Noah Syndergaard (SP, NYM) - Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in Most Leagues

Owned In: 12% of FleaFlicker Leagues

ANALYSIS: It took unfortunate injuries to Mets starters Zack Wheeler and Dillon Gee, but the club has promoted top prospect Noah Syndergaard to fill out the starting rotation. Syndergaard has been stellar this season for Triple-A Las Vegas, going 3-0 with a 1.82 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and a 34/8 K/BB rate over five starts. This includes a 10.31 K/9 and a .191 batting average against, all factors that earned him the call-up over fellow top prospect Steven Matz.

Syndergaard’s first two career starts will be against the Cubs at Wrigley, followed by the Brewers coming to Citi Field. The Cubbies are just 3-6 so far in May, and have a .246 average against right-handed pitching on the year. Syndergaard will be opposing Jake Arrieta, who is coming off back-to-back losses. I like the weekend start against Milwaukee even more. Bringing up the rear in the NL Central, the Brewers have the second-lowest team average in the NL at .229. And while the early production from Adam Lind is nice, the fact that he leads his team in batting average, home runs and RBI shouldn’t lower confidence in Syndergaard too much. At 12% owned in Fleaflicker leagues, Syndergaard should be owned in mixed leagues this week, and perhaps longer depending on how long he stays in the Mets rotation.