Everyone in fantasy sports wants to find the diamond in the rough type of player, especially late in drafts. In fantasy baseball, one thing that can help fantasy managers immensely is finding late round pitchers to accrue strikeouts. Pitchers who can get you strikeouts often times produce in other categories as well, like wins or quality starts.
Below you will find my favorite late round strikeout targets for 2025 fantasy baseball drafts. We are looking past pick 200, which would be after round 13 in 15-team leagues, round 16 in 12-team leagues, and round 20 in 10-team leagues. I am using NFBC average draft position for reference.
Nick Pivetta – San Diego Padres
2025 NFBC ADP: 208
Nick Pivetta is a great addition to the San Diego Padres rotation, and should find success in the typically pitcher friendly leaning confines of Petco Park. He spent the last four seasons in Boston, where he averaged a 14% HR/FB rate and a 4.33 ERA, compared to a 3.92 xFIP and 3.78 SIERA.
Pivetta’s stuff should play well in San Diego. He had a 10.6 K/9 rate last season – the second best of his career – and improved his BB/9 rate to a career best 2.2 last year as well. He leaned on his fastball, sweeper, curveball, and slider mix to get the job done. All of those pitches had a .230 BAA or better, between 20-35% whiff rates, and all but his cutter ranged from 21-24% putaway rates. His sweeper and fastball both were also above league average in Out%.
His fastball was solid:
For a pitcher with below average velocity, he sure made the best out of the pitch, creating elite IVB, and using near-elite extension to help fool batters. He also located the ball relatively well, which helped make it an effective pitch. But his sweeper was filthy.
Pivetta’s sweeper graded as a Quality Pitch, thanks to elite location, as well as above average velocity and extension. With pitches like this, Pivetta should be able to get you the strikeouts that you need late, without sacrificing too many points of ERA.
MacKenzie Gore – Washington Nationals
2025 NFBC ADP: 208
MacKenzie Gore goes around the same time as Pivetta, which could result in fantasy managers having to make a choice here. Pivetta may end up earning more wins and fewer losses playing for a team that projects to be above .500. But Gore seems to be on the cusp of reaching the next level of performance.
Gore has averaged a 9.7 K/9 rate over 372 IP across three seasons. In each of those seasons, he has improved his BB/9, GB%, and ERA – and, of course, those things are connected. It looks like he could have done even better last season if not for a sky-high .340 BABIP and a 68% LOB rate (10% lower than in 2023), clearly due to poor defense.
Gore’s best pitch has arguably been his curveball, which possesses an above average Out%. Last season, it also induced a 34% whiff rate and 23% putaway rate.
There is a lot to like about this pitch. He throws it hard, with elite extension, plus a ton of break and above average location. He threw it to righty batters as his main out pitch for them, despite owning a changeup with a 51% whiff rate. He threw that pitch exclusively to righty batters, but suffered from poor location.
If he can develop the changeup a bit more and rely on that as a primary out pitch for righties, while leaning on his curveball and slider to get lefty hitters out, we could be looking at a breakout year for Gore in 2025. Also, developing that changeup should also result in even more strikeouts.
Nick Lodolo – Cincinnati Reds
2025 NFBC ADP: 252
Nick Lodolo has been hampered by injuries over his career. In 2023, he fractured his tibia, which resulted in complications and another IL stint at the beginning of 2024. He also dealt with groin and finger injuries last season that landed him on the IL a total of four times.
Lodolo enters 2025 completely healthy, though he likely faces an innings limit after tossing just 115 last season. Still, he has shown a propensity for striking batters out at a high rate – 10.6 career K/9 rate – and is a great late option for strikeouts.
Last season, Lodolo’s ERA ballooned to 4.76, but he dealt with a 68% LOB rate after seeing an 80% rate in his first two seasons. Lodolo also has a career 45% GB rate, which should keep his ERA from getting to high, even in Cincinnati.
What makes Lodolo a great target for strikeouts is his curveball. Last season it had a .217 BAA, a .168 xBAA, a 43% whiff rate and a 27% putaway rate. It graded as above league average in Out%, along with his sinker. His changeup was .1% below league average in Out%.
Here is a look at it from last season:
https://x.com/PitchingNinja/status/1785150902086648053
He should be able to continue dominating batters with this pitch. If he can improve his changeup slightly, maintain a solid sinker, and (most importantly) stay healthy, Lodolo could be a major fantasy asset as a late round strikeout target.
Kutter Crawford – Boston Red Sox
2025 NFBC ADP: 282
Fantasy managers may have to sacrifice a little in the ERA department to draft Kutter Crawford late for strikeouts. But he could prove to be a dependable pitcher to earn K’s in spite of his other deficiencies.
Crawford threw 183 innings last season, but is starting spring training a little behind schedule with some tendinitis. If he can make it to the regular season relatively on time, we could be looking at a lot of innings for the righty again.
Crawford owns four pitches with above league average Out%: a splitter, sweeper, fastball, and cutter. He is one of ten pitchers that can claim four or more pitches with above average Out%. He also has an 8.9 K/9 rate for his career, which means he has the stuff to get batters out with swings and misses.
He owns three pitches with a 20% whiff rate or better and three with a 20% putaway rate or better. His best, though, is his splitter. Here is a look at it from last season:
https://x.com/benjpalmer/status/1778204631006630378
Crawford’s splitter earned a 40% whiff rate and a 30% putaway rate, and was his best out pitch overall. If he throws it more, it could help tick his strikeout rate up even more.
Crawford projects for a 4.30 ERA or worse according to most projections systems, but if you can eat the ERA, he could be a great option for fantasy managers that need strikeout help late in drafts.
Brady Singer – Cincinnati Reds
2025 NFBC ADP: 402
Brady Singer is one of my favorite sleeper pitchers this season. He goes so late in drafts, likely because drafters are paranoid about his move to Cincinnati and Great American Ballpark, the third friendliest pitcher’s park last season.
Fantasy managers should not worry so much, though. Among the 58 pitchers that have accrued at least 500 IP since 2021, Singer ranks eighth in groundball rate. His 48% GB rate since then lines up well with the move to Cincy, so the inflated ERA projections may be pushing down his value.
Singer increased his innings to 179 last season, a career high. It was the third year in a row he increased his innings, showing he is durable. He also improved both his K/9 rate and BB/9 rate last season. These are trends that could continue, so I like Singer as a late source of strikeouts.
His slider and sweeper both had 35% whiff rates last season, while those pitches and his sinker all earned 20-24% putaway rates. He only threw his sweeper about 3% of the time, but it performed so well, he should toss it more.
Across the board, this was a top-notch pitch. From velocity, to extension, to break, and location, this was just a filthy pitch. It graded out to a Quality Pitch. If he leans on that more, which I expect he will in his new stadium, we could see an increase in strikeouts.
He also needs to figure out how to turn his sinker or changeup into an out pitch for lefties, and if he can do that, he may just be one of the most valuable sleepers in fantasy baseball this year.
Feature image by Michael Packard (@CollectingPack on Twitter) | Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire