmidt is a must-own in leagues of 12 teams or more and is worth keeping a close eye on in shallower leagues.

Walbert Urena, LAA SP (5% owned)

2026 Stats: 38.1 IP, 2.58 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 8.3% K-BB%

Even the biggest ball-knowers you know probably would have told you that they had never heard of Urena entering this season. He came on strong in Spring Training and kept the momentum rolling into the regular season in the majors.

Urena has big-time stuff: he offers a near-98-mph fastball and a 117 Stuff+ sweeper, but he has trouble commanding them.

The pitches that he commands the best are his change-up (his most thrown offering) and sinker (second-most thrown), though those pitches don’t grade as well via Stuff+.

At just 22 years old, Urena is a raw pitcher. He’s walking a lot of batters and not striking out as many as he probably should, but he’s limiting hard contact and getting whiffs.

He’s a must-add in dynasty (if he’s somehow still out there) and a solid streamer in redraft leagues against more favorable opponents.