Vince Velasquez (SP, PHI) - Waiver Wire Pickups

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ANALYSIS: Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Vince Velasquez rebounded from a rough outing last week by taking a shutout into the sixth inning on Monday, though his bullpen would blow the lead and his win. Still, we have to respect how VV has 70 strikeouts in just 57 ⅓ innings alongside some lovely peripherals.

His 3.50 SIERA is rooted in the 11.2% swinging-strike rate and Velasquez bringing his walk rate down from 10.8% in ‘17 to 8.5% thus far. He is also inducing worse contact (hard-hit rate down nine percentage points, increased pop-up rate over the 10% mark and a fly-ball rate up nearly 10 percentage points) and yet his .317 BABIP is higher than last year’s .303 mark.

You should buy the skills underneath, but should know full well the volatility that you are inviting by rostering him. If for nothing else, he will get a nice date against the Giants at AT&T Park on June 2 for his next outing.