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Andy looks at four sneaky fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups for starting pitchers in Week 2 (2026) on hot streaks, and sees if they can sustain their success.
We are officially in the full swing of fantasy baseball. With the early short week and the first full week in the books, we now have plenty of data to analyze, even for starting pitchers.
Most pitchers have made at least two starts, with some having even taken the bump three times. In this weekly piece, we will take a look at four more starting pitchers who could be worth picking up off the waiver wire.
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Will Warren, New York Yankees
45% Rostered (Yahoo)
Will Warren would have likely opened the regular season in a long relief role, but with both Gerrit Cole (elbow) and Carlos Rodon (elbow) on the shelf, Warren was given an opportunity to begin the season in the starting rotation. Through 10 innings of work (two starts), Warren posted a solid 2.70 ERA with a 1.10 WHIP, which has made him a solid addition in most standard leagues, and this is why his roster rate is slowly approaching the 50% mark.
In his season debut, Warren tossed 4 1/3 innings against the San Francisco Giants and allowed just one run with five hits. In this outing, Warren struck out three hits and served up two walks.
In his second outing, Warren was much sharper, logging 5 2/3 innings of two-run ball with four hits and no walks. He struck out six in this contest, with both of his runs coming at the hands of the long ball.
Like last season, Warren is still primarily a three-pitch pitcher (four-seamer, sinker, and sweeper), but has leaned even heavier on these three pitches in 2026. In 2025, his No. 4 pitch, his changeup, was thrown 9.8% of the time, but he has lowered this usage to a mere 3.8% in the early going. Instead, Warren has turned more to his sinker (21.0% - 31.3%) and slightly more on his fastball (41.6% - 46.9%).
The sample sizes are small, but both his four-seamer and sinker have performed much better compared to his 2025 metrics, which is an excellent sign. In 2025, his four-seamer posted a modest 23.2% whiff rate with a hefty .340 xwOBA. However, through two starts, it has been able to generate more whiffs (28.6%) while carrying a .298 xwOBA. This pitch has also clocked in at 94.2 MPH, a one-point jump from the previous summer.
His sinker has been even more impressive, boasting a 23.8% whiff rate with a .169 xwOBA, compared to the 13.6% whiff rate and .314 xwOBA it posted during the 2025 campaign.
While his sweeper has yet to generate a single whiff in 2026, managers should not be overly concerned, as his primary fastballs (four-seamer and sinker) are the foundation of his success and are performing much better than they were in 2025. Last season, his sweeper generated a 33.0% whiff rate, which could help Warren tap into even more strikeout upside over the coming weeks.
The other interesting component of his portfolio to monitor is his command. In 2025 (and his debut season in 2024), Warren posted a 9.1% BB% in back-to-back seasons. However, to this point, he has nearly cut in half, as it sits at 5.0%. If this were to be sustainable, Warren may not only find more success in his ERA with the improvement of his four-seamer and sinker, but also turn in a much lower WHIP with improved command.
While his long-term outlook may not be as intriguing as he will likely be shifted to long relief once Rodon and Cole return, for the time being, he holds solid SP4/SP5 upside in standard leagues heading into Week 3. He is a solid target in standard formats as his strikeout upside should continue to climb with the improvement of his fastball and eventual positive regression from his sweeper.
However, managers should not place a massive FAAB bid on Warren if looking for a long-term solution to their rotation.
Lance McCullers Jr., Houston Astros
40% Rostered
The nine-year MLB veteran has been idle with injuries for nearly five seasons but is finally at full strength and pitching quite well. In 2021, McCullers led career-high 162 1/3 innings for the Astros, but has yet to hit the 60-inning mark since.
In 2022, he logged just 47 2/3 innings to the tune of a dominant 2.27 ERA, but would then not return to the mound until the 2025 season after recovering from numerous serious injuries, such as a torn right flexor tendon.
In 2025, McCullers made his season debut in May but did not find much consistency, which is why he went undrafted in most formats, as he pitched 55 1/3 innings with a high 6.51 ERA and a 1.81 WHIP. During this campaign, the 32-year-old posted a 22.3% K% but could not command his pitches, serving up free passes at a high 14.2% rate, one of the worst marks in the sport.
However, after a full offseason, McCullers is beginning to turn back the clock and re-entering fantasy baseball relevancy. Through two outings (11 innings), the right-hander has posted a 3,27 ERA with a 1.18 WHIP. H has struck out 18 hitters while posting a much lower 9.5% BB%, placing him just below the current average marks.
Can McCullers continue this trajectory?
Throughout most of his career, McCullers has been a sinker-heavy pitcher. However, in 2026, McCullers leaned on a cutter for the first time in his career and moved his sinker to his No. 2 pitch in his arsenal.
He has thrown his cutter 32.0% of the time and mixed in his sinker 28.0% of the time. Back in 2021, his sinker was his No. 1 but was thrown at a 34.0% rate.
Additionally, while his sweeper has been his go-to whiff pitch for most of his career, McCullers has shifted to a primary knuckle curve (17.1%) while mixing in his changeup (9.1%) and sweeper (8.6%). Since 2021, McCullers has thrown his sweeper at least 20.0% of the time, but is currently on pace to finish below the double-digit mark.
While his knuckle curve usage is slightly higher than in 2025, it remains well below the rates at which it was deployed during his "prime."
This is a drastic shift in pitch repertoire, which makes McCullers an interesting pitcher to monitor. So far, his revamped repertoire has brought him great success. His cutter has posted a .314 xwOBA but has held a strong 28.0% whiff rate. While his sinker has generated a low 9.1% whiff rate, he has been very effective in getting outs, posting a .291 xwOBA.
More importantly, by leaning on two types of fastballs, his breaking balls, and enjoying much higher success. His knuckle curve has posted an eye-catching 41.2% whiff rate while his changeup has held a 37.5% whiff rate, both of which are right in line with his 2021 marks.
His whiff upside was shown in his season debut when he struck out nine Red Sox over seven innings of one-run ball. While he only struck out four hitters in four innings against the Athletics on Sunday, given his time away from the mound, managers should not expect perfection on a start-by-start basis.
The upside is there, especially when looking for strikeouts. While managers could see occasional rough outings (and even a potentially limited workload at times), McCullers has the skill set to post an above-average K% while holding a mid-3.00s ERA, which makes him worth rostering in all fantasy formats.
Eduardo Rodriguez, Arizona Diamondbacks
15% Rostered
The 33-year-old has been a "floor" option throughout most of his career and has even been quite valuable for fantasy (especially during his 2023 season), but entered the 2026 season as a late-round volume option for most deeper leagues. Through two outings, the veteran southpaw has yet to allow an earned run across 12 innings while posting an elite 0.92 WHIP.
In his season debut, Rodriguez tossed five innings of one-run ball (zero earned runs) against the reigning two-time World Champions while allowing four hits and a 5:2 K:BB. In his next outing, the southpaw would look even sharper, logging seven innings, shutting down the Braves with only four hits, one walk, and three punchouts.
While he has only struck out eight hitters (17.4% K%), he has shown high-end command (6.5% BB%), keeping his walk rate low.
He has made a slight tweak to his repertoire, which could have been the spark the longtime MLB vet needed. He has begun to lean on his changeup as his No. 1 pitch while lowering his four-seamer usage. Compared to 2025, Rodriguez has thrown his changeup 34.9% of the time (a near 14-point jump from 2205), and lowered his four-seamer usage to 27.8% (from the 46.6% rate in 2025).
Given that his four-seamer struggled in 2025 (.338 xwOBA), reducing its usage is likely to bring him more success. Additionally, his changeup has been very effective in the opening month, posting a low .178 xwOBA with a 27.3% whiff rate.
Eduardo Rodríguez, Nasty 84mph Changeup. 👌 pic.twitter.com/86aDe9pN9G
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 4, 2026
While the sample his small, Rodriguez has generated a high 60.0% ground-ball rate and low 25.7% hard-hit rate. Given that Rodriguez is not the high-end strikeout asset, his margin for error is smaller than most pitchers, but by leaning on his changeup, he is finding sustainable success.
He is a solid waiver-wire option for those in deep 12+ team leagues, as he could continue to maintain high-end SP4 value/high-end SP3 upside going forward.
Jeffrey Springs, Athletics
10% Rostered
Rounding out this week's column will be Jeffrey Springs of the Athletics. The southpaw had a quiet season debut, logging 5 1/3ining of two-run ball against the Toronto Blue Jays while allowing three walks with just two strikeouts. However, he caught some eyes on Friday when he shut down the Houston Astros.
In this start, Springs tossed six innings of one-run ball with just two hits and one walk, while striking out seven batters. Is this the start of a breakout season?
In both outings, his four-seamer and changeup were his top-2 pitches. However, his secondaries shifted quite significantly, despite it being so early in the season. In his first start, Springs deployed his cutter as his No. 3 pitch (18.1%) but did not deploy it once against the Astros. This slight tweak allowed his slider to emerge as his No. 3 pitch and was the driving force behind his massive strikeout total.
In his second outing, his changeup posted a 40.0% whiff rate (22.3% usage), while the slider (15.5% usage) posted an impressive 50.0% whiff rate. Compared to 2025, his slider showed massive improvement in this outing and could develop into a dominant pitch for him.
In 2025, his slider posted 2,227 RPM with a 17-degree launch angle, then 2,335 RPM with a five-degree launch angle. The sample size is small, but if Springs can generate consistent whiffs with this pitch, his four-seamer will continue to perform even better.
He is projected to face the Yankees in his next outing, which is far from favorable, but this impressive start does make him a viable high-end stash option who could emerge as a reliable option going forward.
Jeffrey Springs is painting corners to open the game 🎨 pic.twitter.com/RFwRoA7ex9
— Athletics on NBCS (@NBCSAthletics) April 4, 2026
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