Ryan Yarbrough (SP, TB) - Week 9 Waiver Wire Pickups

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OWNED IN: 4% of leagues

ANALYSIS: Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Ryan Yarbrough has turned in two very strong appearances for the Rays (allowing two earned runs in 13 1/3 innings and striking out 12 batters), but did not receive a quality start for either. The Rays' utilizing relievers to start games may have striped Yarbrough of quality starts, but he did win against the Angels on May 19 and struck out eight batters without a walk on May 25.

One of the more impressive things about Yarbrough is that, while striking out 43 batters in 47 1/3 innings, he has only walked 14 batters. Five home runs allowed and a 37% ground ball rate are not particularly good, and his .254 BABIP is likely unsustainable, but his 1.09 WHIP shows that he minimizes damage. It is also impressive that he has been able to work deeper into games, as he faced a career-high 26 batters on May 25.

Yarbrough and the Rays will face the Athletics on May 30, a tough task for the young upstart. While the Athletics hit a fair amount of home runs, and are 10th in the league in runs scored, they are also ninth in baseball in strikeouts. Yarbrough can still fill the stat sheet with K's against Oakland and is a decent streamer in deeper leagues.