We’re officially into June and must take an honest look at who’s playing well, who’s playing poorly, and who we can truly count on to help us out through the long summer months ahead.
With that, the waiver wire has been picked over and it’s getting more difficult to find impact players readily available in most leagues. Fear not, because there are still a handful of available players that have the chance to be difference makers in both the short and long term.
Here are three players that are under 40% rostered on Yahoo leagues that you should strongly consider adding.
If you want a larger list, Eric Samulski wrote his extended waiver wire piece on Sunday.
Nick Kurtz, 1B Athletics
(24% Rostered on Yahoo)
Out for just over two weeks with an oblique strain, Kurtz returned from the injured list last week without much fanfare. Which is ironic because it was a huge deal when he was initially called up towards the end of April.
Also ironic, he’s played well enough in his short stint as a big leaguer to make us believe there’s a serious hot streak coming.
Before Kurtz got hurt, he’d hit four home runs, had seven total hits, and walked the same amount he struck out over five games. That came after a brutal 0-for-21 stretch where he was briefly dropped to ninth in the order and it seemed like was at risk of demotion.
Momentum was building at the time of that injury, which is frustrating. He seems to be getting back on track now though. He homered on Sunday then hit a monstrous walk-off blast on Monday as he continues to display the tools we seek for potential hitter breakouts.
NICK KURTZ WITH THE 447 FT WALK-OFF AND THE BAT FLIP 🔥
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) June 17, 2025
(via @mlb)pic.twitter.com/5OBQzzqX3l
Mainly, Kurtz has some of the best bat speed in the league. His 77.8 mph average bat speed only trails Oneil Cruz and Junior Caminero. He also has the highest rate of swings faster than 75 mph (known as ‘fast swing rate’) for players who’ve taken at least 100 swings. That is nutty raw power.
The issue lies in converting that raw power to production. Both Kurtz’s contact rate and in-zone contact rate are towards the bottom of the league. His elite bat speed won’t matter as much if he can’t connect enough to do serious damage.
Yet, his contact rates aren’t so low to the point where they should be damning. Here’s the plate discipline leaderboard from FanGraphs sorted in ascending order of zone-contact rate for players with a minimum of 100 plate appearances.
Well, there’s Kurtz down at 24th sandwiched right in between Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani. Not saying that Kurtz is about to become either of those two, but they’re the best hitters in the league and they make contact overall and at pitches in the zone at a similar rate to Kurtz.
Also, all three swing at similar rates of pitches both inside and out of the zone. The difference though for Kurtz versus those two behemoths are the types of strikes he’s swinging at.
He has the highest swing rate on pitches in the shadow of the zone in the league while Judge and Ohtani are more of the middle of the pack.
That’s the big hurdle Kurtz must get over to be great: choosing better pitches to swing at inside the strike zone. Before that walk-off home run last night, he took two pitches in the shadow before punishing a sweeper from Bryan Abreu in the zone to send the Athletics to victory.
Nick Kurtz swings at more pitches in the shadow of the zone than any player in the league
— James Schiano (@James_Schiano) June 17, 2025
Big reason why his 100th percentile bat speed hasn't yielded better results
He took two pitches in the shadow before his walk-off home run last night
More selectivity will make him a star pic.twitter.com/K2KKoOsCEB
The physical tools, pedigree, and potential are too great for Kurtz to be this widely available.
David Festa, SP Twins
(9% Rostered on Yahoo)
The fantasy community has collectively had their eyes on Festa since the beginning of last season because his stuff is good enough to envision a huge breakout.
His fastball sits around 95 mph and has great cut-ride action that should help it to miss bats at the top of the zone. He’s also added a sinker this season that’s given him an extra wrinkle against right-handed batters. Moreover, his slider has excellent bite and can be effective against batters from each side of the plate. Lastly, his changeup is his bread and butter and a true outpitch.
Filthy. Disgusting. Beautiful. All at once.
— Talkin' Twins (@TalkinTwins) June 12, 2025
David Festa out here throwing spells, not pitches.#MNTwins pic.twitter.com/NCFbrYUDyx
Yet, three things have always stopped Festa’s momentum whenever it seemed like he could cement himself as a reliable starter: consistently pitching deep into games, having a rotation spot to call his own, and command.
Festa is coming off just the second six-inning performance of his career last week against the suddenly surging Rangers. They put up 16 runs the night before and ambushed Festa for a couple more in his first two innings of work, including this loud, upper deck home run from Marcus Semien.
Marcus Semien stays hot with a 424-foot blast 🥵 pic.twitter.com/0OnGiorUIJ
— Victory+ (@victoryplustv) June 12, 2025
However, manager Rocco Baldelli allowed him to work through that trouble and Festa didn’t allow another hit from the second inning on.
Part of the reason for that is likely because the Twins’ rotation depth is being tested at the moment. Both Pablo López and Zebby Matthews are currently on the injured list and neither are due back any time soon. Their Triple-A rotation is barren too, with Randy Dobnak being the only pitcher there who’s ever started a game in the majors.
So, Festa has his rotation spot locked down and Baldelli has no choice but to let him pitch deeper into games than he has in the past as long as he’s effective enough to do so.
The command is still a bit of an issue though. His fastball has been torched for a .444 slugging percentage this season in a relatively small sample. He could be well served to fine tune its placement in the strike zone.
Still, there’s enough here to see a pitcher who will be a steady performer through the summer months.
Jake Mangum, OF Rays
(5% Rostered on Yahoo)
There was a collective freak-out from the fantasy baseball community a few weeks ago when the Rays sent Chandler Simpson back to the minor leagues after he’d stolen 19 bases in the first 35 games of his career.
Yet, at the same time, he had just a .630 OPS and graded out poorly in the outfield. Bottom line, he wasn’t good enough to be a starting caliber player on a team with their sights on the playoffs, as the red-hot Rays do.
It flew under the radar at the time because of the drama surrounding Simpson, but fellow outfielder Jake Mangum was activated in the corresponding move and has been far better across the board.
Mangum is one of these swing-happy, uber-contact type of players who will not let a good pitch past him while also swinging at plenty out of the zone in the process. That has led to a heap of balls in play and right now, plenty of base hits with a .315 batting average and .360 on-base percentage this season.
Also, as he’s frequently getting on base, he’s been running. Mangum has 10 stolen bases in 37 games this season without being caught. Not too shabby despite not quite being at Simpson’s level.
Lastly, Mangum is a great outfield defender. That was his calling card as a prospect and a huge key to him getting a shot in the big leagues this season as a 29-year-old rookie.
He’s played a mix of left, right, and center this season with more left and center lately since Josh Lowe has returned from injury. Overall, he’s plus out there and that’s kept him in the lineup for 16 of the 17 games since he was activated (and Simpson was demoted).
Certainly more of a deep league player, Mangum can provide a good bit of speed with a solid batting average while playing nearly everyday.
