J.C. Ramirez (SP, LAA) - Waiver Wire Pickups

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ANALYSIS: J.C. Ramirez got roughed up in his most recent outing against the Twins, allowing seven earned runs over 4 1/3 innings. However, prior to that, he had a run of five straight outings in which he pitched six or more innings and allowed two runs or less in four of those starts. As a result, his ERA as a starter is at 4.01 even with a few blowup outings mixed in.

Ramirez has a concerning combination in his profile of low strikeouts, just 6.85 per nine innings, and 1.51 home runs allowed per nine innings. Given that, it’s hard to have much optimism for Ramirez to have a ton more upside moving forward. However, he has managed not to hurt himself, as he has posted an excellent 5.3% walk rate, good for 9^th lowest among all qualified pitchers.

While there may not be much more ceiling to his profile, as long as Ramirez continues to limit baserunners, his results shouldn’t change much as his xFIP and SIERA sit at 3.94 and 4.07 respectively. Expect Ramirez to continue to eat innings and provide steady results with a few bumps along the way. Given the many injured pitchers across the fantasy landscape, Ramirez deserves more attention and should be someone to consider off the waiver wire.