Nick Kingham (SP, PIT) - Week 11 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues

OWNED IN: 16% of leagues

ANALYSIS: Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Nick Kingham has allowed at least three earned runs in each of his last four starts and has lost two of his last three as well. Kingham has also pitched six innings or fewer in three of the four starts and has an unsustainable .256 BABIP. That being said,  there are a lot of positives with the 26-year-old.

A lot of his positives begin with the fact that he has 30 strikeouts against just five walks in 29 innings and that his 65.6% strand rate is highly unlucky. A 37.8% ground ball rate could explain some of his issues, as could the fact that he has a 39% hard hit ball rate allowed and 22% line drive rate. With an elite K:BB rate and a 3.51 xFIP that is better than his 4.03 ERA, though, Kingham appears to be a good target even with poor batted ball statistics.

Kingham will start on June 9 against the Cubs in Chicago (a poor start for sure), but will also start on June 15 against the Reds (a very good start). It might be wise to not pick up Kingham for the start on June 9 (you may be too late to scoop him up anyway), but he is a worthy streamer for the 15th.