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Mike looks at three sneaky fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups for starting pitchers in Week 15 (2024) who are off to hot starts and sees if they can sustain their success.
As we put June in our rearview mirror, many fantasy baseball managers enter the month of July struggling to find viable starting pitchers. Injuries continue to pile up across the league, although we did at least get some good news with Zac Gallen making his return from a hamstring injury Saturday.
Streaming pitchers with favorable matchups is a good way to help offset injuries to your fantasy squad. Are Michael Wacha, Tobias Myers, and Carson Spiers just viable streaming options, or could any of them be worth rostering for the long haul?
Let’s dig into the stats for these three starters and discuss if they can sustain their current level of success.
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Michael Wacha, Kansas City Royals
Wacha was recently on the injured list with a foot injury that kept him out for more than three weeks. He has made two starts since coming back, allowing a total of two runs over 10.1 innings. Going back to before he was injured, he has given up two or fewer runs in each of his last six starts.
Wacha has a 3.91 ERA for the season that is supported by an even better 3.61 FIP. He has given up just 0.8 HR/9 while holding opponents to a 33.3 percent hard-hit rate. He has thrived at inducing weak contact for most of his time in the majors, allowing a career 35.1 percent hard-hit rate.
15 up, 15 down for Michael Wacha. 👀 pic.twitter.com/O9iAe3Ft53
— MLB (@MLB) May 26, 2024
The downside with Wacha is that he doesn’t miss a ton of bats. He has a 20.5 percent strikeout rate this season and a 21.0 percent strikeout rate for his career. His 1.25 WHIP this season also isn’t overly helpful for fantasy managers. He’s not a must-roster player at this point, but with him being available in 63 percent of Yahoo leagues, he is a viable streaming option for when he has a matchup in his favor.
Tobias Myers, Milwaukee Brewers
The Brewers have been scrambling to find viable starting pitchers for much of the season. It has become so bad that Dallas Keuchel, who hasn’t had a WHIP below 1.53 since 2020, has been added to their rotation. Myers has made 12 appearances of his own, 11 of which have been starts.
Myers did not perform well at Double-A last year, posting a 5.03 ERA and allowing 30 home runs over 137.2 innings. However, he has been one of the Brewers' more reliable starters this year, allowing one or no runs in five of his last seven starts. In four of his last five outings, he has logged at least six innings.
Myers has a 3.26 ERA for the season, but his 4.45 FIP is more of a concern. He also has just a 21.7 percent strikeout rate, which caps his fantasy upside. Part of the reason why he might have been so successful lately is that five of his last seven starts have come against teams ranked inside the bottom 11 in baseball in runs scored. Stream Myers if he has a favorable matchup, but we weary of deploying him against difficult lineups.
Carson Spiers, Cincinnati Reds
Spiers spent most of 2023 at Double-A, where he recorded a 3.69 ERA and a 3.70 FIP. Of his 28 appearances, only nine of them were starts. He started eight of his nine appearances at Triple-A this year, again putting up noteworthy numbers with a 2.51 ERA and a 3.21 FIP. Over 46.2 innings, he gave up just two home runs.
Spiers has since worked his way up to the majors, initially serving in a relief role. Each of his last three appearances have been starts. He logged exactly six innings in each of them, allowing a total of nine runs (eight earned) over 18 innings. He recorded 14 strikeouts along the way, while issuing just three walks.
Let's get a round of applause for @carson_spiers. pic.twitter.com/1M5KYgkkAE
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) June 29, 2024
After doing a good job of keeping hitters inside the ballpark in the minors, Spiers has given up just two home runs over 50.1 career innings in the majors. He’ll need to improve his career 18.7 percent strikeout rate to become a reliable fantasy option, but he is currently available in 88 percent of Yahoo leagues and worth streaming for favorable matchups in 12-team or deeper leagues.
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