Shane McClanahan (SP/RP, TB) - Week 7 Waiver Wire Pickups

3 years ago by Andrew Ericksen

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12-Team Leagues

ROSTERED IN: 30% of leagues

ANALYSIS: Tampa Bay Rays rookie pitcher Shane McClanahan has been extremely impressive over his first three MLB starts. Unfortunately, they've been brief, and there's little reason to believe that trend will end anytime soon. Still, McClanahan is someone who could provide a good amount of value for fantasy managers in the proper formats.

Editor's Note: Our incredible team of writers received five total writing awards and 13 award nominations by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association, tops in the industry! Congrats to all the award winners and nominees including Best MLB Series, NFL Series, NBA Writer, PGA Writer and Player Notes writer of the year. Be sure to follow their analysis, rankings and advice all year long, and win big with RotoBaller! Read More!

McClanahan has pitched exactly four innings in each of his first three starts. He has a 3.75 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP to go along with a 30.6% strikeout rate. His four-seam fastball has been remarkable with an average velocity of 97.8 mph. But he's led with his slider, throwing it 46.5% of the time. The pitch has earned a whiff rate of 53.2%. He's been primarily a two-pitch pitcher, but his changeup and curveball - which he's thrown 13 times each - have shown some promising signs and could help him become more of a versatile pitcher if he works them in more.

Add McClanahan in leagues of 12 teams or deeper if you need help in ratios and/or strikeouts. He also could help out any bold fantasy managers who are going with a bullpen-only approach and punting away starter-dominant categories. McClanahan's season-long numbers should look strong, but they may resemble a middle-reliever type of season rather than a starter type of season as the Rays are going to be very cautious with his workload.