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.
Colin Rea – 18%
Initially working as a reliever before switching to the rotation, Colin Rea has enjoyed a strong start to the season with the Chicago Cubs. Entering play on Friday, he had pitched to a 1.46 ERA and a 2.49 FIP in seven appearances (including four starts) and 24.2 innings of work, adding 21 strikeouts compared to five walks and one home run in the process. He’s collected a pair of pitcher wins in the process and turned in a three-inning save when he was pitching out of the bullpen.
As he’s done in the past, Rea has been excellent at limiting walks so far. His walk rate so far sits at just 5.1%, down from 6.0% last season (in 167.2 innings) and currently sitting in the 83rd percentile league-wide.
The 34-year-old hasn’t overwhelmed with generating swings and misses or getting batters to chase – he ranks in the 46th percentile or lower in strikeout rate (21.2%, 46th percentile), whiff rate (23.9%, 42nd percentile) and chase rate (21.8%, 10th percentile) – but he’s also done well in limiting loud contact. Rea has held batters to a 5.5% barrel rate and a 37.0% hard-hit rate so far. Opposing batters have managed just a .307 xwOBA and a .369 xwOBAcon against the right-hander.
As long as he keeps doing that – in addition to continuing to limit walks – it should allow him to overcome the relative lack of strikeouts as a quality fantasy option for fantasy managers in deeper leagues. Overall, Rea’s lower strikeout numbers make him a pitcher to particularly avoid in tough starts, but he’s very much worth a look in fantasy leagues with more than 12 teams at the moment.
Tyler Anderson – 19%
So far in 2025, Tyler Anderson has logged a pair of pitcher wins in six starts spanning 33.2 innings. Along the way, he’s posted a 2.67 ERA.
Both of those things are good.
And while Anderson’s 5.11 FIP points to some statistical regression on the horizon (which is not so great), particularly with the 35-year-old left-hander allowing 1.60 homers per nine frames, he’s been here before with significantly outperforming his FIP. Last season in 31 starts and 179.1 innings, the starter logged a 4.66 FIP, while also posting a 3.81 ERA.
Anderson is once again limiting hard contact at a decidedly above-average rate. Opposing batters have managed just a 30.5% hard-hit rate so far. If the season ended today, it’d mark the sixth straight season that the right-hander’s hard-hit rate has been below 33.1%.
In those seasons, the starter has finished in the 85th, 88th, 98th, 90th and 89th percentiles, respectively in hard-hit rate. This year, he ranks in the 88th percentile.
In a similar vein to Rea, Anderson isn’t someone to start against stronger lineups due to his elevated home runs allowed per nine-inning rate, but he’s worth a look in the right matchups. That certainly applies to his next start. Assuming the Angels’ rotation continues as is without any interruptions, Anderson’s next projected start will come Tuesday at home against the Toronto Blue Jays. As of the beginning of play on Friday, the Blue Jays were sporting a collective 92 wRC+ as a team, the seventh-lowest number in the sport.
Tomoyuki Sugano – 10%
Speaking of pitchers with favorable upcoming schedules, Tomoyuki Sugano has just that with projected starts against the Kansas City Royals (at home on Saturday) and the Minnesota Twins (on the road on Thursday) and potentially the Twins again after that, assuming the Orioles’ rotation remains unchanged and without any interruptions.
Both clubs rank in the bottom half of the league in collective wRC+, with the Royals in particular checking in with the sport’s second-lowest wRC+ (77).
Sugano has pitched to a 3.00 ERA and a 5.12 FIP in six starts and 33 innings this season. He’s only struck out 17 batters, but has scattered just three walks and has rattled off three pitcher wins. And while Sugano’s strikeout totals have been low so far, eight of his 17 strikeouts did come in his last outing, in which he scattered five hits and a walk in five scoreless frames against the New York Yankees, posting an excellent 36% CSW rate in the process.
