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Welcome back! It's Week 24 of our fantasy baseball Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Pickups series! There are just two precious weeks left, and every start is becoming more and more important as most of the fantasy baseball world is in playoff matchups. If you've made it this far, there's a good chance you don't really need a ton of SP help - but we'll dig for some gems nonetheless!
As we have been all season, we'll be looking for starting pitchers with strong K-BB ratios, favoring guys that can keep the ball on the ground.
Let's get to it - here are your starting pitcher fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups recommendations for Week 24 of the fantasy season (September 19 - September 25).
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Waiver Wire Pickups for Shallow Leagues
Pitcher pickup recommendations for leagues of any size
Nick Lodolo, Cincinnati Reds (51% Rostered)
The lefty has 31 strikeouts in his last three starts with just one walk. That is an astounding ratio. He has thrown six or more innings in four straight and five of his last six. Anybody with this many strikeouts and so few walks coming is going to have success, even in one of the most hitter-friendly ballparks in the league. He gets two pretty beatable matchups in week 24 against the Red Sox and Brewers, and I would be starting him against darn near anybody right now given that strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Jon Gray, Texas Rangers (46% Rostered)
Gray has returned from the IL, but is being eased back into the rotation due to not going through any rehab stint. The Rangers don't have a ton of reason to push him, but you would imagine he would get back into the 90-100 pitch range pretty soon. If he does, he is a must-add. Gray was pitching amazingly before the injury. He had worked his strikeout rate way up to 27% and was limiting walks well under an 8% BB%. The xwOBA below .300 shows that he's been locating well to boot; the guy is just a good pitcher and he should be rostered in every league as long as he's getting full pitch counts.
Alex Cobb, San Francisco Giants (44% Rostered)
I am going to run the Cobb train until the season ends. He gets the Diamondbacks for his next two matchups, pretty beatable spots - and he's been pitching great lately. He has gone seven scoreless innings against both the Phillies and the Braves in his last three starts with a dud against the Dodgers sandwiched between them. He's just a good pitcher that has a pretty high floor given the ground-ball rate, and I think he ends the season with a bang. He's been under-owned all season long, and you can help right that wrong before the final bell rings by adding him now.
Roansy Contreras, Pittsburgh Pirates (25% Rostered)
He still isn't getting many strikeouts (17% K% over his last 6), but he's kept hitters off balance (.186 AVG, .281 xwOBA). It has been since August 17 (five starts) since he's given up more than two runs, and over his last five starts, he has a 1.66 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP. He's probably not your guy in a quality start league, going six or more innings just once in his last four. The Pirates have no reason to push him, and the strikeouts are low as we mentioned, but you could do worse than Roansy if you're really looking for innings next week.
Drew Smyly, Chicago Cubs (20% Rostered)
He has a mediocre 23% K% since August 1, but a good 6.7% BB% and a nice .263 xwOBA. He got roughed up by the Cardinals recently, a forgivable sin, but other than that he's been pretty clear since August. You cannot ask for better matchups than two starts in Miami and Pittsburgh, which are his next two outings - so I'm all in on streaming Smyly this week and then making another decision after these two starts.
Brayan Bello, Boston Red Sox (7% Rostered)
I think this rookie has figured something out in the bigs. He was brutal in his first stint with the Red Sox and then was sent back down to the minors for two outings. Since returning, he has put up some pretty solid numbers in five starts. He has thrown fewer sinkers and has upped the usage of the four-seamer, changeup, and slider. Over these 25.1 innings, he has a 2.87 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP with a solid enough 25.2% K% and a 9.3% BB%. That's a good walk number from him, and that was something that absolutely needed to be improved upon if he was going to have major league success.
He's a very talented pitcher with a huge ground-ball rate, giving him huge upside. It's hard to love two starts coming up in Great American Ballpark and Yankee Stadium, but neither of those lineups is overly imposing at this point and the ground-ball rate will help him keep the ball inside of those small parks. I'm in on Bello for the rest of the year.
Waiver Wire Pickups for Deeper Leagues
Reid Detmers, Los Angeles Angels (33% Rostered)
Detmers has been a bit of a bust since August 6th, as he has failed to pitch six innings and has a 5.41 ERA with a 1.89 WHIP over these last five starts. That's probably hurt you if you've read my stuff over the last couple of months, because I've been really into Detmers. The other problem is that he hardly even starts once a week, and the Angels really don't have any reason to push him as we close out the season.
The schedule has been tough (he's faced the Blue Jays, Astros, and Guardians in his last three), so there's reason to believe there are greener pastures ahead. I would expect he pitches okay in his last couple of starts here, but he's a very low-priority add for me right now.
Jose Suarez, Los Angeles Angels (24% Rostered)
Suarez has the same problem as Detmers given that he starts at most once every six games. That said, he has been awesome at run prevention lately. He has gone more than five innings in all of his last nine starts and has limited the damage in that time, not allowing more than three earned runs in any of those outings. He has a 2.18 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP with a 22.5% K% and a 4.8% BB% since July 26, covering eight starts.
He won't get many quality starts, and he won't win a ton of games, but he keeps runs off the board and there are certainly worse options hanging around here.
Other Waiver Wire Options
- Keegan Thompson, Chicago Cubs
- Tyler Wells, Baltimore Orioles
- Josiah Gray, Washington Nationals
- Bailey Falter, Philadelphia Phillies
- Aaron Civale, Cleveland Guardians
Alrighty, hope you enjoyed the piece and I hope some of these starting pitcher picks change your life forever and ever, for the better. So long!
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