Each week, we’ll look at a handful of players who fantasy managers should consider picking up in deeper fantasy baseball leagues. Many of these players will have the most value in larger leagues where waiver wire options aren’t as plentiful. Still, they could also occasionally be useful additions in other, more standard-sized leagues, depending on your options at each position.
All roster percentages mentioned in this column are via FantasyPros as of Friday afternoon.
Kyle Freeland – 11%
So far this season, Kyle Freeland has pitched to a 5.14 ERA in 29 starts and 150.2 innings for the Colorado Rockies. However, despite a reasonably low 6.75 strikeouts per nine innings, Freeland has been much better than his initial ERA would indicate, with a 4.29 FIP. That’s in part due to the left-hander’s ability to limit walks at an elite rate.
Entering play on Friday, he was sporting a 5.4% walk rate, a number that ranked in the 91st percentile league-wide. Among pitchers with at least 150 innings of work this season, only five starting pitchers have a lower walk rate than the Rockies starter.
And while pitching at Coors Field half the time certainly limits Freeland’s fantasy upside, he’s worth a look for fantasy managers in deeper leagues in the right matchups. Matchups that are coming in the very near future.
Assuming the Rockies’ rotation continues as is without any interruptions, Freeland will finish the year with a pair of starts against the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday and a start next week in San Francisco.
The Giants’ home ballpark, per Statcast data, is tied for the league’s second-lowest overall park factor. Also per Statcast, San Francisco’s ballpark ranks ahead of only the Pirates’ PNC Park in terms of park factor for home runs.
The Angels, for what it’s worth, have the league’s eighth-lowest walk rate as a team this season and rank ahead of just five major league teams with a 92 wRC+.
Jordan Leasure – 8%
In the closing weeks of the season, sometimes, depending on league size, the potential rotation streaming options don’t have the most ideal matchups, and the best way to add quality innings is to mix and match with relievers for strikeout, ERA, and WHIP contributions.
Enter Jordan Leasure, who has been elite at missing bats this year. The 27-year-old right-hander has pitched to a 29.6% strikeout rate and a 31.8% whiff rate so far this season.
Entering play on Friday, both of those metrics ranked in the 88th percentile or better league-wide. And while Leasure has struggled with surrendering walks and barrels so far this season, logging an 11.2% walk rate and a 9.5% barrel rate so far, he’s been much more effective as of late.
Dating back to August 29, the reliever has pitched to a 0.00 ERA and a 1.46 FIP in his last 10.2 innings, scattering two walks and a hit in 10.2 innings of work while logging a pitcher win, three saves, and a hold in the process. He’s also allowed just one barrel on 21 batted ball events – good for a 4.8% barrel rate – during that span.
Tyler Kinley – 1%
Kinley was mentioned in this column earlier this month as someone who could add weekly fantasy production in terms of strikeouts and potential pitcher wins. At the time of that column, Kinley had logged three pitcher wins between August 24 and September 6.
Flash forward a few weeks, and Kinley has logged yet another pitcher win for the season, all the while scattering just two hits and a walk in 5.1 innings of work from September 8 through September 16. During that span, he’s pitched to a 0.00 ERA and a 2.21 FIP in 5.1 innings with four strikeouts.
The sample size is a little longer than a week, but similar to adding Leasure to provide quality fantasy innings, Kinley brings similar upside.
Put differently, Kinley’s production over that eight-day stretch, when looked at as a whole, would be quality fantasy production for a streaming starter, especially considering he added both a pitcher win and a hold in the process.
Graphic by Carlos Leano.
