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The topic of the week is spin rate, with the crackdown on foreign substances sending shockwaves throughout the pitching landscape of baseball. Right now, it's not clear how this will affect the game over the long haul, but it seems like we might see fewer strikeouts than usual moving forward.
We don't really have enough data on spin rate stuff to generate some really confident insights, but for our purposes, I think it makes a little bit of sense to not penalize lower strikeout pitchers quite as much as we usually do. If the highest strikeout rates in the league are coming down, and the middle-rate strikeout pitchers stay the same, that's actually a boost to those pitchers. Again, there's no evidence this will happen - but it's something to keep in mind.
Let's take a look at a handful of SPs to consider adding off of your waiver wire for Week 13, June 21-28.
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Pickups for Shallow Leagues
Tarik Skubal, Detroit Tigers (35.7% Rostered)
Over his last six starts now, Skubal has thrown 33 innings, giving up just 11 earned runs with 50 (!!) strikeouts. He has been racking up the strikeouts and limiting the longball (at least relative to what he was doing early on his career). He has gone six innings in three of his last four starts, and he's faced the White Sox twice in that span.
Skubal should be way more than 36% rostered. I'm not sure what' going on there. He is a talented arm who is getting the results now. Add him.
Shane McClanahan, Tampa Bay Rays (15.2% Rostered)
The Rays have loosened the leash on McClanahan, allowing him to throw a season-high 89 pitches in his last start on June 15. His swinging-strike rate is elite for the year (17.5%), and his CSW% is also great at 33.6%. Add to that a strong ground-ball rate (48.1%) and you have the makings of a really valuable fantasy pitcher down the stretch.
The ceiling is still lower than normal for McClanahan in that Rays system where they'll limit his pitch counts and probably limit his total innings for the year, but for right now, McClanahan is an electric arm that no longer is being kept under 80 pitches. It will still be tough for him to get quality starts, but the ratios and win totals should be pretty solid moving forward - I would add him in most leagues.
Eduardo Rodriguez, Boston Red Sox (53.4% Rostered)
The box score results look really rough lately for Eduardo, giving up three or more earned runs in every start from May 12 to June 15. However, in that time, he's racked up a really strong K-BB ratio. Over the last 30 calendar days, E-Rod has a 28% strikeout rate and a 9% walk rate, one of the better combinations in the game.
Rodriguez has always been an exciting arm but has never been able to piece it together, giving up a lot of home runs and losing command quite a bit - which is pretty much where he's at right now. However, the high strikeouts right now are a sign that some really dominant starts may be coming.
Pickups for Deeper Leagues
Mike Minor, Kansas City Royals (41.5% Rostered)
This is super boring, but if you need some innings and strikeouts, Mike Minor is a solid add. He has gone six or more innings in five starts this year, and has done it in three of his last four. The strikeout rate is still above average (26%), so he makes for a nice addition to a team lacking in that category. The importance of getting volume from your starters gets overlooked a lot in fantasy, and Minor brings the innings with him. He's gone over 90 pitches in all of his starts but one this year and has cracked the century mark three times.
He won't often put a zero in the "earned runs" column, but he'll make more useful starts than not, so he can be added in deep leagues.
Logan Gilbert, Seattle Mariners (28.8% Rostered)
Gilbert started his career really poorly, but recently has looked better. He posted a 17.1% swinging-strike rate in his start on June 6 and then followed that up with another 17.4% mark on the 13th. His strikeout rate is on the way up, and his walk rate is on the way down - which suggests that there could be greener pastures ahead. This is only for deep or dynasty leagues for right now, but keep a close eye on Gilbert in all leagues in case he keeps this recent surge going.
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