RADIO
BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues
OWNED IN: 1% of Yahoo! leagues
ANALYSIS: A quick glance at Jaime Barria's 5.20 ERA, 1.40 WHIP and 1.23 HR/9 - not to mention the fact that he's currently in Triple-A - and most would assume he's a player you can skip right on by on the waiver wire.
In most formats, that's probably the case. However, in deeper leagues, like 14+ team formats and AL-only, Barria is a name worth keeping an eye on.
For starters, his demotion was to get an extra reliever on the team ahead of the All-Star break, and he is expected to keep a rotation spot for the rest of the season after the injuries to Matt Harvey and Trevor Cahill and the tragic passing of Tyler Skaggs.
Secondly, Barria has a very nice 30/7 K/BB ratio in 29 1/3 innings of work, and his peripherals (3.75 FIP, 4.02 SIERA) indicate he has gotten unlucky in his handful of outings so far in 2019. Indeed a .353 BABIP and a 68.7% strand rate are well below league average, and while some of that could be Barria's fault, it's more than likely that he'll pitch better in the second half.
Barria is worth keeping an eye on as a streamer in 12-team formats, but probably shouldn't be rostered as a rotation piece except in deeper leagues. However, the big bump in his strikeout numbers and the likelihood that his peripherals start to match his performance could make him an intriguing arm in the second half.
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