Closing in on Independence Day means ratios are inflating as standings consolidate. Managers who’ve been working the wire weekly are reaping the benefits of prior fringe adds, and the ones who haven’t are starting to feel the summer heat. No shortcuts, no magic beans — just good old fashioned fantasy elbow grease.I appreciate everyone reading all season. Let’s close out the first half strong with another dive into my favorite adds, top stashes and next week’s two-start pitchers.NOTE: Please prioritize positional lists over the featured player write-ups. I’m trying to avoid covering the same players more than once, and I don’t want any extra focus to be misconstrued as personal preference. Away we go!Top waiver-wire hitter optionsCatcher: Francisco Alvarez, NYMPrepare for a new running theme, everyone. If you’ve been following my esteemed colleague Eno Sarris’ recent work on the change in MLB baseballs, the cat’s out of the bag. Batted balls are the springiest they’ve been since the affectionately named happy-fun ball, which means one thing — stack up on power potential now or be left behind.Sure, between poor performance and injuries, Alvarez very well may have frustrated you in the past. However, he’s still only 24 years old with an extremely strong underpinning power profile — 45.0% hard-hit rate, 17.8% barrel rate, .439 xwOBAcon. Even more important for his rest-of-season potential is that Alvarez plays every day, regardless of pitcher handedness — even filling in at DH when he’s not behind the dish. The Mets may be struggling with the sticks, but you shouldn’t scoff at a full-time fantasy catcher poised to anchor the top-third of a lineup.First base: Jake Burger, TEXHungry for power? Well, grab yourself a burger ... a Jake Burger that is (sorry, dad jokes come with the analysis). The now 30-year-old first rounder (2017) failed to reach +400 PA in each of the past two seasons due to a litany of strains (intercostal, wrist, quadricep, and oblique). With that, whenever Burger's healthy, legitimate power has been there — he boasts a career 13.5% barrel rate to go with a home run every 20 plate appearances. We'll take that all day. Thus far engaged in a healthy 2026 campaign, I refuse to balk at a potential No. 1 1B finish if Burger's fantasy production continues to rise in lockstep with temperatures.Second base: Anthony Seigler, BOSFor the life of me, I just couldn't put my fantasy finger on why the name Anthony Seigler sounded so familiar. Then the proverbial ton of bricks hit me — the 27-year-old infielder was a first-round pick by my Yankees nearly a decade ago. Talk about a blast from the past. Limited to just 77 PA in his rookie season with Milwaukee in 2025, Seigler is finally getting a chance at full-time run and, honestly, he looks pretty good out there. More of a contact/speed archetype than our other mentions so far, Seigler's already found himself leading off for Boston after just a dozen games with the big club. If his on-base skills continue to translate, he's firmly in line to boost your run and steal categories from an optimal lineup placement.Shortstop: Joshua Kuroda-Grauer, ATHAfter losing half their starting lineup in the past two weeks, the Athletics' front office is fully relating to this series. And it's not often fantasy GMs get such a clear shot at playing time in one of the league's most prolific hitting environments. Remember, the A's still reside in West Sacramento's Sutter Health Park, the league leader in HR allowed for any stadium by a country mile. In fact, it's more than 25% ahead of the field and more than double six different venues?That brings us to Joshua Kuroda-Grauer, a light-hitting but speedy middle infielder with a track record for production via an elite plate approach. Taking the place of Jacob Wilson, the 2024 No. 75 draft pick slotted right into the A's starting nine, where he'll stay until Wilson returns. I'm tempering expectations, but shortstop's been particularly hard to fill this season, and sometimes it takes patchwork to cobble a winning season together.Third base: Max Muncy, ATHYes, he's back! Max Muncy, second of his name, lost roughly six weeks to a fractured fifth metacarpal after getting plunked. Somewhat shockingly, Muncy wasn't playing every day upon promotion from rehab in favor of Jeff McNeil and Zach Gelof. I'll even own up to declaring him a drop after sitting five straight in mid-June. Well, that's why pencils have erasers and, at only 24 years old, it's not nearly too late to buy back in on a double-digit career barrel rate from a 25th-overall pick in 2021. I cannot overstate how much we want our guys playing in that ballpark, with game totals consistently in the double digits.Outfield: Heliot Ramos, SFAnytime a top-90 hitter each of the past two seasons re-enters the fantasy fray, it's worthy of our attention. Still rostered in fewer than one-third of all leagues, Ramos earned a top-200 ADP for two years running for good reason. Ignore any fantasy fatigue you're feeling, Ramos boasts solid power stats, and he was back to a career-high +14% barrel rate before straining his right quad in mid-May. Ramos rattled off nearly 30 starts in a row before going down, even assuming a leadoff role against southpaws. He's not a league winner by any stretch, but I'll take a light five-category contribution wherever I can get it. If the baseball will really jump off the bat this summer, we want on board the H-train before it leaves the station.Hitter stash candidatesTop waiver-wire pitcher optionsStarting Pitcher: Ian Seymour, TBAfter drafting him in the last round of entirely too many season-long formats, no one's happier to see Seymour finally get a sustained shot in the Rays' rotation. The 27-year-old lefty was relatively dominant through 57 IP as a rookie (3.63 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 18.5% K-BB, 0.8 HR/9), so it never made sense to me why Steven Matz or Jesse Scholtens earned the nod first. Eventually these things work themselves out, and I believe Seymour is here to stay.