Fantasy Baseball League Winners: Unlikely Aces Worth A Roster Spot? (Week 23)

Joey Pollizze deep dives into four fantasy baseball starting pitchers to decide if their surprisingly good form merits a roster spot or staying on the waiver wire for Week 23 (2025).

Welcome, RotoBallers, to our weekly Unlikely Aces piece. Every week of the fantasy baseball season, we identify whether emerging pitchers are for real or not. We will dive into their recent numbers and determine if these pitchers are worth a roster spot on your fantasy team.

In this article, we will look at whether Kyle Bradish, Payton Tolle, Ian Seymour, and Shane Smith are worth grabbing in Week 23 of the fantasy baseball season. These four pitchers continue to see their rostership climb in all fantasy formats. 

So, should fantasy managers pick up Bradish, Tolle, Seymour, and Smith in fantasy? Are these unlikely aces worth a roster spot in Week 23 of the fantasy season? Let's dive in and find out.

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Kyle Bradish, Baltimore Orioles

No one knew what to expect from Bradish once he made his season debut. He only appeared in eight games last year after undergoing Tommy John surgery in June 2024. That surgery resulted in the 28-year-old missing the first four months of this season. However, the right-hander picked up right where he left off before his Tommy John surgery.

He threw six innings of two-run ball with 10 strikeouts against the Boston Red Sox in his season debut on August 26. Although he struggled a bit in his second start by allowing two runs on four hits across four innings, he did punch out another five batters in that outing. As a result, Bradish has shown some encouraging things across his first two starts.

Kyle Bradish is back!

Bradish made his first start since Tommy John surgery and he was superb. He struck out 10 while issuing 0 BB over 6.0 IP as his elite breaking balls generated a boatload of whiffs. Two HRs spoiled the day, but it was very encouraging start for the O's ace pic.twitter.com/iUESeh4vCn

— Thomas Nestico (@TJStats) August 27, 2025

He continues to lean on his fastball (four-seam and sinker), and his offspeed stuff (slider and curveball) has been fantastic secondary pitches for him so far. Both his slider and curveball have a whiff rate of at least 50%. With a strong 34.8% whiff rate and a 39.5% strikeout rate in a small sample size, there's a lot to love about Bradish in fantasy moving forward.

Verdict: Bradish has shown enough in his two starts to make him worth an add in most 12-plus team leagues. Opposing hitters have an expected .201 batting average across those two outings, and the Orioles are going to keep him on a five-day rest for the remainder of the season since they will be rolling out a six-man rotation over the final month.

Payton Tolle, Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox called up their No. 2 prospect last week to fill Walker Buehler's spot in the rotation. Buehler had been struggling as a starter this season, and the Red Sox decided to make a change. The team eventually called up Tolle, who has pitched well in the minors this season. He had a combined 3.04 ERA and 133 strikeouts across High-A, Double-A, and Triple-A before his promotion.

A lot of fantasy managers didn't know what to expect from the left-hander in his MLB debut. However, the 22-year-old looked the part in his first career start against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He threw 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball with eight strikeouts in that start on August 29. While Tolle did get a no-decision in that outing, seeing the eight strikeouts is a great sign.

Welcome to Boston, Payton Tolle! pic.twitter.com/2va3Th5Ako

— Red Sox (@RedSox) August 29, 2025

Tolle earned a 32.6% whiff rate in his MLB debut and primarily leaned on his fastball in that start. He threw his four-seam fastball and cutter 83.3% of the time against the Pirates last week while only throwing 13 total offspeed pitches in the contest (slider, changeup, curveball). Still, that heavy fastball usage worked wonders for him on August 29.

Verdict: With Buehler now off the team, it appears that Tolle will stay in Boston's rotation for the rest of the year. Therefore, he is worth a potential add in 14-plus team leagues. He has the stuff to rack up the strikeouts, and it's hard to find this type of upside pitcher in fantasy this late into the year. He'll face the Diamondbacks in his next start, which is expected to be Friday on the road.

Ian Seymour, Tampa Bay Rays

The Tampa Bay Rays called up Seymour on June 8, and he made one appearance out of the bullpen on June 9 before being sent back down one day later. However, the southpaw soon found himself back up with the major league club toward the middle of July. He made 11 straight appearances out of the bullpen from July 13 to August 19.

Then, Seymour entered Tampa Bay's rotation soon after. He made his first major league start on August 25 and threw five scoreless innings with eight strikeouts against the Cleveland Guardians. The left-hander followed up that performance by allowing just one earned run with four hits and eight strikeouts against the Washington Nationals on August 31.

The 26-year-old has pitched well as a starter and will likely remain in that starter role for the remainder of the year. Seymour has allowed just one earned run with 16 strikeouts across 10 innings of work in that role this season. The biggest reason for his strong numbers has to do with his electric changeup.

Seymour relies on that pitch the most at 35.9%, and it's easy to see why. Opposing hitters are batting just .161 against that pitch this season, and the Rays pitcher has punched out 21 batters alone on that changeup in 2025. With a 33.3% whiff rate on that pitch, the southpaw's changeup continues to keep hitters off balance.

Verdict: There is enough to like about Seymour in fantasy moving forward. He has a 30.8% whiff rate, a 31.1% strikeout rate, and a 3.7% barrel rate across 33 1/3 innings pitched this season. As a result, the left-hander should be added in most 12-plus team leagues at this point in the season. The 26-year-old is set to face the Guardians on Friday for the second time in two weeks. 

Shane Smith, Chicago White Sox

There's no doubt that Smith has had a very up-and-down rookie season. The right-hander had a 2.37 ERA and 64 strikeouts in his first 13 major league starts. However, the White Sox pitcher hit a bit of a rough patch in the middle of the season, carrying a 7.22 ERA across nine starts from June 17 to August 19. That rough patch resulted in fantasy managers dropping him in most formats.

The good news, though, is that Smith appears to be back with consecutive strong outings on the mound. He threw seven shutout innings with three strikeouts against the Kansas City Royals on August 25 and then threw 6 1/3 innings of two-run ball with seven strikeouts against a very good Yankees offense in his last start on August 30.

Shane Smith dominated in August:
33.1 IP
2.43 ERA
30 K @xfinity pic.twitter.com/xI9Gg51v8S

— White Sox on CHSN (@CHSN_WhiteSox) August 31, 2025

It was very encouraging to watch Smith pitch the way he did against the Yankees last week. He mostly leaned on his fastball (45%), but did a good job mixing in his offspeed stuff (changeup and curveball) as well. The rookie generated eight whiffs on his secondary pitches in that contest, which helped elevate his fastball.

Verdict: Smith has no doubt shown some nice things in his rookie season. He has a 3.81 ERA across 24 starts, and both his barrel rate (7.1%) and whiff rate (27.7%) rank in the 70th percentile. Nonetheless, the right-hander is not worth adding in most leagues right now. He has been far too inconsistent in the second half. 

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