Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports
The waiver wire can be a gold mine for fantasy baseball players who are looking to boost their pitching stats. On most days, there is sure to be a starter or three just waiting to be scooped up who can help lead a fantasy team to glory. In today’s slice of fantasy baseball advice, let’s take a look at some hurlers who should be in for a solid day on the mound on June 5 and are quite possibly available on a waiver wire near you.
Now hurry up and grab one of these pitchers before some other cagey owner gets to them first. (Ownership percentages based off ESPN standard leagues.)
Wily Peralta: Milwaukee Brewers (63.6 percent): One bad start doesn’t make a season my friend. Despite his very strong 2.73 ERA, many people have decided to throw Peralta to the waiver wire wolves after just one bad outing. That could be good news for you, though, as perhaps you can scoop him up for today’s game.
The Brew Crew will take on the Minnesota Twins this evening, and while they are certainly no push over, they aren’t quite as dangerous as the numbers would indicate. Though the Twinkies sit at 11th in baseball with 4.28 runs scored per game, that number is a far less threatening 3.42 since the beginning of May. They’re also hitting just .243 as a team on the season, so Peralta has a good chance of reining these guys in tonight.
Tyler Skaggs: Los Angeles Angels (18.9 percent): This lefty has had some ups and downs so far in 2014, but his 4.14 ERA and 1.19 WHIP aren’t all that bad by American League standards. The good news is that he’s missing a lot of bats right now as confirmed by his 26 Ks in his last 26 innings, plus he’ll be facing his favorite team today.
He gets the Houston Astros for the third time this season, and if today goes anything like the first two games, Skaggs should put a smile on fantasy owners’ faces. In 15 innings against the Astros this year, Skaggs has allowed just one earned run on nine hits and has struck out 11 to boot. I recommend that you run, don’t walk to your local waiver wire and see if you can snag this fellow before today’s games start.
Jacob DeGrom: New York Mets (14.3 percent): This rookie owns an 0-2 record in his four starts this season, but he has really been the victim of a crummy Mets offense. Despite a strong 2.42 ERA his teammates just can’t seem to generate any runs behind him, but maybe that story goes down a different path today.
He faces the Chicago Cubs tonight and should have no problem holding their offense at bay. The Cubbies rank just 25th in runs scored per game this year (3.82) and own a league worst .219 average against right-handed pitching. In theory the Mets should be able to score some runs for their rookie hurler in this one, as Cubs starter Travis Wood sports a terrible 5.15 ERA on the season.
Brian Davis is a fantasy sports writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @SportsGuyBrian, ”Like” him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google.
