Drew Smyly (SP, DET) - Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in Deep Leagues

ANALYSIS: Drew Smyly is owned in only 34% of Yahoo! Leagues. If you play in the other 66%, consider yourself lucky.  What you have here ladies and gents is a bonafide breakout candidate.  If you want to look at other RP turned SP and know what to expect, the absolute upside is Chris Sale in 2012.  Sale is more of a power pitcher, so expecting that level of production would be a little greedy. Let's look at the facts. Smyly is a high pedigree prospect, having been taken in the 2nd round by the Tigers in 2010.  He has been a dominant pitcher in the majors and has never had a K/9 less than 8.5 at any level.   He throws a mature mix of pitches including a fastball and a slider and cutter that he throws equally. Workload and stamina may limit him to around 150-170 IP, but considering he's free off your waiver wire, there's no reason not to give this guy a shot.   A reasonable expectation would be 160 IP, 145 K, 12 W, 3.5 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP with upside for a better WHIP if he keeps the BB in check.