John Lamb (SP, CIN) - Waiver Wire Analysis

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues/NL-only Leagues

OWNED IN: 1% of Fleaflicker Leagues

ANALYSIS: John Lamb was once considered to be one of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball, but Tommy John surgery and a slow recovery sidetracked Lamb’s career and his name slowly disappeared off of the radar. He was in the midst of arguably his best minor league season in 2015 when he was dealt to Cincinnati in the deal for Johnny Cueto.

The Reds sent a struggling Michael Lorenzen to Triple-A and decided that it was time to reward John Lamb for his great work at Triple-A this year. Lamb has had two great starts, but a bad inning in each one has his ERA sitting at 6.35. In his debut against the Dodgers, Lamb was cruising along until the fifth inning. Lamb finished the day with 6 IP, five runs (four coming in the fifth), and seven punchouts. A similar scenario happened in his next start against Arizona when he went 5 1/3 IP and didn’t give up any runs until the fifth inning.

Outside of a pair of rough innings, Lamb has been outstanding. He has a 3.30 FIP, a 2.52 xFIP, a 2.69 SIERA. His high ERA is currently scaring away fantasy owners as he is owned in only 1% of Fleaflicker leagues and 3% of Yahoo leagues. Take advantage of the low ownership numbers and pick up John Lamb as he will maintain a rotation spot for the rest of the year and six of his final eight starts will likely be against teams in the low half of teams in OPS.