Waiver Wire All-Star Team, With GerbilScores!

Welcome to the 2025 Waiver Wire All-Star Selection! I see this as a fun little list that really showcases just how awesome waivers can be. It can also be used as a cheat sheet going into next year's draft. I'll be honest - I've actually not enjoyed making this too much, because it turns out it's littered with players I've owned and given up on along the way. For me, this is more like a list of regrets! Gerbilscore is a formula that includes the following metrics with my own personalized stat weights. Some are weighted much more heavily than others, with the some stats being weighed less due to some redundancies. It's much improved from last year, now including a composite zone discpline score (https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/visuals/swing-take?playerId=666018) and ideal attack angle (https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/bat-tracking/swing-path-attack-angle?gameType=Regular&minSwings=25&minGroupSwings=1&seasonStart=2025&seasonEnd=2025&type=batter) with some good weighting. The goal is for Gerbilscore to be predictive, more-so than reflective, and this takes a nice step in that direction!

Barrel

Sweet Spot

Zone Discipline

Hard-Hit

Exit Velocity

Sprint Speed

Hitting Run Value

Base Running Run Value

xwOBA

xSLG

xBA

Squared Up

Whiff

Ideal Attack Angle

Bonus for excellence against RHP and stolen base specialization.

Contact excellence bonus with conditional qualifiers

. Shrek wouldn't be Shrek without Steve. RIP.

First Jonathan Aranda, 86 Oh Aranda, how I wish I chose you! Aranda graced the Gerbilsports preseason sleeper list (https://www.gerbilsports.com/post/guys-worth-a-reach) , but unfortunately, I instead decided to go with Schanuel and Rice as my 1B choices. Aranda has benefited pretty greatly from playing at an AAA park, but that's not a knock on his talent level - Aranda is going to be a problem for pitchers for years to come regardless of where the Rays play. Aranda boasts elite percentiles across all of power indicators we've come to love, alongside awesome sweet-spot and barrel rates. Not only does he hit the ball with authority, but he also has exemplary launch angles. Then you add into the mix his very respectable 46th percentile whiff rate, awesome for any hitter with this much power, and you have a bonafide stud.

Nick Kurtz, 77 Kurtz started real, real slow - slow enough to convince me to drop him. Thanks, Nick, for making me feel deeply regretful as you now find yourself on pace to hit 30+ dingers and justify why we loved you in the first place! I actually think this is a pretty common occurrence for most leagues, in that I think a majority of the OG Kurtz stashers made the same mistake as myself. A moment of silence for those who dropped. For those who dropped.

Nolan Schanuel, 68 Schanuel is whelming, and that's totally okay. Do we wish that he had more power in that 6'2 frame? Of course. It's pretty weird that someone with such decent size has such poor bat speed and exit velocity. But at only age 23, Schanuel has only just begun to tap into his potential as a hitter. And for now, I think it's perfectly okay that we settle for him having fantastic bat-t0-ball skills and discipline at the plate. If you asked me to make a list of guys to monitor over the next few years, Schanuel would find himself towards the top. He's one swing adjustment from being really, really good, and it's all too often we see guys drastically improve their bat speed and swing mechanics over the course of a single off-season. And we can't ignore he's gone from 2nd percentile bat speed in 2025 to 6th in 2025. It may seem like nothing, but if he manages to make a similar jump in 2026, he could find himself being a much more productive player.

Ben Rice, 93 Ah, yes, the man I ultimately chose as my 1B for the 2025 season (though I also play Keith there). This is maybe the most beautiful statcast of 2025, with no single metric falling below the 50th percentile, and the most important metrics all hovering above the 90th percentile. How could I ever give up on this? HOW COULD THE YANKEES EVER GIVE UP ON THIS? Look, Ben Rice is going to be a very, very good player for years to come. He's powerful, athletic, and has the type of beautiful swing that could make Griffey blush. It's rare to find lefty mashers with this much potential just floating along waivers for large portions of a season, but somehow Ben Rice continues to vastly underperform his expected numbers and make it a pain in the ass to roster him. The Yankees do him no favors resting him in favor of guys who haven't long left in the MLB, and so he loses rhythm in a sport where rhythm is the name of the game. But make no mistake - positive regression will come for Ben Rice, and when it does, he'll be the talk of the town. And for this reason, we hold.

Second Maikel Garcia, 65 So, I predicted Maikel's breakout a year too early, mentioning him in my preseason list before the 2024 season, and then excluding him entirely for 2025. I'm happy to see him finally living up to the potential he flashed in 2023 and then some. His bat-t0-ball ability is strong, as is his average exit velocity, but he still has trouble lifting the ball as evidenced by his barrel and sweet-spot percentiles. This should be the next stage of development for the upcoming star, and with him being only 25, is entirely within the realm of possibility. One thing I do worry about, though, is his viability as a stolen base threat going forward. Maikel has lost signficant sprint speed every year since his debut, starting at the 81st percentile in 2022, and now down to the 58th percentile in 2025. If this trend continues, and it likely will, Maikel could see himself falling below the 50th percentile as soon as 2026. And although he has tremendous instict on the basepaths, a lack of speed will eventually catch up to him. If he wants to remain relevant for years to come, he needs to work on that swing.

Colt Keith, 83

I won't lie - I was a tremendous Colt Keith hater in the earlygoings of the season. I loathed his defense to the point where I wanted him demoted to AAA, and his inability to hit the ball only fanned the flames of discontent. And although his defense hasn't improved much, boy has his hitting ability really taken off.

Now I own Colt Keith, a man I once disregarded entirely and would have never included on my blog - and I couldn't be happier! What is there not too love about this statcast? His power and contact metrics all hover from the 60th to 75th percentile range, and above all, his sweet-spot percentile clocks in at an elite 94th percentile mark! A beautiful launch angle combined with above-average everything makes Colt Keith a remarkably consistent option going forward, and it wouldn't be surprising to see him finish the season above an .800 OPS!

Otto Lopez, 53

The Miami Marlins are exciting in 2025, in part to young talent like Otto Lopez. Sure, a .250 BA and .712 OPS don't stand out as being particularly dominant, but there's more to Otto than meets the eye.

When Otto produces, he fucking produces. When Otto slumps, he fucking slumps. And because fantasy managers love nothing more than a super hot and steamy stream, the fantasy baseball equivalent to a one-night stand, Otto finds himself in the public discourse quite often when he's mashing baseballs. And even as he hits his slumps, it's extremely encouraging to see his expected numbers telling us those slumps are partially due to some bad luck. I think the dream is for Otto to find some consistency, and so tune in for the second half and see what happens!

Jorge Polanco, 73 I think it's fitting that Jorge's had a bit of a resurgence over the last few week, if anything, just to solidify his spot on the prestigous Gerbilsports Waiver Wire All-Star List! Polanco looked like Aaron Judge for the better part of the first half, hitting .384 with a 1.226 OPS in March/April, but a paltry .139 and .222 in May and June. As mentioned, he's hit nicely in July, to the tune of .300 with a 1.064 OPS. Not too shabby. Polanco's bat speed remains significantly higher in 2025 and for this reason, you shouldn't be out on him. He'll hit his slumps like any other player, but the swing mechanics remain solid and the ceiling high.

Short

Jacob Wilson 51 A 51 may seem like a low score for Wilson, but let's face it - Wilson is already heavily outperforming Statcast's own expected numbers and one wouldn't be at fault for expecting regression. Still, though, a 51 is actually a respectable GerbilScore, and the contact excellence bonus is doing a lot of heavy lifting here thanks to some extremely strong 98th/99th percentile metrics. Wilson has been fantastic in 2025, and I'm quite regretful i've never once included him on a blog post - shame on me. I'll try to be better.

Tyler Freeman, 74

As you all know, Freeman may be my favorite add of the entire year. Everytime I watch this guy in the batter's box, he appears to be completely in control of the at-bat and never overwhelmed. Much like Jacob Wilson, you kind of just expect something good to happen when he's at the plate, and that's superstar quality. While Freeman only has one HR on the year, he still boasts a .404 OBP thanks to a .323 BA and 60th percentile BB%. And with that elite OBP, Tyler is always looking to swipe a bag, making him true fantasy gold at the top of the Rockies' lineup. He hasn't stolen too many bags over the past two weeks thanks to an insignifcant hamstring injury that's slowed him down a bit, and hopefully we can expect him to come out of the break fully healthy and ready to run. Fun fact: his younger brother, Cody Freeman, may be promoted to the Rangers quite soon! Keep an eye on that, he's pretty good!

Geraldo Perdomo, 70

I love Perdomo, so much in fact that I had him on my very first waiver wire pieces of the year!: https://www.gerbilsports.com/post/waiver-wire-week-1-get-these-hitters-before-you-can-t-get-these-hitters Unfortunately, I didn't add him due to owning Seager and Gunnar. Boy, was that a mistake. Perdomo is a top 100 player at the halfway point of the 2025 season, largely in part to his stellar .370 OBP leading to tons of counting stats at the top of the D-backs order. 53 runs is no joke. And despite less than average speed, Perdomo has managed to rack up 13 stolen bases thanks to some keen awareness on the base-paths. Who would have guessed he'd have a higher ranking than Gunnar and Seager....damn. Congrats to all of the Perdomo owners out there, especially if you added him after reading my Week 1 Post!

Zach Neto, 85

Neto was expected to break out this year, but he's honestly exceeded any expecations I realistically had. A 30-30 season is well on the table for Neto in 2025, and at only age 24, Neto needs to be considered one of the premiere shortstop options in the league going forward. The fact that he currently has 15 HRs and 17 SBs despite missing the first few weeks of the season is a testament to how efficient he's actually been. If he could find a way to chase and K less, and walk even a bit more, you're looking at a superstar.

Third Addison Barger, 83 Addison Barger is built different, and it shows every time he makes contact. At only age 25, the Jays now have a championship piece for years to come. I don't really have much to say about the Large Barge, other than I'm grateful to him for making my redraft team much more competitive. People may need to shift their eyes from Vladdy a bit, there's a new star in Toronto.

Zack Mckinstry, 60 McKinstry is playing the best baseball of his career at age 30 and we're all here for it. His .285 BA, .836 OPS., and 15 stolen bases makes him the perfect role player on a team with championship aspirations. Yes, he's outperforming his expected numbers by a pretty wide margin, especially the expected slugging - slugging difference, but baseball aint' all about the numbers. McKinstry sees good pitches to hit in a stacked lineup and takes care of business.

Javier Baez, 42 Props to Baez on the nice first half, but I'm not entirely enthusiastic going forward.

Jose Caballero, 37 Small-ball specialist who finds value purely through walks and stolen bases. Nothing particuarly special here, but I have to ackowledge what he's done.

Outfield

Kyle Stowers, 93

It's safe to say the Stowers breakout is now official, coming on the heels of a three HR performance and an all-star appearance. This is a painful one for me to write about, but again, I have to congratulate everyone who picked this guy up and believed enough to not give up on him. He's maybe the number one waiver pickup of the year.

Jo Adell, 85

Count me in the club that thought Adell couldn't sustain this. I refused to pick him up, and didn't include him a single blog post this season. Shame on me - Adell and his ridiculous 99th percentile bat speed have made me look the fool. And being only 26, Adell has an extremely bright future in an Angels lineup that features quite a bit of young talent in guys like Neto and Schanuel.

Alec Burleson, 76 Drafting Alec Burleson and then dropping him after only two weeks was one of my worst decisions of the 2025 season, especially because I expected this breakout to happen based on his trend of improvement each year in the league. His bat-to-ball skills are elite and he only continues to gain consistent power, with his average exit velocity increasing year by year. Make sure you're ready to grab him in 2026, as once again, he'll most likely be a drafr steal in the mid rounds.

Andy Pages, 67 Pages has had a nice year as he's learned how to hit RHP. Currently posting reverse splits, Pages has an .807 OPS against RHP and .737 OPS against LHP - a marked improvement from his .647 OPS against RHP in 2024. This drastic improvement has led to an .804 OPS across 351 ABS and a really solid 17 HRs. If Pages can fix that chase rate, the sky is the limit.

Tyler Soderstrom, 72 Soderstrom started the season as hot as anyone in the league, but has cooled off significantly as the season has progressed. I see Tyler as the ultimate microwave player - when he's going, everything flies off his bat; otherwise, he's whiffing. We need to remember he's only 23 and the best is yet to come for the upcoming star - I personally think it will be next year that we see a 40 HR season.

Catcher

Agustín Ramirez, 64 If Agustín actually stays at catcher for a few years despite his awful defense, he's easily the most valuable young catcher in the sport and should be heavily sought in dynasty leagues. It's extremely rare to find this kind of power and pure hitting ability at position where production is scarce. This production, alongside some awesome metrics, is extremely impressive at only age 23.

Iván Herrera, 72 After showing some awesome potential in 2024, slashing .301 with an .800 OPS, Herrera has continued to thrive at the plate in 2025. He's now hit over .300 with an .800+ OPS for nearly a full season's worth of ABs over the span of three years. His 2025 slash line of .315 and .898 is the most impressive of any Catcher in baseball, but unfortunately, injuries continue to plague the young masher. If he can find a way to stay healthy and available, he could find himself being the #1 fantasy catcher for years to come. Both he and Agustín are must-own talents.