Sean Newcomb (SP) - Week 3 Waiver Wire Pickups

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OWNED IN: 5% of Leagues

ANALYSIS: Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Sean Newcomb was robbed of his second victory in ‘18 on April 14 as Atlanta blew a 10-2 lead in epic fashion, but the southpaw still racked up seven strikeouts despite turning in just 10 swinging strikes. That’ll happen when you can nibble 20 called strikes with your fastball alone.

So what if he walked another four batters and now has eight walks in just 15 ⅔ IP, because the 2.87 xFIP, 51.2 percent groundball rate and 12.64 K/9 are simply too good to ignore! And he hasn’t been beating up on scrub teams either, with matchups against the Nationals, Rockies (at Coors) and Cubbies to his name.

Newcomb is part of the Braves stable of young arms and the former first rounder has as high of upside as any in the Atlanta organization. He should be bought for his strikeout potential (he also had 108 strikeouts in 100 innings last season) and for his ERA to normalize to his xFIP levels (allowed seven earned runs this season).