Week 20 Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Taj Bradley, Shane Bieber, And 11 More Targets

With the fantasy baseball playoffs around the corner, the waiver wire is packed with potential difference-makers. From power-hitting call-ups like Dylan Beavers and Coby Mayo to pitching reinforcements such as Taj Bradley and Shane Bieber, these Week 20 pickups can give your roster the late-season spark it needs.

Catcher

Connor Wong, Boston Red Sox

The Red Sox have gotten a lot of surprising mileage out of Carlos Narvaez this year, but he has been battling knee soreness this week. In addition, Navaez had only one hit over 23 at-bats while sitting four times over Boston’s last seven matchups.

Wong hasn’t been the same player this year after helping fantasy teams as a C2 last season (.280/54/13/52/8 over 447 at-bats). Over his last five games, he went 4-for-16 with four runs and one RBI. He falls into the dollar and a dream category, if his playing time continues to increase this weekend.

First Base

Tyler Locklear, Arizona Diamondbacks

After getting traded to the Diamondbacks, Locklear has looked better in the majors over his last four games (4-for-13 with four runs, one home run, one RBI, and one steal). He remains a free agent in 82% of 12-team leagues in the high-stakes market while bringing a winning resume from AAA this year (.316/70/19/82/17 over 373 at-bats).

Tyler Locklear wasted no time making an impression with his new club.

The D-backs prospects launched his first homer of the season at 107.7 mph.

(📽️: @MLBNetwork)pic.twitter.com/8fNkYjXSra
— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) August 5, 2025

Second Base

Brooks Baldwin, Chicago White Sox

I feel like Baldwin’s agent after writing about him so much this year. He continues to fill the bill of an upside talent in the free agent pool in most 12-team leagues. He has eight hits over his previous 17 at-bats with two runs, one home run, and two RBIs. The White Sox placed Chase Meidroth on the injured list this week, almost securing that Baldwin gets every day at-bats with a chance to move up the batting order.

Third Base

Coby Mayo, Baltimore Orioles

With over 120 at-bats of experience with Baltimore this year, Mayo looks ready to go on a power run. He has a mini three-game hitting streak (4-for-10 with one run, one home run, and three RBIs), keeping under the radar for the teams looking for a boost in power. His playing time should continue after the Orioles cleared some starting roster opportunities at the trade deadline. Mayo is hitting .270 over his last 37 at-bats with five runs, three home runs, and eight RBIs.

Shortstop

Blaze Alexander, Arizona Diamondbacks

For the fantasy teams holding Jordan Lawlar, Alexander could be a perfect bridge to him on their rosters. His bat was productive over 194 at-bats at AAA (.284/41/8/41/11) this season, supported by success at that level in the minors in his career (.280 over 686 at-bats with 125 runs, 25 home runs, 123 RBIs, and 17 steals). He also had a high walk rate (12.4%) in his career at AAA. In August in Arizona, Alexander has six hits over 22 at-bats (.273) with three runs, one home run, and two RBIs.

Blaze Alexander - Arizona Diamondbacks (1)
pic.twitter.com/jK5OzAGr1K
— MLB HR Videos (@MLBHRVideos) August 3, 2025

Outfielders

Dylan Beavers, Baltimore Orioles

Beavers should have been called up in late July after the Orioles traded away some assets. He responded with back-to-back two-home-run games on August 3rd and 5th, upping his already rising profile since the All-Star break (.298/22/8/16/2 over 57 at-bats). For the year at AAA, Beavers is hitting .309 over 314 at-bats with 74 runs, 18 home runs, 50 RBIs, and 22 stolen bases. He isn’t in the free agent pool yet in the high-stakes market.

Nathan Lukes, Toronto Blue Jays

A three-game trip to Toronto created 45 runs of offense for their batters. Lukes went 6-for-13 with six runs, one home run, and six RBIs, giving him a high level of success over his last 54 at-bats (.259/14/5/16/6). His stats for the year (.261 with 42 runs, 10 home runs, 49 RBIs, and one steal) project well over a full season of playing time.

Jakob Marsee, Miami Marlins

Last week, I was sleeping at the wheel in deep formats on the potential value of Marsee after Miami traded Jesus Sanchez to the Astros. At AAA in 2025, he hit .243 over 345 at-bats with 55 runs, 14 home runs, 37 RBIs, and 46 stolen bases. His bat hit the ground running for the Marlins this week (9-for-20 with four runs, one home run, four RBIs, and two steals), magnifying my sloppy fantasy managing. Marsee remains in the free-agent pool in 23% of 12-team leagues. Great speed out, with the foundation skill set to help in three other categories.

Starting Pitching

Taj Bradley, Minnesota Twins

Over the weekend, I traded in Dustin May for Bradley in some of my 15 leagues, with the hopes of getting more innings down the stretch. He had his second AAA start on Wednesday, resulting in another strong performance (one run, five hits, and a home run over six innings with four strikeouts). Minnesota should call him up next week based on his success at AAA (0.69 ERA, 0.54 WHIP, and seven strikeouts over 13.0 innings). Bradley should be picked up this week while being a free agent in over 40% of 12-team leagues in the high-stakes market.

Kyle Harrison, Boston Red Sox

For those not getting the fantasy memo, I started to break up with Harrison last week due to his struggles in the minors and the need to dump his buy-and-hold roster slot. As expected, he pitched well in his next outing (today – 8/7) – no runs and five baserunners over five innings with seven strikeouts. He is going to pitch in the majors this season and help the Red Sox win. If I have room on my roster, I’m going to take another flier on Harrison, with the hopes that he helps me in September.

Kyle Harrison dazzled in Worcester:

5 IP
2 H
3 BB
0 ER
7 K

11 whiffs (26%)
30% CSW
61% strikes

Tweaks paying off. Pitch count slowly increasing (up to 99p today), you know what that means — it’s only a matter of time before we see him in the ML rotation. pic.twitter.com/QlzmIfgxGB
— G.G. (@ggeiss_mlb) August 7, 2025

Shane Bieber, Toronto Blue Jays

After success in his last start at AAA (one run, six baserunners, and one home run over five innings with six strikeouts), Bieber has one more minor league start before getting chances in the Blue Jays' starting rotation. He has a 2.20 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, and 27 strikeouts over his 16.1 innings of rehab work over multiple levels of minor league baseball this year.

Jacob Lopez, Athletics

In shallow formats, Lopez remains in the free agent pool in about 25% of the leagues. He hasn’t allowed a run over his last 17.0 innings, with 10 hits, six walks, and 19 strikeouts, leading to two wins. His results (5-2 with a 2.34 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, and 68 strikeouts over his previous 11 starts (57.2 innings) rank with the best pitchers in baseball.

Christian Javier, Houston Astros

The Astros gave Javier five rehab starts over the past four and a half weeks. He allowed eight runs, 10 hits, and 15 walks over 14.0 innings over 15 innings. His command issues invite WHIP risk out of the gate, along with short outings. The Astros expect to have him in their starting rotation next week.