Week 7 Waiver Wire - Starting Pitchers

It's the middle of May and baseball has already descended into its prime chaotic form. We've got Robinson Cano getting popped with an 80-game suspension after breaking his hand, A.J. Pollock out for 4-8 weeks, DJ LeMahieu possibly out for over a month and Adrian Beltre is back on the DL. As I'm typing this,... Read More

Freddy Peralta (SP, MIL) - Week 7 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 0% of leagues ANALYSIS: Rookie pitcher Freddy Peralta was called up for a spot start on Sunday after Chase Anderson hit the 10-day DL with an illness. He dazzled in his debut performance, picking up the win at Coors field, while racking up 13 strikeouts over... Read More

Caleb Smith (SP, MIA) - Week 6 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 35% of leagues ANALYSIS: Miami Marlins starting pitcher Caleb Smith has really taken a shine to this whole “being aggressive” schtick, as his swing-and-miss stuff was once again on display against the Reds on May 5. Smith rung up seven Redlegs over 5 ⅔ shutout innings... Read More

Jeremy Hellickson (SP, WAS) - Week 6 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 15% of leagues ANALYSIS: It would appear that Washington Nationals starting pitcher Jeremy Hellickson is doing that thing again where he does not walk a lot of people and induces awful contact. He had begun to stand out even before taking a perfect game into the... Read More

Tyler Anderson (SP, COL) - Week 6 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 12% of leagues ANALYSIS: Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Tyler Anderson got knocked around pretty badly in his 2018 debut at Arizona and it seems to be haunting him and his ownership levels even through May. That is not "wrong" of folks to do -- ignoring the... Read More

Andrew Suarez (SP, SF) - Week 6 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 5% of leagues ANALYSIS: San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Andrew Suarez did well to scatter seven hits and allow a lone unearned run over 5 1/3 innings against Atlanta on Sunday en route to his first Major League W. The 25-year-old righty does not have great... Read More

Kyle Freeland (SP, COL) - Week 6 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 10% of leagues ANALYSIS: Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Kyle Freeland has made some real strides early on in his second season, resulting in a lovely 2.14 ERA/0.81 WHIP with a strikeout per inning in his last 21 frames. The southpaw has cut his walk rate down... Read More

Week 6 Waiver Wire - Starting Pitchers

With well over a month of the season in the books, we’re more than equipped to identify some legitimate arms, some hot starts that are likely to fade but fun to enjoy for now, and the true duds. You likely have a good idea as to where your team stands against your competitors and have... Read More

Mike Soroka (SP, ATL) - Week 5 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 27% of leagues ANALYSIS: All Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Mike Soroka did to win his Major League debut was toss six innings of one-run ball against the Mets. Ho-hum. He struck out five and walked none, which illustrates his likely strikeout limits (he had 125 K’s... Read More

Fernando Romero (SP, MIN) - Week 5 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 30% of leagues ANALYSIS: Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Fernando Romero is the next young arm to be called up for his MLB debut, which comes on Wednesday (May 2) at home against the Blue Jays. The rookie has had some spotty control to kick off his... Read More

Marco Gonzales (SP, SEA) - Week 5 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 9% of leagues ANALYSIS: Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Marco Gonzales is showing off some impressive command and limiting opposing bats with a 21.3 percent K-BB rate that’s currently nestled in between Luis Severino and Clayton Kershaw in 20th place on the leaderboard. That’s good company! However, and there is usually... Read More

Domingo German (RP/SP, NYY) - Week 5 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 0% of leagues ANALYSIS: With Jordan Montgomery likely to miss at least one turn in the rotation, if not quite a bit more, New York Yankees pitcher German looks to be the one to step into his rotation slot. He is technically a reliever on Yahoo right now,... Read More

Eric Lauer (SP, SD) - Week 5 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 1% of leagues ANALYSIS: The first four innings of San Diego Padres starting pitcher Eric Lauer’s Major League career were rough. After giving up six earned in three innings at Colorado in his debut, he opened his second start by allowing three runs to score in... Read More

Week 5 Waiver Wire - Starting Pitchers

Welcome to May, RotoBallers! A quick note: Be mindful of how the 2018 season as a whole compares to 2017 with regard to HR/FB rates, swinging-strike rates, etc. when you’re analyzing a pitcher’s performance versus last year’s stats. It’s been an eventful SP week despite only being Wednesday, Nick Kingham is already owned in too... Read More

Chris Stratton (SP, SF) - Week 4 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 28% of leagues ANALYSIS: San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Chris Stratton is a great addition, especially when looking at  deeper leagues. There is a lot to like about him and his gloriously-spinny curveball -- the 2.32 ERA and 2.69 FIP so far are no joke --... Read More

Trevor Cahill (SP, OAK) - Week 4 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 10% of leagues ANALYSIS: Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Trevor Cahill continued to show plus whiffs by inducing 16 swinging strikes on 98 pitches against the Rangers, with only one really poor pitch on the evening. His giving up three earned over five was not the encore... Read More

Week 4 Waiver Wire - Starting Pitchers

With nearly a month of the 2018 baseball season in the books, it's getting to the point where you start to have some legitimate bodies of work to study for pitchers, as well as earlier performances in the year that could feel rather irrelevant now. Matchup data continues to take hold and weaker teams ripe... Read More

Sean Newcomb (SP) - Week 3 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 5% of Leagues ANALYSIS: Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Sean Newcomb was robbed of his second victory in ‘18 on April 14 as Atlanta blew a 10-2 lead in epic fashion, but the southpaw still racked up seven strikeouts despite turning in just 10 swinging strikes. That’ll... Read More

Michael Kopech (SP) - Week 3 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 5% of Leagues ANALYSIS:The flamethrowing Chicago White Sox starting pitching prospect Michael Kopech has pitched 10 innings in 2018, allowing a lone run with 11 strikeouts against four walks. The four free passes are what we’re going to care about because we know the whiffs are... Read More

Zack Wheeler (SP) - Week 3 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 27% of Leagues ANALYSIS: After crushing the Marlins in his first Major League start of 2018, New York Mets starting pitcher Zack Wheeler was tasked with handling a much tougher Nationals lineup on Tuesday. While his overall line (6 IP, 7H, 3ER, 3BB, 2K) does count... Read More

Freddy Peralta (SP) - Week 3 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 0% of Leagues ANALYSIS: Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Freddy Peralta is not in the Yahoo player pool yet, but you will want to have his name stashed somewhere in your memory banks. Peralta, who turns 22 in June, has won all three of his starts this... Read More

Week 3 Waiver Wire - Starting Pitchers

We’re over halfway through April and while nearly all data points are far from settled, they’re all we’ve got. Trends in plate discipline metrics can start to surface around this time, but please don’t go blindly extrapolating hot or cold starts into full-season lines. Let’s look at some arms performing well at various magnitudes throughout... Read More

RotoBaller Premium Tools - Hitter Matchups

Baseball is a beautiful game, and as lovely as it is to witness a great pitching performance, there's nothing like seeing a great piece of hitting. Of course, even the best hitters will likely fail at the dish around 65-70% of the time over the course of the season. While this lovely sport is truly... Read More

Joey Lucchesi (SP, SD) - Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 11% of Yahoo leagues ANALYSIS: San Diego Padres starting pitcher Joey Lucchesi will not always play the Rockies, but the rookie might wish he could after dismantling them a second time on Tuesday night. After allowing just one hit with three walks while fanning seven Rox over five... Read More

Week 2 Waiver Wire - Starting Pitchers

With nearly two weeks of the 2018 baseball season in the books, it’s clearly getting toward that existential crisis time where you start to get itchy over those slow starts and brazen over the hot ones. I know you want results, but it’s not even halfway through April! You’ve got this. With that being said,... Read More

Marco Estrada (SP, TOR) - Week 2 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in Deep Leagues OWNED IN: 31% of leagues ANALYSIS: Marco Estrada kicked off his 2018 by holding the Yankees to three runs with an even 1.00 WHIP over seven frames, which shows promise that the righty has reclaimed his form after an up-and-down ‘17 campaign. While he only induced five swinging strikes on the... Read More

Brent Suter (SP, MIL) - Week 2 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in Deep Leagues OWNED IN: 32% of Yahoo leagues ANALYSIS: Brent Suter isn’t going to blow anyone away with his velocity, but owns an unorthodox delivery and is currently 1-0 on the young season after holding the Padres to three runs over five innings of work on Saturday. I realize the 5.40 ERA isn’t... Read More

Week 1 Waiver Wire - Starting Pitchers

It’s the beginning of April and you know what that means! It’s fantasy baseball season and it’s time to overreact to everything! Step out of the fantasy football mindset that may still have its hold on you and remember that while each day does matter, this is a marathon and not a sprint. As is... Read More

Jose Martinez (1B/OF, STL) - Week 1 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 10+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 22% of leagues ANALYSIS: Martinez looks like he could be the next late bloomer to turn into a power stud after tallying a .309/.379/.518 triple slash in 307 big-league PAs for St. Louis. I’m sure you’ve heard about his wild 2017 and his 90.4 MPH average exit velocity,... Read More

Yonder Alonso (1B, CLE) - Week 1 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 10-12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 42% of leagues ANALYSIS: Damn, y’all are fickle. Remember when Alonso made the American League All-Star squad last year with an awesome first half? Or are you really that burned by the second half that you’re just out on the guy? Even if I grant you that he’s... Read More