Working the Waiver Wire: April 17

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  • By Larry Vannozzi

    Last Updated on April 17, 2026 1:51 pm by Paul Williamson | Published: April 17, 2026

    I have a 1B, 1B/OF, RP and a C for you today in the Friday edition of Working the Waiver Wire.

    Before covering today’s possible waiver claims, I want to make sure you didn’t miss some recent golden opportunities. In case you did not see Anthony Kates’s Working the Waiver Wire article on Wednesday, please stop right now and follow his advice to add OF Mickey Moniak. For reasons you’ll see below in one of my suggested claims, Moniak is perfectly positioned to boost your fantasy team for at least the next seven days along with every series at Coors Field.

    Two more names that I want to highlight are RP Bryan Baker and C Dillon Dingler. They are repeats from last Friday’s article and I am advertising them again because they are still valuable and widely available. Baker has saved three games in the past week and Dingler’s bat is on fire (two homers and six RBI in the past week). If you need saves or one of the hottest-hitting catchers, check your wire for Baker and/or Dingler.

    The housekeeping is out of the way, so let’s see who is new on today’s list!

    * Note: Although all listed roster percentages are from Yahoo, at the time of the writing of this article, most of our waiver wire recommendations are widely available across all major platforms. *

    Luke Raley – 1B/OF – Mariners – 20% Rostered

    I don’t expect to get a rest-of-season superstar every time I claim a guy off waivers. If someone was that good, he would probably already be on someone’s team. I feel there is a lot of value adding a player who I believe will help my team right now and in the near future. If I have to move on from him in a couple weeks, then so be it. After all, isn’t that the purpose of Working the Waiver Wire series? Why yes; yes it is.

    So that brings us to Luke Raley. The Mariners 1B/OF is blistering the ball right now, so he’s a good guy to add to your team. He is batting .328 with four homers and 12 RBI in his first 18 games. Raley’s 21.6% barrel rate is an amazing number and about TWICE his career average. His expected batting average and expected slugging percentage are extremely strong (warning: tiny sample size, of course).

    Can this degree of success continue for the rest of the season? I doubt it. He is 31 years-old and in his sixth MLB season so he isn’t exactly an up-and-coming guy. His poor to hideous walk and strikeout rates (4.5% and 36.4%, respectively) don’t inspire long-term confidence.

    Regardless of some of his under-the-hood numbers, Raley is hot right now and may help your team in the weeks ahead. If (when) he cools off, drop him from your team and replace him with another beauty from our Working the Waiver Wire series!

     

    Aaron Ashby – RP – Brewers – 16% Rostered

    Do you want to be a winner? Of course you do, and that’s why you should pick up top setup man Aaron Ashby of the Brewers.

    Get this – Ashby already has FIVE wins yet we’re barely three weeks into the season! The Brewers have played 18 games (he appeared in 11), so his five wins puts him on pace for 45 wins!!

    Yes, it is nuts for me to project a three-week pattern across the entire season. And yes, I am positive that he won’t get anywhere near half of those 45 wins. But can he get 10, 12 or maybe even 15? I think that’s possible.

    Ashby is sporting a career-high 37.3% K% and a career-high 27.1 K-BB%. Also, it isn’t like his success has come from nowhere. His ERA was below 3.00 in both of the past two seasons and good strikeout rates of at least a 10 K/9 in each of his four years in MLB. He is a good pitcher on a pretty good team that is using him in such a way that gives him a chance to pile up victories. That’s a good recipe for just about any fantasy baseball team.

     


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    April 17, 2026, 1:51 pm