Wade LeBlanc (SP, SEA) - Week 26 Waiver Wire Pickups

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ANALYSIS: In a season that has seemed chock-full of 34-year-old pitchers producing resurgent seasons out of the blue, ten-year MLB veteran Wade LeBlanc has been an extremely pleasant surprise for the Seattle Mariners during the 2018 campaign. In 152 IP this year (25 GS out of 30 appearances) LeBlanc has a 3.49 ERA and 1.15 WHIP, though "Frenchy" has been absolutely infuego over his last four starts with a 1.16 ERA and 1.03 WHIP in 23.1 IP. He has definitely struggled in the past to make it deep into games which has no-doubt been a reason for his transference between the rotation and the bullpen this year, though his recent results have been hard to brush off.

He doesn't get a lot of strikeouts as demonstrated by his first and second-half K/9 figures of 6.65 and 7.61, but his walk rates have also been terrific all year and though his September BB/9 is his highest of the season, it still sits at just 2.76. This month he has been allowing a pull rate of 49% and has allowed opposing batters to produce 62.5% fly balls and line-drives combined, but to little avail for those batters as LeBlanc has only allowed opponents to produce 28.6% hard contact and 18.4% soft contact through September. He isn't accomplishing this by blowing anyone away with his 86.3 mph fastball that he tosses 35.5% of the time, and he throws his cutter, curve-ball, and change-up at a combined frequency of 64.3% between speeds of 72.6 mph (curve-ball) and 83.4 mph (cutter). Today, LeBlanc managed another solid outing of 5.0 IP with three ER and five strikeouts against the Rangers. Seattle slumped itself right out of the playoff race, but Wade LeBlanc has been in the zone in 2018 and very well may be completing his best season to date. Though he struggles to take games deep, trust Wade LeBlanc with remaining starts.