Fantasy baseball is a marathon, not a sprint. That can make it difficult to follow and track the trend in performance for players around the league, not just the ones on your roster. That's particularly true in daily leagues that require hyper-attention to maximizing the management of one's own lineup. It's also easy to anchor our impression of a player to one certain scoring period or start. With that context in mind, this week's article will look at some starting pitchers who have pitched well relative to expectations, or to a sample from earlier in the season.
Identify useful streaming targets for your pitching staff with RotoWire's Probable Pitchers page!
Surging Pitchers for Fantasy Baseball Points Leagues
Tomoyuki Sugano 
– 72% CBS
Sugano's 13.8 K% is tough to accept in points leagues, even if he suppresses hard contact very effectively. He won't be confused with a strikeout artist anytime soon, but he has slowly ticked his whiffs up as he acclimates to MLB. Sugano has a strikeout rate of at least 12 percent in each of his last five starts after achieving that only twice in his first five outings. The trick to navigating his moderate rise in skill is that he's already widely rostered, meaning he's only available in shallower leagues – something his numbers still don't necessarily measure up to.
Will Warren 
– 71% CBS
As his roster rate suggests, the secret is out on Warren. However, he is looking like a must-add player in shallower leagues where
Fantasy baseball is a marathon, not a sprint. That can make it difficult to follow and track the trend in performance for players around the league, not just the ones on your roster. That's particularly true in daily leagues that require hyper-attention to maximizing the management of one's own lineup. It's also easy to anchor our impression of a player to one certain scoring period or start. With that context in mind, this week's article will look at some starting pitchers who have pitched well relative to expectations, or to a sample from earlier in the season.
Identify useful streaming targets for your pitching staff with RotoWire's Probable Pitchers page!
Surging Pitchers for Fantasy Baseball Points Leagues
Tomoyuki Sugano – 72% CBS
Sugano's 13.8 K% is tough to accept in points leagues, even if he suppresses hard contact very effectively. He won't be confused with a strikeout artist anytime soon, but he has slowly ticked his whiffs up as he acclimates to MLB. Sugano has a strikeout rate of at least 12 percent in each of his last five starts after achieving that only twice in his first five outings. The trick to navigating his moderate rise in skill is that he's already widely rostered, meaning he's only available in shallower leagues – something his numbers still don't necessarily measure up to.
Will Warren – 71% CBS
As his roster rate suggests, the secret is out on Warren. However, he is looking like a must-add player in shallower leagues where still available. In four starts since the beginning of May, Warren has struck out at least seven batters on each occasion. The downside is that he's struggled to work deep into games, though he has completed at least five innings in each of his last three appearances. His lack of quality starts will hurt his value, but the Yankees are a quality team, so he could reclaim some value with wins (two of his three wins have come in May).
Clarke Schmidt – 64% CBS
Sticking in the Bronx, Schmidt had a delayed start to the season due to a shoulder injury, which helps explain his relatively low roster rate. He has offered the steadier version of the production that Warren has provided, working at least six innings in each of his last three starts. On the other hand, he has no more than seven strikeouts and has occasionally seen his walk rate rise (12.5 BB%). Across his last four starts, he has between 12 and 13.5 points on three occasions, while spiking to 23.5 on the other occasion. Schmidt is a low-end starter in shallow formats, but he offers a safe floor.
Shane Smith 
- 50% CBS
Smith has been excellent all season, but his K-BB% has improved considerably over the last month. In six starts, he has a 25.6 K% with a 7.5 BB% as compared to season-long rates of 22 and 8.1 percent, respectively. The rest of the numbers aren't so inspiring for Smith, limiting his fantasy appeal to only deeper leagues despite his impressive skills.
Luis L. Ortiz 
– 37% CBS
Ortiz's fantasy results have fluctuated considerably, so it's not much of a surprise that his roster rate remains depressed. However, his skills make him nearly impossible to ignore as he's maintained a 28 percent strikeout rate across the last 30 days (five starts), good for 18th in the league among qualified pitchers in that span. That spike in strikeouts is particularly appealing considering that the knock on Ortiz has been that he can't translate his big velocity into consistent whiffs. There will be down periods, but he is worth monitoring at the very least.
Bailey Falter 
– 13% CBS
We have a very good idea of who Falter is after 496.2 innings in the majors. He's a decent big-league pitcher, but not a particularly interesting one for fantasy purposes. In the interest of this exercise though, I have to bring up his recent run. In four May starts, he's topped 20 points on three occasions. Falter has gone on strong runs before only to crash back to earth, and that will almost certainly be what happens again this season, as there hasn't been any discernible improvement in his skills. Stream him now, but don't count on him for the long haul.
Cade Povich - 11% CBS
Povich has a good pedigree, but it hasn't translated to results. His 5.40 ERA in May certainly doesn't illustrate a change in his outcomes, but the underlying numbers do. For example, he's allowed a .209 batting average against and a .270 wOBA, and that's been powered by a 24.4 K-BB% (28.9 K%). In other words, a 48.8 percent left-on-base rate is the only reason for his poor results. There are other ways that Povich's breakout potential has manifested. The southpaw has completed at least five innings in three of his last four starts. That wouldn't be all that remarkable, if not for the fact that he accomplished the feat just once in his first four appearances this season. The Orioles are in desperate need of reliable pitching, and Povich appears ready to step up for both them and fantasy managers.
