Fourteen batters moved off Yahoo waivers more than 4,000 times this week. Most had a big game or a hot stretch. A few are being dropped for reasons that go deeper than a cold batting average. Here's the news, the production, and what the underlying numbers say about each one.
| Player | Team | Pos | Moves | Upshot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Max Muncy | ATH | 2B/3B/SS | +25,338 | Contact quality genuinely improved. Add him. |
| Jordan Walker | STL | OF | +22,496 | Big week, but xwOBA below his own baseline. Risky add. |
| Miguel Vargas | CWS | 1B/3B | +15,348 | Speed carrying a soft-contact hot streak. Fine for multi-cat. |
| Liam Hicks | MIA | C/1B | +9,860 | Real contact-quality breakout. Add in all catcher-scarce leagues. |
| Garrett Mitchell | MIL | OF | +9,020 | One big game masking a messy underlying week. High variance. |
| Mark Vientos | NYM | 3B | +6,608 | Legitimately better plate decisions. Underowned at 10%. |
| Ryan O'Hearn | PIT | 1B/OF | +5,468 | Solid production but some luck in the results. Expect regression. |
| Cam Smith | HOU | OF | +5,026 | Improving contact quality on a young player. Add everywhere. |
| Kyle Isbel | KC | OF | +5,040 | Barrel rate jumped; speed gives him a floor. Speculative add. |
| Andrés Giménez | TOR | 2B/SS | +4,644 | Ugly average, real underlying improvement. Hold for steals. |
| Mauricio Dubón | ATL | 2B/3B/SS/OF | +4,436 | Filling in for Kim. Useful depth in deep leagues. |
| Spencer Torkelson | DET | 1B | −4,802 | Contact quality fell off a cliff. Hold, but watch EV closely. |
| Brenton Doyle | COL | OF | −4,796 | Benched and struggling. Coors upside earns patience. |
| Jorge Polanco | NYM | 2B/3B | −4,098 | Injury drop, not a performance drop. Stash if you have an IL spot. |
The Adds
Max Muncy, 2B/3B/SS, ATH — 25,338 adds
Muncy had a miserable 2025 (.214 average, 72 wRC+), was widely dropped or undrafted, and spent spring training quietly. Then he went out and hit .364 with two home runs, a 1.164 OPS, and five runs and five RBI in his first week. The underlying contact tells the same story his box score does. His exit velocity jumped from 87.1 mph in 2025 to 98.4 mph. His hard-hit rate went from 32% to 80%. His xwOBA (a contact quality metric that estimates what a hitter's production should look like based on how hard and at what angle he hit the ball) went from .267 to .499. Add him.
Jordan Walker, OF, STL — 22,496 adds
Walker has hit .333 with two home runs and eight RBI, which (at the risk of sounding like a broken record) looks like the Cardinals' outfield prospect finally putting it together. The contact quality complicates the narrative, though. His xwOBA last week was .256 — below his own 2025 baseline of .278. He hit the ball hard in spots but didn't earn the results across the full week. I think it's more likely he'll settle around his pre-season projections (.235 average, 14 home runs). That could change if he improves his underlying metrics. Risky add here.
Miguel Vargas, 1B/3B, CWS — 15,348 adds
The big news driving Vargas adds was a grand slam in the White Sox's first win of 2026, a game where he drove in six runs. He also went 4-for-4 with two doubles and a stolen base on Saturday. For the week, he hit .333 with a 1.042 OPS, three stolen bases, eight runs, and six RBI. The speed is real — ATC projects seven steals for the rest of the season, and he's been more active on the bases than that pace suggests. However, his contact has been soft (83.8 mph exit velocity, down from 89.7 in 2025), so his hot average is more speed and sequencing than hard-hit production. Fine to add for multi-category leagues, but temper power expectations. I think the White Sox have put together one of the most interesting young rosters in the game, and Vargas should play a big role in what they're building, so he should be a good dynasty option.
Liam Hicks, C/1B, MIA — 9,860 adds
Yahoo Sports recently asked "Is Liam Hicks good?" The answer, at least right now, is yes. Hicks went .389 with two home runs, nine RBI, and a 1.254 OPS this week. The underlying stuff looks good, too. His contact quality is up. His exit velocity has climbed nearly 7 points. His hard-hit rate went from 27.7% to 47.1%, and his xwOBA went from .315 to .480. Those numbers suggest he's fundamentally hitting the ball differently this season. Catchers are scarce in most leagues, so I'd add him without hesitation.
Garrett Mitchell, OF, MIL — 9,020 adds
Mitchell had a career-high five RBI in a doubleheader game that caught everyone's attention. The problem is that most of his production came in one game, and the underlying numbers for the full week are a mess. While his EV was genuinely elite last week (99.3 mph), he struck out 52.9% of the time and his barrel rate was 0%. This suggests the power is unsustainable. His xwOBA for the week was also .200, below his 2025 baseline of .288. He's a high-variance streamer at best, and I'd be wary of claims that this is a legit breakout.
Mark Vientos, 3B, NYM — 6,608 adds
Vientos led the way by sparking two scoring rallies against the Giants, and fantasy managers took notice. For the week, he hit .438 with a 1.250 OPS. His .487 xwOBA is also well above his 2025 baseline of .320. His exit velocity was actually slightly lower than last year (88.8 mph vs. 91.4), which means the improvement isn't about hitting it harder — it's about making better decisions at the plate. Steamer projects 20 home runs and a 115 wRC+ for the rest of the season. At 10% ownership heading into week 3, he's underowned.
Ryan O'Hearn, 1B/OF, PIT — 5,468 adds
O'Hearn hit .375 with a 1.062 OPS and drove in six runs. He was a solid player in 2025 (.281 average, 127 wRC+). His inclusion in this list comes down to him backing up what he did last season. His xwOBA this week was an elite .502, but his hard-hit rate (23.1%) is almost half of what it was in 2025 (42.3%). This suggests he's experienced some luck so far this season, so be ready for some regression if you do pick him up. He's 32% owned in Yahoo and has multi-position eligibility.
Cam Smith, OF, HOU — 5,026 adds
I was one of the many people who dropped Smith in 2025 right before his numbers started trending in the right direction during the second half. He has not stopped since. This week he hit .353 with two home runs and six runs scored. On Sunday, he drove in three and stole a base. His contact quality this week was encouraging: xwOBA .390, 15.4% barrel rate (up from 6.9% in 2025), and a strong 46.2% hard-hit rate. He's a young player on a good team showing genuine improvement signals. Add him everywhere.
Kyle Isbel, OF, KC — 5,040 adds
Isbel hit .500 with two home runs and two stolen bases this week. The contact quality looks good so far, too. His barrel rate jumped from 1.6% in 2025 to 12.5% this week. His xwOBA went from .251 to .388. His projections are more modest than most of the players in this list, but his strong defense in CF should guarantee regular playing time as a strong-side platoon.
Andrés Giménez, 2B/SS, TOR — 4,644 adds
Giménez hit two home runs this week, which explains the adds. He also swiped his second bag of the season. His contact quality this week was actually better than his 2025 baseline: hard-hit rate up from 27.7% to 41.2%, barrel rate up from 3.0% to 11.8%. His speed floor makes him worth rostering, especially if he keeps hitting for power.
Mauricio Dubón, 2B/3B/SS/OF, ATL — 4,436 adds
Dubón hit the ball so hard it broke an opposing shortstop's glove. That'll get you on the waiver wire. He hit .409 with a 0.980 OPS and drove in four runs while filling in at shortstop for Ha-Seong Kim (who is done for the season). Dubón's xwOBA (.330) is above his 2025 baseline (.278), and his exit velocity is up modestly. ATC projects him as a fringe hitter (79 wRC+, 6 HR, 4 SB for the rest of the year), but his eligibility across four positions makes him useful as depth in deep leagues. The hot week is probably more than noise, but it's also probably close to his ceiling.
The Drops
Spencer Torkelson, 1B, DET — 4,802 drops
Torkelson is hitting .118 with a .294 OPS, and he's striking out 35.3% of the time. His contact quality looks more concerning. His exit velocity is down from 90.2 mph in 2025 to 84.7 mph this week. His xwOBA was .158, well below his 2025 baseline of .334. A spring training hit-by-pitch rattled him, but there's no confirmed injury. Hold him if you can, but watch his exit velocity over the next two weeks. If it doesn't climb back above 88 mph, his preseason 27-homer projection deserves a harder look.
Brenton Doyle, OF, COL — 4,796 drops
Doyle was on the bench on Sunday, which pushed the drops over the edge among managers already frustrated by his .200 average. When he's played, the numbers haven't been good: 38.1% strikeout rate, 0% barrel rate, a 27 wRC+. His xwOBA (.254) is below his 2025 baseline (.300), so the contact has been very soft. What keeps him worth holding is where he plays. Coors Field inflates run-scoring and stolen base opportunities regardless of quality of opposition, and early returns suggest the Rockies are genuinely committed to stealing bases. If his strikeout rate is still above 35% in two weeks, the concern is real.
Jorge Polanco, 2B/3B, NYM — 4,098 drops
Polanco's been on the bench dealing with Achilles soreness, and CBS Sports reported it isn't getting better. And this isn't the first time it's affected him. That's pretty much it.
