Even with the small sample size, there are some trends starting to showcase in the early Major League Baseball season.
I’ll try to pinpoint the pitchers who can take advantage of those early season struggles by some MLB teams. Here’s the best two-start pitchers on the waiver for week 3 fantasy baseball.
Mike Leake, SP, Seattle Mariners
Leake isn’t exactly the same pitcher he once was. However, he can still register a decent level of strikeouts, especially with the right matchup.
Leake has 17 strikeouts in three outings so far this year. That’s not great, but not horrible either, considering you’re getting him off the waiver wire. All the strikeout pitchers are not available anymore, so you have to lower your expectations a bit on the waiver wire.
Those numbers aren’t bad for the waiver wire and Leake will square off against two teams in the bottom-10 for runs scored in Major League Baseball this week. Leake will toe the rubber against the Los Angeles Angels and the Cleveland Indians. The Angels haven’t been as bad as the Indians, but they’ve been bad so far on the offensive end. The Angels have just 59 runs this season, just a shade more than the Indians at 52.
Nobody’s been as bad at hitting the ball as Cleveland, though, with the Indians carrying a team batting average of .194.
That should be enough to give Leake a chance.
Aaron Sanchez, SP, Toronto Blue Jays
The matchups aren’t great, but Sanchez has some of the better stuff still residing on the waiver wire.
He’s had some control issues this year so far, with nine walks in 16 innings. But his strikeout numbers are going to be OK, as he has 16 strikeouts in that same amount of time. He’s been good about limiting earned runs, too, giving up just three this year.
He will square off against Minnesota, the 20th ranked offense in terms of runs, and Oakland, the third-best offense in MLB.
The A’s aren’t a good matchup, but I’ll trust you’ll get enough to make it worth it from Sanchez this week.
