Lance McCullers Jr. - Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups (Week 11)

Lance McCullers Jr. is a top fantasy baseball waiver wire pickup for Week 11 (2025). Fantasy baseball managers should add McCullers Jr. as a waiver wire free agent in all leagues.

BALLER MOVE: Add in all leagues

ROSTERED IN: 35% of Leagues

ANALYSIS: Welcome back, Lance McCullers Jr.! This guy had his fair share of injuries over the years and has not pitched in MLB since 2022.  A once very promising arm for the Astros has built his way back and produced back-to-back quality starts while flashing some serious upside. It was tough for him through his first four starts, with a 6.57 ERA in only 12 1/3 innings pitched.

However, in his last two starts, he has pitched 12 innings, allowed seven hits, two walks, and struck out 19. Giving him a 28.9 percent strikeout rate on the season. Personally, I am a sucker for pitchers with good swing-and-miss stuff, because in points leagues, that's how pitchers can have high upside, by earning two points for a strikeout instead of one point from a recorded out (flyout or groundball, etc.).

Although McCullers still has areas for improvement, such as his walk rate and limiting hard contact, he has shown improvement over his last few starts. We had to imagine he would be rusty after missing the previous two and a half seasons, right? On the season, he now has a 4.44 ERA and 1.40 WHIP; however, his SIERA is 3.49, and his xFIP is 3.63, showcasing potential signs of positive regression.

Lance McCullers, Wicked 83mph Slider. 🤢

19 inches of break. 6th K pic.twitter.com/WIzpWFh4ky

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 4, 2025

His Stuff+ is currently sitting at 103, with his Location+ sitting a few ticks below (94) his career average of 98. What this tells me is that if he can regain some of his control, his stuff is good enough to compete, evidenced by his 3.51 career ERA.

I'd be willing to bet on him maturing as a pitcher, leaning on his offspeed as he gets older, and producing at a high enough level to give fantasy managers production as a back-end starter.

McCullers comes with a history of injuries and is still working off the rust, but he has put together a few good starts in a row, and I want to buy in before it turns into a string of good starts.

- Written by Nicho Roessler

Popular Player Comparison Searches - Who To Pickup?

Below are some popular searches and comparisons from our fantasy baseball Who To Pickup tool for Lance McCullers Jr. and others. You can also use the free Who Should I Pickup tool to run your own waiver wire comparisons, up to four players at once:

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