The pitching side of things presents Wednesday's best fantasy pickups, and the following three are well worth your add in all but the most shallow leagues:
Huascar Ynoa, SP, Atlanta Braves: An afterthought, fill-in fifth starter for the Braves exiting spring training as the team awaited the healthy return of Mike Soroka while buying some time for widely advertised winner of the role Bryse Wilson at the alternate site, Ynoa has quickly and quietly transformed into the team's most effective pitcher thus far. Ynoa has delivered 5-of-6 starts with at least 17 fantasy points and a Game Score of 64 or greater, with each of his past three worth 21-plus points. He has done it despite effectively relying on two pitches, a four-seam fastball and slider, each of which he throws at least 40% of the time, a combination that typically results in a wide righty/lefty split but with which the right-hander has somehow stymied left-handed hitters to the tune of .140/.173/.180 rates and a 26.9% strikeout rate.
Ynoa's success can be attributed in large part to a huge improvement in his control, as his 6.1% walk rate would represent by far a single-year best at the Class A competitive level or higher in four such seasons. He brings good velocity with his fastball (96.6 mph on average), gets a healthy share of swings and misses with his slider (19.5% swinging strike rate), and while Statcast says he has pitched well over his head (4.60 xERA), he's making effective enough use of his limited skill set to warrant universal activation in fantasy leagues. Ynoa might be the classic juice-the-orange player, but there's no shame in enjoying this production while he's offering it.
Tony Gonsolin, SP, Los Angeles Dodgers: This one's more of a look ahead, and it's directed at those of you who haven't yet filled the entirety of your three allotted injured list spots (in ESPN standard leagues, that is). Gonsolin landed on the major league IL on April 4 due to right shoulder inflammation, but he's now on the mend, with Dodgers manager Dave Roberts indicating during the past weekend that the right-hander is being built up to start once he's ready for activation in the next 3-4 weeks. It's a strategy that makes sense, considering Dustin May's season-ending elbow injury and David Price's same IL status, as the team's rotation options are depleted.
Gonsolin met my preseason Kings of Command criteria for his 2020, during which he displayed vastly improved control and fastball velocity, and he'd have earned primary writeup status in that column if not for my strong opinion of Dustin May at the time -- I felt May was capable and more deserving of the fifth starter role. Gonsolin isn't much less equipped to thrive, however, easily hitting 95 mph on the radar gun with his fastball and reining in hard contact (36.2% career hard hit and 3.9% Barrel rates), and he's now much more likely to be needed in a prominent role for the Dodgers.
Devin Williams, RP, Milwaukee Brewers: Not every pick in this space will be a big winner, and it's important to understand besides that in an ESPN standard league, shuffling up your pitching arms while keeping up with trends is paramount to your success. A cut recommendation three weeks ago to the day, Williams has in the past two weeks seemingly turned his season around, to the point that he's again a must-have in our standard offerings. The performance of his changeup tells it all: When he wasn't right during his first four appearances of 2021, the pitch saw 75 rpm less spin and was largely responsible for the 9.82 ERA he posted overall in them. Since recapturing the feel for it, he has restored its spin, velocity range and pitch performance, as batters have hit .105 against it, and it has been responsible for all 10 of his strikeouts in his past seven games. Williams is back to being a dominating force as the Brewers' first eighth-inning read behind closer Josh Hader, and in our game, with its daily transactions standard format, he's a great piece to have to slot in around your starters' assignments while bolstering your ERA, WHIP and strikeouts.
With any pickup, you'll probably need a corresponding drop, and here are two players you can freely let go in standard mixed leagues:
Steven Matz, SP, Toronto Blue Jays: I'm not sure why anyone is surprised that Matz's early success has recently fizzled, as he has had a history of inconsistency and his underlying metrics in those "good" starts didn't justify what was, at one point, his rostered percentage swelling to 93.1%. Matz has surrendered 11 earned runs on 15 hits in 8 2/3 innings in his past two starts, those coming against the Washington Nationals and Oakland Athletics, and in them his sinker didn't perform nearly as well as it had in his first four turns. He has long been a tough pitcher to trust over the long haul, never exceeding 160 1/3 innings in any of 10 professional seasons, with widely varying FIPs -- a low number of 3.39 in his 22-start 2016, and a high number of 7.76 in his 30 2/3 frames in 2020 -- throughout his big-league career. Fantasy managers shouldn't be regarding him anything more than a matchups candidate.
Triston McKenzie, SP, Cleveland Indians: While he still has an incredibly bright future, his control has regressed to the point that he's causing too much damage to his fantasy teams. A 21.2% walk rate, fueled by alarming 29.2% strike-zone and 54.1% first-pitch-strike rates, is entirely out of character for this pitcher who had a 7.1% rate during his 2020 big-league debut and 7.7% in Double-A ball in 2018. That it has come with a drop in fastball velocity, too, raises the question as to whether he's completely healthy. Again, McKenzie is too valuable to let go in any keeper or dynasty league, and most AL-only leagues afford you the bench space to stash him there until he straightens things out, but for now his strikeout upside isn't enough to warrant mixed-league status.