Just as in the on-field game, fantasy teams can never have too much pitching, especially in a season with as many injuries as this. Wednesday's recommended adds encompass a trio of pitchers that can help boost your depth.
Jake Odorizzi, SP, Houston Astros: It took until March 8 for Odorizzi to find a 2021 team, April 13 for him to build up the stamina necessary to join the big-league rotation, it took 33 days for him to recover from a right pronator muscle strain, and then five big-league appearances -- four of them starts and one a piggyback relief outing -- after that for him to get back to full speed. Judging by not only Monday's results, but also the start-over-start pattern in his first five turns, he's back to being fantasy-relevant regardless of matchup. Odorizzi tossed five hitless innings and 86 pitches on Monday, giving him a streak of 21 consecutive batters faced without surrendering a hit, and he now has a 2.82 ERA, 0.81 WHIP and 28.6% strikeout rate in his five appearances since activation. The delayed ascent to fantasy relevance shouldn't be a complete surprise for a pitcher who began his spring training late, and it's important to remember that when the going's good for the right-hander, he can be rather useful for our purposes.
For example, during a 14-start, first-half stretch in 2019, he amassed 10 wins with a 2.68 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and 26.0% strikeout rate. He then managed a 2.89 ERA, 1.21 WHIP and 29.9% strikeout rate in his final 10 starts of that season. What worked for Odorizzi that season -- increased average fastball velocity and greater reliance on his sinker -- has been present in his past few outings, as he managed the highest four-seam fastball (93.2 mph) and sinker (93.1) velocities in his Monday outing, throwing the latter on nearly half his pitches. The 86 pitches he threw also suggest he's ready for a full-time starter's role, the kind that could pitch deeply enough into the game to pile up quality starts.
Matt Manning, SP, Detroit Tigers: He's much less proven than Odorizzi, but could provide similar fantasy punch, based on his prospect pedigree. Manning's big-league debut last Thursday didn't result in as many swings and misses as one would like -- he had only seven, resulting in three total strikeouts -- but his four-seam fastball, curveball and changeup were all effective offerings, just as advertised. He's expected to get regular work out of the Tigers' rotation, just as many of their fellow young arms should, a group that also includes Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal and Spencer Turnbull. Manning has an advantage those others don't, however: He has tallied only 37 1/3 innings this season, putting him on pace for 82 2/3, whereas Mize has totaled 82 1/3, Skubal 70 2/3 and Turnbull 50. There's a good chance the Tigers will be even more conservative with the workloads of the other three than Manning, assuming Manning continues to pitch effectively, so don't regard him as much less of a fantasy talent among that quartet.
Drew Smyly, SP, Atlanta Braves: This one's more of a leap of faith, a callback to my preseason "Kings of Command," but he has met one of that column's key goals, staying healthy for all but 13 of the Braves' 83 regular-season days to date. Since May 1, Smyly has four wins, a 3.80 ERA and 1.27 WHIP in eight starts, numbers that would look better if not for a miserable outing at Boston's Fenway Park on May 26 (5 1/3 IP, 7 ER, 2 HR). Smyly's stuff hasn't shown any marked improvement compared to his encouraging metrics of 2019-10, as his four-seam fastball has maintained similar velocity and he has continued to lean on his curveball as his out pitch, and in fact, his walk rate has regressed to a frustrating 8.6%. Still, he's been getting the job done, stepping up when facing his most favorable matchups, and I think there are better things ahead for the left-hander. Smyly might be an on-the-borderline starter in ESPN standard leagues, but he's another piece who is well worth keeping around, even if only for streaming opportunities.
Starting pitching is also the position highlighted with Wednesday's recommended drop. It's time to move on from the following in ESPN standard leagues.
Dylan Bundy, SP, Los Angeles Angels: To think, things looked so promising for Bundy, coming off a breakthrough 2020, a strong 2021 spring training and three consecutive quality starts to begin the regular season. Since then, however, his performance has collapsed, and he's in the midst of a streak of seven starts without a quality start, during which time his ERA is 10.21, his WHIP 1.79 and strikeout rate 15.5%. To compound the issue, Bundy's already modest average fastball velocity has slipped even further, averaging only 90.5 mph during that seven-start stretch. During his June 14 outing, it averaged 89.5 mph, his fifth-slowest number in 148 career games. The Angels also limit the volume Bundy can provide, sticking with a six-man rotation that, if used for all 162, would cost the average pitcher 5.4 starts per year. He has slipped into the streaming-starter class in ESPN standard leagues, and isn't even a reliable streaming option with the way he has been pitching lately.