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It has been a mixed back of results so far finding waiver wire pitchers. We have had our hits and we have had our misses. Ownership is getting more and more correct and competitive every week, but a bunch of new pitcher names have popped up over the last few weeks with a lot of prospects getting the call-up (to again, mixed results).
We still have a couple of crucial weeks left to really solidify our fantasy rotations before the well really dries up, so let's focus in and try to find some helpful and available starting pitchers to use for fantasy baseball moving forward.
Let's get to it – here are your starting pitcher fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups recommendations for Week 7 of the fantasy baseball season (May 8 - May 14).
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Waiver Wire Pickups for Shallow Leagues
Pitcher pickup recommendations for leagues of any size
The first thing I must say is THANK YOU ALL for helping push Mitch Keller up above 60% owned. For the first time this year, I won't be writing about him because he's crossed that 50% threshold we use. Good job, and congrats to those of you who got your hands on his breakout season for free.
Domingo German, New York Yankees (35% Rostered)
The whiffs just keep coming. The Yankees righty finds himself in the top ten in the league in both SwStr% and K% more than a month into the season. The curveball is just fantastic, and the rest of the stuff has been good enough to support it.
The Game's Best Curveballs, 2023
| Pitcher | Count | SwStr% | Stuff+ |
| Alex Lange | 146 | 24.0% | 164 |
| Jack Flaherty | 112 | 23.2% | 122 |
| Nick Lodolo | 210 | 22.9% | 99 |
| Zac Gallen | 181 | 22.1% | 95 |
| Domingo German | 209 | 21.5% | 149 |
There will probably be some bad outings ahead as there often is with pitchers that are so reliant on a curveball, but German should be pretty close to universally rostered right now, and the field just isn't buying it yet with ownership under 40%.
Reid Detmers, Los Angeles Angels (47% Rostered)
Detmers seemingly just can't find a consistent groove. He's given up at least two earned runs in every start and he's given up four or more on two occasions already. He has reached six innings just one time, so he's been a frustrating pitcher to start.
However, not many pitchers available on waiver wires can boast a 27% K% and a sub-9% BB%, which is what Detmers has given us so far this year. His stuff is still quite good, and he remains just a few slight refinements away from really taking his game to the next level. I wouldn't let him stay on waivers in 12-team leagues or bigger.
Tanner Bibee, Cleveland Guardians (45% Rostered)
We saw a few hyped rookie pitchers get shelled this week, but Bibee wasn't one of them. He threw 5.2 innings against the Yankees and gave up just two earned runs with five strikeouts. It wasn't the greatest outing overall, but it was good enough to keep him rostered in way more than 45% of leagues. For the year, Bibee has a 31% K% and a 7.7% BB% between AAA and MLB. In the Majors, he has 13 strikeouts and no walks in two starts – and I don't know what more you want to see. Pitching is tough to find right now, and Bibee is an exciting young kid. Go get him if he's available in your league.
Jameson Taillon, Chicago Cubs (46% Rostered)
Taillon is back off the IL and returned with a short outing against the Nationals on Thursday. We have only seen 17 innings from him this year as he's struggled with that injury, but overall he has a nice 27% K% and a 5% BB% in those outings.
I am pretty much just viewing Taillon as I was in the preseason right now, and I liked him before. He has been able to get a good amount of whiffs in the last two seasons, and I really liked the move from New York to Chicago for him due to the ballpark and other factors. Taillon's ceiling is lower than most of these other names, but I think he gives you a quite nice floor and I still think he could have a mini-breakout season here with his new team.
Louie Varland, Minnesota Twins (7% Rostered)
Varland was one of those rookie pitchers that did not have a great start in the box score this week. However, his underlying metrics were stunning. Varland put up an elite 17.2% SwStr% and a 40.2% CSW% on the 87 pitches he threw against the White Sox. Again, the box score results weren't great as he gave up seven hits and four earned runs in 4.2 innings, but man – it's not easy to generate a CSW% and SwStr% that high.
Here's a histogram of all CSW rates for every start made by a pitcher this year (80+ pitches thrown):
You can see that Varland is at the upper tail of that distribution, and for those of you not statistically inclined – that's a really good thing. I'm adding Varland right now even in shallow leagues.
Bailey Ober, Minnesota Twins (30% Rostered)
The 6'11'' righty had the second-best outing (by fantasy points scored) of his career on Friday night as he came to fill the other void in the rotation left by the Tyler Mahle and Kenta Maeda injuries. He went seven scoreless innings with six strikeouts and one walk against the Guardians. In three starts this year, he has 16 strikeouts and six walks in 18.1 innings with a nice 13.1% SwStr%.
The ceiling isn't super high on him, and he could very well be the man on the outside looking in when these pitchers get healthy, but I think he's worthy of a start in average or better matchups moving forward, and he's probably available in your league.
Waiver Wire Pickups for Deeper Leagues
Pitcher pickup recommendations for deeper leagues
Seth Lugo, San Diego Padres (38% Rostered)
I've written him up before, but people just aren't picking Lugo up. I get that, there's not a ton of upside with him as a veteran pitcher, and it makes sense that fantasy managers would flock to the young prospects. But chances are, Lugo is going to outdo a bunch of those rookies as we move forward. He's a solid pitcher, and he's pitching well as a starter for the Padres this year. He has a 22% K%, which is mediocre, but he does not walk hitters very often with a 5.6% BB%. He also generates ground balls (49% GB%) and because of all of that, he's able to get deep into games.
Again, he's not going to give you many "wow" outings, but it seems like his starts will be more good than bad moving forward, and that means something.
Josiah Gray, Washington Nationals (41% Rostered)
His run of not allowing a barrel or a homer ended on Friday night, but all things considered, it wasn't a horrible outing. For the year now he has 37 strikeouts, 15 walks, and five homers allowed in 38.2 innings. Those numbers aren't stunning, but they are significantly better than what we're used to seeing from him in the Majors.
The pitch mix change is clear, he's throwing a ton more of his good breaking balls and less of his bad fastballs. That's working so far, albeit he's been more "fine" than "good". This is a recommendation for pretty deep leagues, but Josiah is young and talented enough to improve as the season progresses, so we'll keep an eye out.
Mason Miller, Oakland Athletics (30% Rostered)
Miller has been a Stuff+ darling so far, being right up there at the top of the league with his flame-throwing ways. His fastball reaches triple-digits and his slider is amazing as well by the numbers.
| SP | Stuff+ |
| Mason Miller | 159 |
| Jacob deGrom | 154 |
| Shohei Ohtani | 148 |
| Drew Rasmussen | 146 |
| Freddy Peralta | 141 |
| Spencer Strider | 140 |
| Michael Kopech | 138 |
| Shane McClanahan | 132 |
| Corbin Burnes | 132 |
| Graham Ashcraft | 131 |
The reason he's down here in the "deep" leagues section is that he's unable to get deep into games due to some lack of command, and the Athletics don't really have a ton of reason to push it with him. The limited arsenal also keeps him from facing the batting order the third time through, so I just don't see much upside for him in 2023. He's a great guy to hold for the future in keeper or dynasty leagues, but right now I would just be adding him deeper leagues where you could use some extra strikeouts.
Clarke Schmidt, New York Yankees (13% Rostered)
Yeah, it's been a disastrous season for Schmidt after there was some hype (I contributed to this) for him coming into the season. Schmidt has a 5.83 ERA and a 1.70 WHIP. He's given up 2.1 HR/9 and has yet to record a quality start or a win.
So why am I writing him up? Well, if you know me, you know what I'm going to say next. Schmidt has a 26% K% and a 6% BB%, so he is right there at 20% in the K-BB%. It's hard for a pitcher to be bad while doing that, so I expect some better times ahead for Schmidt. It's a very low-priority thing, but this guy is very likely available in your league right now and I like to give some very deep names that I think could help you out in the future.
Nick Pivetta, Boston Red Sox (10% Rostered)
It's boring, and there are just as many mediocre or bad starts as good ones for Pivetta, but he's at least proven to be an innings eater and a guy who can get strikeouts in the Majors. Sometimes in fantasy, you just need some innings and Pivetta can give you that. He'll definitely have some great outings as we go forward, but that will come with some bad as well. In very deep leagues, you can stash him just for good matchups – there will be some of those coming.
Other Waiver Wire Options
- Logan Allen, Cleveland Guardians
- Braxton Garrett, Miami Marlins
- Griffin Canning, Los Angeles Angels,
- Kyle Bradish, Baltimore Orioles
- Brayan Bello, Boston Red Sox
- Roansy Contreras, Pittsburgh Pirates
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