The Philadelphia Phillies have fallen on hard times of late, going 1-9 in the last 10 games.
So you might be scratching your head as to why I’m touting Phillies starter Jerad Eickhoff as a back-end starter in fantasy baseball this week.
Despite the hard times for the Phillies, Eickhoff has remained somewhat consistent in recent outings. His record doesn’t show it (3-3 in his last six starts), but he’s putting up decent numbers along the way.
In his three wins, he’s gone at least six innings, allowing a combined 10 hits and one earned run. He’s not dominating in the strikeout category, but he’s limiting walks (one base on balls allowed in four of his previous six starts).
So he’s the perfect candidate to help stop the skid for the Phillies.
And it doesn’t hurt that the hardly owned (23 percent on ESPN.com) righty is squaring off against Minnesota, a team with the least amount of runs scored in the American League.
And while the Twins have done a bit more damage in June with the bats, they’re still one of the worst offensive teams in Major League Baseball.
Against right-handers, Minnesota ranks toward the bottom of Major League Baseball in runs scored and is hitting below .250.
The Phillies are even worse on the offensive end, so expect this to be a low-scoring affair. That’s OK, since Eickhoff has shown since the middle of May to be capable of limiting the opposition while getting paltry run support.
Eickhoff should have a solid outing. The only question is if Philadelphia can score enough runs to get him the victory.
