With starting pitchers like Chris Carpenter, Ubaldo Jimenez and Zack Greinke struggling mightily this season, your pitching staff might need a temporary boost.
Here are five pitchers who can step in for a week, a month or maybe even the rest of the season to bolster your stats. And, of course, they are available in more than 50% of Yahoo! Fantasy Baseball leagues.
- Kevin Correia, Pittsburgh Pirates (40% owned) – Correia is for real. He leads the majors with eight victories, a feat that’s even more impressive considering he’s doing it for the sub-.500 Pirates. He doesn’t strike many people out, but his 3.40 ERA and 1.20 WHIP are above average.
- Kyle McClellan, St. Louis Cardinals (47%) – McClellan is on the DL right now, but is still worth an add if you can get him. His left hip flexor strain shouldn’t keep him out past mid-June and when he returns, he should pick up right where he left off. He currently has six wins to go along with a 3.86 ERA and 1.26 WHIP.
- Jake Arrieta, Baltimore Orioles (22%) – Arrieta’s ERA is near 5.00, but he’s still managed to win six games this year. And, he strikes out more people than the first two guys on this list. He has 59 strikeouts through 63.1 innings so far this season.
- Charlie Morton, Pittsburgh Pirates (30%) – Two Pirates starters on the same list? You’d better believe it. Morton has an ERA of 2.51 this year. Any time a pitcher allows less than three runs per nine innings, there’s a good chance his team will win the ballgame. Even the Pirates offense should be able to score three or four runs per game.
- Dillon Gee, New York Mets (10%) – Gee is 5-0 in his seven starts for the Mets this season. In 47.0 innings pitched, he has 37 strikeouts. His ERA of 3.83 is manageable and his 1.15 WHIP is great. And he’s available in 90% of Yahoo! Fantasy Baseball leagues.