Chase Anderson (SP, MIL) - Week 17 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues

OWNED IN: 15% of leagues

ANALYSIS: Chase Anderson has always flown under the radar, but despite one sub-par month of June for 2019 in which he had a 5.92 ERA and 1.32 WHIP in five starts, he is quietly en route to one of the finest campaigns of his career. He has a 3.96 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, and 8.7 K/9 in 77.1 IP (19 appearances, 14 starts) for the contending Milwaukee Brewers, and he has put together a magnificent stretch of late. Over his last five starts (25.2 IP) he has a 2.45 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, and though his K/9 has dropped to 7.0 over this stretch, he also improved upon his usual power-lenient tendencies by allowing only two home runs.

Even though Anderson has taken a less strikeout-heavy approach over his recent run of success, this run has in part been the culmination of his consistently descending walk rate, which has gone from 10.8% in April to just 5.2% so far in July. He has had persistent struggles with power-hitting over the past few years, and this year has been no exception. While this month he is allowing a season-high 55.2% fly balls, he has lowered the percentage of hit-friendly line drives to a season-low 15.5%, jammed batters into 15.6% IFFB, and brought his hard contact rate to a season-low 35.6% while still forcing batters into 20.3% soft contact. He's bringing the right package to the mound, and it never hurts to play for a winning club, so Chase Anderson is an effective and reliable streaming option even with the reduction in strikeouts.