Last Updated on August 15, 2025 11:01 am by Paul Williamson | Published: August 15, 2025

If you’ve made it this far into the season and are still regularly reading our waiver wire content, first of all – thank you for your patronage. Secondly, it likely means that you’re still in the playoff hunt and if you are one of those teams, it likely also means that your team doesn’t have all that many gaping holes in your roster. Barring the myriad of injuries that crop up this time of year, of course.

In that scenario, you’re less inclined to feel the necessity to go for high-floor options in order to just plug the hole and instead, you’re starting to already think towards playoff matchups and which performers may have the upside to push you to a fantasy title. The names below are some of my favorite selections for potential difference makers for the stretch run of the season. Let’s dive in!

Owen Caissie – OF – CHC – 9% Yahoo, 0% CBS

Last 14 Days: .393/.500/.607- 2HR/0SB – .491 wOBA – .214 ISO – 191 wRC+ (AAA)

We’re now reaching the point of the season where the real life teams in the hunt for a postseason berth are looking for reinforcements and that means a host of exciting players are likely to reach the majors for the first time over the coming weeks. Receiving the call from the Cubs yesterday, Caissie is one such player so let’s dig into his profile and what he offers as far as fantasy potential in his rookie debut.

First and foremost is his home run ability – the true standout weapon in his toolbox – as Caissie falls into the classic corner outfield masher archetype, with light-tower power but enough strikeouts to potentially cause him problems at the big league level unless he’s able to make some adjustments. Whether it’s an ability to make changes as he goes or simply growing into his body, Caissie saw significant improvement in his repeat of Triple-A this season, returning to – and in many cases, surpassing – the highs he showed in 2023 after a bit of a downturn in 2024;

The last column there is what gives me the most belief in Caissie finding success at the majors as he ran strikeout rates right-at or just-above 30% in each of those three stops in the minors. That usually portends a lot of up-and-down when a player is that strikeout prone against MLB pitchers, let alone when they’re doing so against farmhands, so it’s perhaps no surprise that as he’s improved his contact ability, it’s allowed him to increase his power output along the way.

That said, a 73.7% contact rate is still well below average, so hot and cold streaks are going to be a familiar part of rostering Caissie even once he does find his footing – but with his prodigious power, he projects as a potential .260-hitting, 25-30 homer outfielder. With a career walk rate in the minors of 13.6%, he’ll likely work enough free passes to keep his OBP up, giving him a slightly higher floor than your average free-swinging slugger.

Welcome to the Show!

Matt Shaw – 3B – CHC – 41% Yahoo, 60% CBS

Last 14 Days: .269/.345/.846- 4HR/1SB – .482 wOBA – .577 ISO – 218 wRC+

The youth movement on the North Side seems to be full swing now, with Caissie up and Matt Shaw swinging one of the hottest sticks in town.

Though his season long slashline is still pretty unsightly (.228/.296/.401 – 96 wRC+) even with this recent hot stretch included, it certainly seems like Shaw has turned a corner and is finally finding his way to being able to feed into his home run potential by utilizing his above-average contact skills. Because as disappointing as Shaw has been from a slugging perspective, he’s maintained a 62nd-percentile strikeout rate by running a 21.1% whiff rate (69th-percentile), while making contact at a 82.0% rate overall. That’s all backed by a strong 8.6% swinging-strike rate, as well.

So we’ve established Shaw has quality bat-to-ball skills but where does my belief in his power ability come from? Well, simply that he’s shown the skill before.

To make the difference between his hard-hit rates at the two levels this year even more clear, his Triple-A mark would put him alongside players like Riley Greene and Lawrence Butler; his MLB mark has him in the range of a semi-cooked Jose Altuve and Nolan Schanuel. His hard-hit rate over the last two weeks? It comes in at 36.8% – a figure that certainly won’t put him in the Home Run Derby any time soon, but is still a good step up from his season-long metrics.

Perhaps the most notable jump comes in the form of his Barrel%, which languishes at just 6.5% for the season but has sat at 15.8% over the last 14 days. To top it all off, he set a new maxEV for the season with a ball batted at 109.2mph, so everything truly is coming up Milhouse Matt Shaw right now – making it a perfect time to scoop him off waivers.

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Jeff Clowers

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