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Remember that ultra-successful Hollywood box office hit Lucky Number Slevin? Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Lucy Liu, Josh Hartnett — what is this, The Sleventh Sense? That’d be a cool sequel, bee-tee-dubs. A little kid who steals money from banks because ghosts tell him all the secrets and then he uses psychic powers to steal from the rich and give to the poor. Who doesn’t love a Robin Hood archetype? ENYWHEY. Think about some kind of dumb title for this article like Week Slevin Top Hurlers! Hypehouse Arms: 2 Months minus 1 Week Edition! Can we get Jason Blum to produce this? Could use a good jump scare after this first item I share with you. Quickly, onto the Main Act!

News and Notes

L30$/G=Actual fantasy value over last 30 days per game appearance; wK/9=weighted K/9 over season; wPABIB=weighted ability of pitcher to generate outs; wL30FIP=weighted FIP over last 30 days.

Max ScherzerOl’ blue eye is gonna miss 6-8 weeks because he doesn’t do 10 minutes of hot yoga every morning before staring at the “Be the Change” meme he posted to his vision board. Oblique strains can be pretty wonky for recovery. So wonky, that I’ll I have to do is post the following tweet about Jack Flaherty’s oblique strain from 2021 and most of you are going to be crying in your avocado toast for the rest of the season:

So, Max Scherzer isn’t Jack Flaherty and every injury is different yatta yatta. That said, Scherzer’s injury will provide an opportunity for fantasy managers to assess the damage and then try and find the next big thing, as I noted in my pre-season article about injured pitchers.

Martin PerezOK, what’s happening here. Complete game shutout. I’m not “taking the L” there, first because I don’t live in Chicago, and second because this shouldn’t be happening.

Perez is SP16 on the year so far, which is fantasy sexcellence. However, we can’t sit here and say, “I told you so.” Perez had 1,100 career innings before 2022, with a 4.71 ERA, 4.54 FIP, and a 6 K/9 to 3.5 BB/9. The reason you haven’t heard of him being great for fantasy is because he was terrible for fantasy. Now let’s look at 2022: 6.9 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, and SIERA/xFIP over double his ERA and FIP/xERA about 0.8 points higher. In his complete-game shutout, he faced 32 batters and struck out only 5 hitters. So 27 batters made contact with the ball and 8 baserunners total, none of whom crossed the plate. Just like with Reid Detmers’ no-hitter that featured only 2 strikeouts, we have to think about the role of defense here. In baseball, you’re out or safe — those are the only two outcomes for an at-bat. If a pitcher strikes out a batter, there’s no chance for them to be safe. If a pitcher allows a ball in play, a whole mess of contingencies begin. It’s worthwhile to point out that Perez had a 2-month stretch in 2021 where he had a 2.22 ERA and 8 K/9, before spending the next two months with a 7.13 ERA/6.87 FIP and getting relegated to the bullpen. Should you use Perez for fantasy? You do you. The “negative” regression is coming. Perez is whiffing a few more batters than usual, but we have an immense amount of data on this guy (10 years! 1000+ IP!) and he’s been all over the league. His fastball velocity is actually a bit down compared to career norms. His pitch mix is the same as it always was. This is not a recipe for SP16. What we’re likely seeing is the culmination of what so many batters in 2022 complain about — the ball sucks. For the rest of us, keep Perez in your thoughts for DFS (although he’s definitely not a bargain anymore) and best balls, but don’t be surprised when he turns into a pumpkin come June.

Name L30$/G wK/9 wPABIB wL30FIP
Martin Perez 40.6 -37.37% 4.16% 43.62%

Michael KingI mean, have I gone too far with this “Roleless Rob” thing? No, it’s the kids who have lost their way. Let’s do one of those anonymous comparison tables and see what you notice:

Name K% BB% FIP HR/9
Player A 46% 5% 1.10 0.45
Player B 36% 5% 1.29 0.34

So, Player A is Jacob deGrom’s start to 2021 through May 9 (after which he started his IL roundtrips), and Player B is Michael King in 2022. Among P with 20+ IP in 2022, Michael King is second-best in the league, behind David Bednar and ahead of Shane McClanahan. In the same sample size cohort, Michael King has the second-best FIP, right behind Kevin Gausman. King hasn’t hit the “spot starter” part of the season because the Yankees starters have been, on the whole, healthy and reasonably effective. When you’ve got a bunch of players who are contracted to be starters (Cole, JoMo, Taillon, and Severino) doing well and Nasty Nestor Cortes decimating the league, there’s no reason to move King — who has racked up an astonishing 26 IP in relief (also 2nd in the league behind Keegan Akin) — into a starter role quite yet. Nonetheless, for those of you in RCLs, Michael King is a must-roster for his ratio prowess, and deep league players should absolutely keep King in the lineup every day. Everybody else, keep an eye on the news to see if a Yankees SP gets hurt and King gets a shot as a starter.

Name L30$/G wK/9 wPABIB wL30FIP
Michael King 4.2 15.64% -1.24% 66.87%

Cristian Javier: Even after getting blown up for 7 runnings early in May, his time as a “starter” has been pretty effective: 10.5+ K/9, 3.90 ERA, and 3.75 FIP, and 2 Wins. His pitch mix is changing pretty drastically recently — nearly 15% more fastballs, a quintupling of curveballs, and a big cut to his slider usage. Plus, he’s gaining some velo on his fastball. So, the Astros are tinkering with both his role (starter/Roleless Rob) and pitch mix, and we could see a big change in his results soon. In his last start, he went 6IP with 9 strikeouts and a walk, which fantasy managers will take to the bank every day. That said, his pitch mix was also drastically different than his previous outings, so we may not see a ton of consistency going forward. Fingers crossed that the pitching coaches have figured him out and we’re about to see a breakout season.

Name L30$/G wK/9 wPABIB wL30FIP
Cristian Javier -4.6 1.24% 3.06% 1.67%

George KirbyHere’s what I wrote in a previous life about George Kirby for fantasy:

We all love some prospects but the truth is, sometimes they need a bit more playing time than their rookie year before they’re useful for fantasy. Last year’s top rookie pitcher — Trevor Rogers— was the #90 overall consensus prospect. The second-best overall rookie pitcher was none other than the unheralded Luis Garcia, who had never played above High-A ball. In terms of WAR, the best “premier prospect” rookie pitcher in 2021 was Logan Gilbert, who finished 6-5 with a 4.68 ERA. Fantasy stud! I’m not saying Kirby won’t be good or won’t be useful for fantasy in 2022. What I am saying, is that prospect pitchers are very risky.

So far, Kirby’s been pretty boring, with a whiff line that looks like Martin Perez. [Tries to think of a joke about “whiff lines”]. Kirby has 4 strikeouts over his last 9 IP, which is about as exciting as watching batting practice. At 24 years old and all of his options remaining, there’s not a ton of reason to force Kirby to stick in the Majors right now. Imagine you’re a general manager and your star prospect arrives and is K’ing at a rate nearly half of what he should be K’ing (11 K/9 in minors vs 6.6 K/9 in majors). Do you leave your star prospect in the majors and effectively start his rookie clock when he’s providing status quo-levels of performance? Or do you let him get some more innings in AAA and wait for September? It’s quite the Sophie’s Choice! You keep doing you on Kirby, and I’m still in the camp that fantasy managers will see better results from Kirby in 2023 and beyond.

Name L30$/G wK/9 wPABIB wL30FIP
George Kirby -26.6 -40.41% 3.26% 1.13%

The Rankings

Here’s how to use the list:

  • Tier: 1=best, 2=everybody else for 12 team consideration, 3=deep league/dynasty/best ball/tournaments/DFS.
  • Name: Player name
  • Confidence: The overall score my system outputs. The higher the score, the more confident I am in using the player in the near term.
  • Own%: This is the rostership % of the player in Razzball Commenter Leagues, run on Fantrax. This % may vary depending on site and format for readers.
  • L30$/G: This is how valuable the player has been over the past month. Players with high confidence who have low or negative $/G are “buy low” candidates.  Spot starters/Roleless Robs will have a lower $/G because they play in more games.
Tier Name Confidence Own% L30$/G
1 Michael King 4.391 4.2
1 Shohei Ohtani 4.292 100 24.6
1 Dylan Cease 4.298 100 0.4
1 Carlos Rodon 4.297 100 -18.9
1 Shane McClanahan 4.131 100 39.6
1 Freddy Peralta 4.291 100 43.4
1 Nestor Cortes 3.941 100 25.6
1 Eric Lauer 3.676 100 42.3
1 Cristian Javier 3.645 100 -4.6
1 Kevin Gausman 3.683 100 26.2
1 Jesus Luzardo 3.483 84 6.4
1 Brandon Woodruff 3.444 100 -8.7
1 Alex Cobb 3.344 91 -33.7
1 Tarik Skubal 3.397 100 30.2
1 Lucas Giolito 3.186 100 0.5
1 Kyle Wright 3.281 100 9
1 Max Scherzer 3.142 100 18.3
1 Pablo Lopez 3.178 100 28.3
1 Max Fried 3.083 100 12.2
1 Clayton Kershaw 3.171 100 33.9
1 Zack Wheeler 3.069 100 21.7
1 Aaron Nola 3.035 100 -0.4
1 Frankie Montas 3.003 100 -12.9
1 Logan Gilbert 2.969 100 -3.5
1 Gerrit Cole 2.964 100 44.9
1 Joe Musgrove 2.959 100 23.7
1 Corbin Burnes 2.954 100 13.3
1 Zac Gallen 2.968 100 39.6
1 Justin Verlander 2.906 100 53.2
1 Tylor Megill 2.901 93 -23.9
1 Garrett Whitlock 2.893 100 -34.5
1 Kenley Jansen 2.886 100 6.1
1 Paul Blackburn 2.977 100 11.8
1 Justin Steele 2.885 5 -25.3
1 Carlos Carrasco 2.882 100 -6
1 Sean Manaea 2.879 100 -41.6
1 Drew Rasmussen 2.878 100 47.6
1 MacKenzie Gore 2.951 80 -5.2
1 Tyler Mahle 2.841 100 -24
1 Martin Perez 2.910 82 40.6
1 Jeffrey Springs 2.887 16 0.3
1 A.J. Minter 2.831 7 -2
1 Daulton Jefferies 2.806 5 -78.9
2 Alek Manoah 2.779 100 26.6
2 Spencer Strider 2.766 55 -1.7
2 Merrill Kelly 2.760 98 -24.4
2 Wil Crowe 2.758 14 -1.9
2 Robbie Ray 2.742 100 -13.9
2 Joe Ryan 2.736 100 24.2
2 Zach Eflin 2.731 5 -12.7
2 Michael Kopech 2.723 100 -2.8
2 Ryan Helsley 2.700 100 10.9
2 Yu Darvish 2.687 100 11.1
2 Justin Wilson 2.683 -2.2
2 Triston McKenzie 2.671 100 13.3
2 Jon Gray 2.666 27 -28.7
2 Nick Pivetta 2.666 50 27.6
2 Miles Mikolas 2.663 100 16.8
2 Scott Effross 2.659 -1.4
2 Keegan Akin 2.648 -12.1
2 Kyle Gibson 2.637 82 -25.3
2 Walker Buehler 2.621 100 16.7
2 Victor Arano 2.603 -7.1
2 Logan Webb 2.596 100 -5.2
2 Tanner Houck 2.595 41 -19.1
2 Dane Dunning 2.584 25 1.9
2 Corey Kluber 2.580 77 -28.5
2 Steven Matz 2.577 59 -27.2
2 Sam Hentges 2.575 0.6
2 Ross Stripling 2.575 -39.8
2 Framber Valdez 2.574 100 10
2 Chris Bassitt 2.574 100 3.4
2 Kyle Freeland 2.573 -27.4
2 Jovani Moran 2.567 5
2 Aaron Ashby 2.557 57 -30.4
2 Alex Vesia 2.546 -3.6
2 Jason Adam 2.538 9 0
2 Luis Garcia 2.533 100 1.8
2 Luis Garcia 2.533 100 1.8
2 Luis Severino 2.530 100 -0.9
2 JT Brubaker 2.530 7 -29.8
2 Patrick Sandoval 2.529 100 3.8
2 Brock Burke 2.523 14 5.1
2 David Bednar 2.511 100 4.7
2 John Brebbia 2.506 -0.9
2 Evan Phillips 2.502 -3.6
2 Hector Neris 2.497 11 -3.8
2 Alex Wood 2.497 98 -25
2 Jose Quintana 2.496 27 -1.3
2 Tyler Anderson 2.490 45 -8.5
2 Adrian Houser 2.490 14 -2.3
2 Devin Williams 2.482 61 3.1
2 Bryan Abreu 2.473 5
2 Josh Hader 2.473 100 7.6
2 Shane Bieber 2.462 100 -54.1
2 Parker Mushinski 2.460 -8.8
2 Marcus Stroman 2.457 80 18.8
2 Brooks Raley 2.456 52 -1.8
2 German Marquez 2.451 61 -62.5
2 Trevor Gott 2.446 -2.7
2 Adam Ottavino 2.442 -4
2 Chasen Shreve 2.436 -8
2 Bruce Zimmermann 2.435 -15.6
2 Mauricio Llovera 2.432 -3.2
2 Jordan Montgomery 2.432 100 -21.4
2 Zack Greinke 2.430 32 -36.7
2 Penn Murfee 2.419 0.2
2 Cody Stashak 2.415 3.3
2 Enyel De Los Santos 2.409 -3.8
2 Kyle Nelson 2.406 -1.3
2 Patrick Corbin 2.399 11 -59.2
2 Collin McHugh 2.395 2 -7.3
2 Zach Jackson 2.385 -0.8
2 Andrew Chafin 2.384 -4.1
2 Erik Swanson 2.383 -1.8
2 Taylor Rogers 2.383 100 4.8
2 Jordan Lyles 2.380 -26.5
2 Eli Morgan 2.379 -13
2 Tony Gonsolin 2.379 100 30.7
2 Brady Singer 2.379 5 27.2
2 Matt Strahm 2.378 7 -1.3
2 Andrew Heaney 2.374 82
2 Dylan Bundy 2.374 27 -57.4
2 Chris Paddack 2.369 2 -11.3
2 Trevor Stephan 2.369 2 -2.6
2 JT Chargois 2.363
2 Will Vest 2.358 2 1
2 Sam Selman 2.356 11.8
2 Jameson Taillon 2.351 100 -4.3
2 Eduardo Rodriguez 2.350 77 -25.2
2 Sandy Alcantara 2.339 100 1
2 Seranthony Dominguez 2.337 2 -1.5
2 Emmanuel Clase 2.336 100 1.8
2 Jhoan Duran 2.334 98 2.2
2 Alex Lange 2.334 -0.8
2 J.P. Feyereisen 2.333 16 6.8
2 Jimmy Herget 2.332 0.3
2 Mitch Keller 2.332 -51.2
2 Giovanny Gallegos 2.324 100 -3.4
2 Chad Kuhl 2.320 23 -25.7
2 Bryse Wilson 2.314 -50.2
2 Noah Syndergaard 2.311 100 -33.8
2 Anthony Bass 2.306 5 -0.2
2 Clay Holmes 2.302 100 6.4
2 Aaron Civale 2.301 30 -50.9
2 Josh Staumont 2.300 39 -2.5
2 Keegan Thompson 2.299 7 -14.5
2 Jake Odorizzi 2.297 2 50.5
2 Brad Keller 2.289 32 -26.2
2 Adam Wainwright 2.288 100 3.6
2 Liam Hendriks 2.287 100 2.4
2 Zach Davies 2.284 -12.1
2 Julian Merryweather 2.282 -8.3
2 Charlie Morton 2.282 100 -18.5
2 Cole Sands 2.266 -5.5
2 Daniel Hudson 2.266 5 -2.2
2 Edwin Diaz 2.261 100 4.7
2 Konnor Pilkington 2.257 -2.3
2 Craig Kimbrel 2.252 100 -0.5
2 Jakob Junis 2.249 9 -5
2 Jordan Hicks 2.242 14 -36.2
2 Connor Overton 2.238 4.9
2 A.J. Puk 2.234 5 3.1
2 Kendall Graveman 2.232 16 -6
2 Trevor Rogers 2.228 100 -16.5
2 Pierce Johnson 2.224 2
2 Rich Hill 2.224 7 -11.7
2 Dillon Peters 2.218 2 -4.3
2 Aaron Loup 2.216 -5.9
2 Kyle Bradish 2.206 2 -36.4
2 Sean Doolittle 2.206
2 Josiah Gray 2.204 89 -19.5
2 Bryan Baker 2.204 -5.9
2 Joely Rodriguez 2.194 -2.8
2 David Robertson 2.192 100 0.2
2 Tanner Rainey 2.191 89 -3.2
2 Brandon Hughes 2.191 -0.6
2 Reynaldo Lopez 2.187 2 -0.5
2 Austin Gomber 2.187 9 0.4
2 Rony Garcia 2.185 2.5
2 Dany Jimenez 2.179 100 2.5
2 Joel Kuhnel 2.176 -4.8
2 Duane Underwood Jr. 2.175 -3
2 Antonio Senzatela 2.171 -59.9
2 John Schreiber 2.169 2 2.9
2 Daniel Bard 2.167 100 -1.7
2 Phillips Valdez 2.148 -21.5
2 Jordan Romano 2.140 100 1.2
2 Cal Quantrill 2.137 41 -28.9
2 James Norwood 2.135 -5
2 Chris Martin 2.135 -3
2 Reid Detmers 2.134 30 10.2
2 Matt Foster 2.131 -4.8
2 Camilo Doval 2.126 100 0.9
2 Daniel Lynch 2.120 9 -19.4
2 Zach Plesac 2.119 36 -49.4
2 Rafael Montero 2.114 52 -2
2 Joan Adon 2.112 -63.4
2 Ranger Suarez 2.110 75 -9.9
2 Nick Martinez 2.108 5 -4.2
2 Yusei Kikuchi 2.094 98 -1.9
2 Tyler Wells 2.093 2 -21.7
2 Humberto Castellanos 2.087 -10.7
2 Erick Fedde 2.086 -19.5
2 Chad Green 2.082 9 -2.1
2 Mike Clevinger 2.077 100 -4.7
2 Michael Lorenzen 2.075 75 16.2
2 Jared Solomon 2.074 -1.3
2 Corey Knebel 2.064 100 -3
2 Seth Lugo 2.057 -3
2 Julio Urias 2.057 100 12.6
2 Johnny Cueto 2.057 2 34.8
2 Trevor Williams 2.056 -39.8
2 Sergio Romo 2.054 -3.6
2 Caleb Thielbar 2.054 -1.4
2 Chris Flexen 2.054 9 -42
2 Andres Munoz 2.053 18 -5.6
2 Joe Mantiply 2.052 9 -1.4
2 Brett Martin 2.031 -5.1
2 Corbin Martin 2.021 -14.2
2 Jake Walsh 2.016 -11.4
2 Taylor Hearn 2.015 -33.1
2 Vince Velasquez 2.015 -40.2
2 Nick Vespi 2.014 23.4
2 Chris Stratton 2.011 2 -3.6
2 Andrew Bellatti 2.008 -3.2
2 Amir Garrett 2.004 2 -6.2
2 Tim Mayza 2.002 0.4
2 Rowan Wick 2.001 39 -2.2
3 Josh Winder 1.999 27 -11.8
3 Kyle Barraclough 1.998 -1.9
3 Carlos Hernandez 1.996 5 -103.2
3 Paul Sewald 1.988 70 1.9
3 Dusten Knight 1.987
3 Jhon Romero 1.980
3 Sam Moll 1.979 -1.3
3 Tyler Kinley 1.967 -1.7
3 Hunter Greene 1.966 57 -51.4
3 Lucas Luetge 1.964 -10.1
3 Roansy Contreras 1.964 7
3 Jorge Lopez 1.963 100 1.8
3 Nathan Eovaldi 1.962 100 -34.1
3 Jose Alvarado 1.956 -10.8
3 Nabil Crismatt 1.953 5 0.7
3 Sonny Gray 1.946 100 0.6
3 Jalen Beeks 1.946 -4.1
3 Anderson Severino 1.944 -4.8
3 Griffin Jax 1.941 5
3 Ross Detwiler 1.939 -0.4
3 Raisel Iglesias 1.928 100 -1.2
3 Kyle Finnegan 1.924 2 -4.3
3 Michael Wacha 1.923 48 15.7
3 Drew Smyly 1.923 -56.6
3 Ryan Borucki 1.922 -6.5
3 Dallas Keuchel 1.919 -53.9
3 Joel Payamps 1.917 0.5
3 Zach Thompson 1.917 -18.9
3 Drew Smith 1.915 2 -3.3
3 Brusdar Graterol 1.912 -7.3
3 Jeff Hoffman 1.911 -3
3 Hunter Harvey 1.908
3 Craig Stammen 1.906 -3
3 Steven Okert 1.905 -2.8
3 Austin Davis 1.901 0.4
3 David Phelps 1.898 -5.5
3 Jose Berrios 1.895 100 -23.1
3 Cole Sulser 1.894 9 -4.2
3 Adam Cimber 1.892 36 -0.9
3 Garrett Cleavinger 1.892 -1.3
3 Madison Bumgarner 1.884 27 -7.8
3 Justin Lawrence 1.882 -10.6
3 Tanner Scott 1.878 -6.9
3 Cody Poteet 1.876 2.3
3 Davis Martin 1.875 -4
3 Dominic Leone 1.865 -3.3
3 Kyle Hendricks 1.862 73 -23
3 Tony Santillan 1.862 2 -5.6
3 Tyler Rogers 1.859 -6.5
3 Anthony Kay 1.857
3 Elieser Hernandez 1.856 14 -42.9
3 Steve Cishek 1.847 -7.2
3 Robert Dugger 1.847 -14.2
3 Joe Jimenez 1.846 -5.1
3 Brad Boxberger 1.832 -5.5
3 Blake Treinen 1.830 18
3 Adonis Medina 1.829 -26
3 Dillon Tate 1.829 2 -4.4
3 Alexis Diaz 1.828 14 -0.4
3 Michael Rucker 1.828 -5.4
3 Luis Cessa 1.827 -1.3
3 Lou Trivino 1.815 25 -7.9
3 Hoby Milner 1.809 -5.2
3 Jackson Stephens 1.809 -1.4
3 Ian Anderson 1.807 100 -13.9
3 Trevor Kelley 1.804 18
3 Jose Urquidy 1.801 -27.2
3 Jesse Chavez 1.793 -4.8