Waiver Wire Week 11 (In Progress)

Hello folks, and welcome back to the weekly waiver wire post! Hunter Gaddis & Tim Herrin In Sabrowski's absence, Hunter Gaddis and Tim Herrin have combined for 11 combined saves+holds for the Guardians. Both are widely available, and if you buy them in tandem, you're essentially buying the entire high-leverage Guardians' bullpen. Oh, and of course, they're good! Looking at Hunter Gaddis, the age 28 veteran hasn't given up an earned run since May 7th, and hasn't walked a batter in 4 of his last 5 appearances. He's now sitting at a 3.86 ERA and 1.47 WHIP, which might make you hesitate, until you realize he had a 6.75 ERA across 5.1 IP heading into the month of Month of May. His last 10 innings pitched have been much closer to the Hunter Gaddis we've come to know over the years. There's also some data that shows what's going on:

If you look closely, you'll notice something odd - Gaddis came into the season trying to throw a new pitch, that being the splitter. It was actually a pretty good pitch, with a .000 BA against, but he clearly didn't feel comfortable throwing it, as he threw it on extremely limited usage to. It also came at the expense of his changeup, a pitch he had thrown for years, but had gotten hit to the tune of a .286 BA against in 2025. Trying to scrap a tried-and-true changeup that may have been deemed ineffective after a rough 2025, it just didn't seem like Gaddis was comfortable with his new pitch mix and wound up throwing the slider way more than he should have.

What you'll see, correlating with his much better performance, is that the changeup has made it's return, and on good usage, throwing it as much as 44% on May 12th! The pitch has been wildly successful with a .000 BA against on 51 pitches thrown, with an xBA of .063. Spicy! This has taken a ton of pressure off of his slider, and has also made his 4-seam a much more potent offering. We're now seeing a much more balanced pitch mix, and that's awesome. But why is Gaddis' changeup finding such insane success here in 2026, after a fairly tumultuous 2025 performance? Well, pitch shape, of course! His changeup has 2.1 inches more armside run here in 2026, and it's become a more potent tool against LHH (24% usage!) as it breaks away towards the outside of the plate. Check out this pitch, for example: https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=3ad37d77-d9c9-3668-afc9-e873df486399 Filthy.

Tim Herrin

After a rough May 31st outing that saw him chased with only a single batter retired, Herrin has looked pretty nice in his last three outings, with no walks issued and no runs given up. His pitch shape and mix are solid, with his two primary pitches - the slider and curveball - boasting excellent .164 and .141 xBA marks, and 50.8% and 25% whiff rate marks. That's pure dominance on over 55% of his pitch usage. Fortunately, his 3rd pitch, the 4-seam, is also really solid with a .204 xBA and remarkably low 15% hard-hit rate! However, it's run into a bit of BABIP bad luck and has a .357 BA against. All of this has led to Herrin's filthy .187 xBA, and it's really starting to show in the production as of late. As long as Sabrowski remains on the shelf, Herrin should find plenty of high-leverage work going forward. He's earned it by being able to both make guys whiff at a 90th percentile rate, and completely mitigate any kind of quality contact.

Orion Kerkering Kerkering is quickly ascending the ranks as one of the best upcoming relievers in the league, rocking an absolutely filthy arsenal of pitches that includes a 97 mph 4-seam with 16 inches of iVB out of a 34 degree slot. And despite rocking an awesome 4-seam, his primary pitch is actually a filthy sweeper with a ton of glove-side action and lowly 19% hard-hit rate against. Oh, and his 3rd pitch, the 19.8% usage sinker? A .145 xBA against with a 13% hard-hit rate. Basically, Kerkering is fucking nasty. His sweeper dominates both LHH and RHH, while he uses the 4-seam to take care of LHH and the sinker to take care of RHH. He's got both sides of the plate completely figured out with two different fastballs, and rocks a 99th percentile hard-hit rate against, while striking out guys a 74th percentile clip. At only age 25, Kerkering should be one of the most fantasy-relevant relievers for years to come.

Brandon Young Three straight quality starts, and suddenly Brandon Young is looking like the ace of that Orioles staff; weird turnaround for a guy who looked like the worst starter in the league as recently as last year, no? But that's baseball, where the most minor adjustments can completely improve performance in no time at all! Check this out: https://www.mlb.com/news/brandon-young-talks-grip-change-behind-new-splitter-pitch TLDR - His splitter has significantly less spin (which is ideal for a splitter), 8 more inches of vertical break, and 4 inches less arm-side break. It's moving much more like a splitter should, and the results have been phenomenal. But that's not all that's happening:

Over his last three starts, Young's location has been straight up elite with 116, 119, and 109 location+ grades. This kind of location, on top of the improved splitter, has allowed Young to make excellent use of a deceptively good 4-seam fastball. Young's 4-seam has a nice 18 inches of iVB dating back to last year, but there's one enormous difference. In 2025, Young had 18 inches iVB out of a 49 degree slot. In 2026, Young has 18 inches iVB out of a 43 degree slot, with an added 3 inches of arm-side break. I can't stress enough just how drastic this pitch shape change is, and the results have been remarkable. .233 to .189 xBA 43% to 37% Hard-Hit 19 to 23% whiff .277 to .134 BA Lowering the slot and keeping iVB is basically a pitcher's wet-dream, and has really helped Brandon Young defy the expected numbers you see below, like so many high-ride fastball pitchers do.

Stephen Kolek

I personally decided to go in on Kolek and nabbed him off waivers, and I'm sure you're right there too. Over the last three weeks, we saw:

Complete game shutout.

Destroyed.

7 inning, 8 K QS

Our philosophy? Guys are allowed to have a bad start; when the rest is so damned good, just consider it an outlier. Kolek is one of the few sub 1.0 WHIP starting pitchers you'll ever find on the waiver wire, and it's really not a fluke - his pitch shape is just a lot better this year, as is his location. We've already went over a lot of the pitch shape changes in previous pieces, but I do want to mention his stuff again real quick:

Kolek is consistently throwing an extremely high-grade sinker, but the results haven't quite matched up - which is interesting, because Kolek clearly knew his sinker had the juice in his most recent outing, as he threw it on by far the highest usage of the season at 32%! The slider was also above the 100 grade mark for the first time, and really put in work with a 58% whiff rate. If Kolek can find ways to make this sinker work, and continue to find success with the slider, he should be a good start each and every week!

Walbert Urena

Nothing here has changed, this kid is just filthy. If you were on the fence due to a high BB% and inflated WHIP, i'd suggest you consider the quality starts and ERA. In his young career, Urena now has 5 quality starts in 11 outings - that's kind of absurd for a 22 year old rookie, isn't it?

Troy Melton

Melton continues to defy his expected numbers, and that's actually expected! Hitters simply can't generate good contact on any of his pitches, and that shows in the Barrel rates at 75th percentile mark. He also doesn't issue many walks, induces plenty of groundballs, and allows middling hard-hit and exit velocities against. But again, none of it at decent launch angles. His statcast is already beginning to look prettier after his most recent start, which saw him gain an inch of iVB on the 4-seam and more vertical drop on the splitter. Beautiful.

Dominic Canzone

.280 BA .531 SLG .879 OPS These are a few of my favorite of things. Dominic Canzone has graced the Gerbil Sports waiver wire 10 times dating back to 2024, and i've been hot for this dude since his days as a Diamondbacks prospect. And it wasn't for no reason either - Dominic Canzone was the best hitter at AAA back in 2023, no contest. Each year since, he's flashed the hit tool with the metrics to boot, but for one reason or another, it hasn't truly manifested as fantasy baseball production. Even with a .300 BA and .839 OPS in 2025, it only came with 269 plate appearances in a strong-side platoon, making it more or less fantasy-useless unless you were willing to roster Canzone in your own platoon. But now it's 2026, and it seems like Canzone is truly, actually, breaking out for real. Across 161 plate appearances - putting him on pace for over 350 plate appearances this year - Canzone is rocking a .280/.348/.879 line with 8 dingers and 11 doubles. That's nearly 20 extra-base hits in 161 plate appearances, and an extra-base hit every 8.7 plate appearances. Thus, the .531 SLG. It's pretty easy to recommend the hit tool here, and the only thing to be wary of is usage. But let's be real - the Mariners are coming to understand that they don't really have a better DH option here against RHP. As long as there's a righty on the mound, Canzone will be getting his looks. With perfect launch angles, perfect power, and high bat speed that's getting squeezed to the fullest extent with an elite squared-up/bat-speed ratio, Canzone is a fine add for any OF needy team.

Cole Carrigg If you were high on Henry Bolte, then boy do I have a car to sell ya. Carrigg may not have the cool last name that perfectly matches his play-style, but this dude right here is still the best SB guy in the entirety of the minor leagues. Carrigg has 30 stolen bases at AAA to go with a .335 BA, .942 OPS, 15 doubles, 5 triples, and 6 dingers. That's a hell of a line. At first glance, you may not think the power ceiling is there when compared to a guy like Bolte, but there's a few considerations here: Carrigg has a significantly better AAA GB% than Bolte at 48.7% vs 58.8%, and that's really plagued Bolte in the majors, leading to exactly 0 HRs with bottom of the barrel (no pun intended) barrel and sweet-spot rates. Bolte had power upside at AAA because he could barrel up a recognized pitch every once in a while, but it's just not happening here. With Carrigg playing at Coors field and having more consistent launch angles than Bolte, i'd expect a higher major league power ceiling, better OBP, and more stolen bases. My claim - Carrigg is just a better version of Bolte. There's one main red flag with Carrigg, that being his 28th percentile chase rate at AAA. At AAA, he was able to pull this off while still maintaining a 75th percentile whiff rate. In the majors, this feat won't necessarily be easy to accomplish. If you're starved for stolen bases, or just looking for a shiny new toy to keep your season fresh, then I say - add Cole Carrigg immediately and tune into some Rockies games.

Matt McLain

McLain has come on strong over the last 14 days with a 1.17 OPS and .320 BA, and finally, we can start to say he's living up to the expectations we've held for him since Spring Training. His bat speed remains significantly higher than what we saw in 2025, and on top of that, he's squaring up the ball at a well-above-average 75th percentile rate. But wait, there's more! How 'bout that 75th percentile sweet spot, and that 57th percentile barrel?! Matt McLain is making excellent contact at great launch angles, and honestly, we really did expect this. A hot, steamy summer awaits for the 26 year old 5-tool second baseman.