Attention fantasy managers in ESPN leagues: Judging by their rostered percentages, you're missing out on a pair of cheat-code pitchers.
With starting pitching workloads continuing to dwindle -- this year's 5.1 innings-per-start average is the second-lowest in history, trailing only 2020's abbreviated-year 4.8 and about seven-hundredths beneath 2019's number -- maximizing the quality of your pitchers' frames is paramount. In leagues that afford you daily transactions, as ESPN's standard offerings do, you should aim to fill as many active pitching spots with actually active pitchers each day, with peak-skill middle relievers a great way to do it. That's increasingly true should your league cap your weekly or seasonal starts.
These two current relievers -- each bringing with him an outside chance at capturing a starter's role later in 2021 -- are effective must-haves in ESPN standard leagues (and if you know my work, you know how hesitant I am to apply "must" labels):
Tejay Antone, RP/SP, Cincinnati Reds (82.0% available): Good ol' tee-jay -- how you properly pronounce his first name -- might hold the current honor of "most underrated relief pitcher in fantasy," available in that many ESPN leagues despite ranking the No. 26 pure reliever on the Player Rater and with the 17th-most fantasy points at his position. Antone, whom Eric Karabell also recommended on Tuesday, has done it with a solid three-pitch mix (sinker, curveball and slider), all of which have some of the highest spin rates in the game, and his curveball specifically has a substantial amount of horizontal break that makes it especially difficult for left-handed hitters (.182 wOBA against him thus far in 2021). Control is his weak spot, as he has an 11.4% career big-league walk rate, but his filthy stuff is good enough to fuel a sub-three ERA and 100-plus K's, even if he never graduates into either a starter's or closer's role. Antone is one of the few "middle relievers" I'd project for a minimum of 100 innings, based upon his raw stuff and the way in which the Reds intend to use him, and it's not unthinkable that the Reds could be pressed into shifting him into the rotation or the closer's role.
Michael Kopech, SP, Chicago White Sox (46.9% available): His brilliant spot start on Sunday thrust him more into the fantasy spotlight, as his mid-90s fastball that was responsible for 7-of-10 strikeouts in that game was on full display, resulting in a 15.5% increase in his roster percentage. To be clear, it was a spot start, as Lance Lynn is expected back in that rotation spot on Saturday, but it also represented a preview of what might come for the rookie later in 2021. So why add -- and, much more importantly, keep -- Kopech around? Simple: He's shaping up as one of the year's most electric long relievers, another pitcher with a 100-inning, low-end projection, thanks to said fastball, a solid slider and passable curveball and changeup. Kopech has long been a high-velocity prospect -- you might recall him hitting 105 mph with his fastball in a 2016 minor league game -- and his fastball has been as good as advertised thus far, averaging 96.3 mph and putting him among a group of four pitchers (along with Jacob deGrom, Carlos Rodon and Trevor Rogers) to have thrown at least 150 with an 18% swinging-strike rate or better. Kopech is on pace for 125 K's just as a reliever (meaning excluding his 10-K start), and there's a good chance he's going to get to that threshold, regardless of role.
How about a bonus pack of three deeper-league adds? The following three have done enough lately to warrant your pickup in 15-plus-team mixed or "only" leagues:
Garrett Whitlock, SP/RP, Boston Red Sox: Perhaps the beneath-the-radar version of Antone or Kopech, Whitlock has thrived thus far in what has effectively been a starter's role, except one coming out of the bullpen. Whitlock has made five appearances, all of them scoreless and on at least three days' rest, with 4-of-5 at least two innings and 20 pitches in length. It's as good a sign as any that the Red Sox view him a future rotation member, and while their 2021 rotation looks a lot sturdier than the 2020 model, a realist's view might be that Eduardo Rodriguez is their only full-year, sure thing. Whitlock, who had Tommy John surgery in 2019 and was a Rule 5 pick this offseason, combines a mid-90s sinker and changeup, which balance his righty/lefty splits and minimize damaging innings due to his high ground-ball rate. He's sure to face adjustments as the year progresses, but he might also manage a similar-to-Antone-and-Kopech 100 innings with strong ratios and 100-plus K's.
Nico Hoerner, 2B/SS, Chicago Cubs: While it was presumably a two-day thing as Javier Baez sat due to a hamstring issue, Hoerner's presence in the leadoff spot the past two games displayed a good deal of confidence in the youngster, for a lineup that struggled mightily in the season's opening two weeks. After surprisingly missing the Opening Day roster cut despite .364/.396/.659 rates in 48 spring plate appearances, Hoerner was summoned last Thursday, presumably to press the struggling David Bote for the second base duties. While Hoerner doesn't possess any one elite skill, he brings a good approach and strong contact ability at the plate, things the Cubs really need, considering their 28.2% strikeout rate is fourth-worst in baseball thus far. He's a good fantasy middle infield type in any league as large as 15 teams mixed or NL-only, with an elevated floor thanks to his contact-oriented, line-drive stroke.
Madison Bumgarner, SP, Arizona Diamondbacks: I'll second Eric Karabell's Monday thoughts that Bumgarner's is a deep-league, speculative add, but upon further review of his metrics, I'm similarly intrigued in those league types. The left-hander has now shown a slight boost in fastball velocity in back-to-back turns, averaging better than 91 mph in each, which is higher than he has averaged in any start since 2019. The pitch has also exhibited considerably more spin than in any of the previous three years, which gives the look of a pitcher who has made a notable adjustment. Considering Bumgarner failed to make my top 100 ranked fantasy starting pitchers during the preseason, any rankings upgrade merely puts him on that threshold, in what I typically call the "matchups homework" tier for deeper mixed and NL-only. Still, with the improvement to that pitch, he could find a good number of favorable matchups to exploit: He's got the Colorado Rockies in Chase Field games and the San Francisco Giants within the division, and his Diamondbacks also have fantasy-friendly series upcoming with the Texas Rangers and Pittsburgh Pirates.