Nicholas Tropeano & Nate Karns: Deep League Wire

All good things must come to an end, and for the purposes of this space, that means this is my final deep league wire column of the 2014 season. It’s been a lot of fun plunging the depths of the fantasy dumpster with you, and I appreciate you joining me each week in our ongoing quest to find cheap value in deep leagues.

But the fantasy playoffs are still ongoing in many leagues, so now is not the time for us to rest on our laurels. Let’s take a look at two young hurlers who could provide help with strikeouts in AL-only leagues this week.

Nicholas Tropeano / SP / Houston Astros
1% Yahoo / 0% ESPN / 3% CBS

The Astros are back to a five-man rotation due to Brad Peacock’s back injury, which means rookie Tropeano, 24, will get at least one more start after his solid MLB debut last Wednesday resulted in a win against the Mariners. Sure, it was just five innings against a mediocre lineup, but it comes after the Long Island native put together a strong season in the Pacific Coast league, compiling a 3.30 ERA, 3.19 SIERA and 3.29 FIP over 124.2 innings, making the league’s all-star team along the way.

What makes Tropeano especially intriguing, however, is his ability to get strikeouts. He punched out nearly one out of every four batters he faced in the minors, and features a changeup that was the focus of a rave write-up by Scott Strandberg back in July. The whiffs didn’t come at the expense of his control, either, evidenced by a 2.7 BB/9 over 469.2 innings. For the record, I’ll note that Tropeano missed about a month with tightness in his forearm, but he’s made all his starts since returning from the disabled list in late July.

It’s easy to pick on the Astros as they finish up another sorry season, but they’ve been playing well of late, going 8-4 so far in September, and Tropeano will have the advantage of being a fresh face making his way through the league for the first time. Tuesday night, he’s scheduled to face the Indians, a .500 team with a middle-of-the-pack offense, making him an interesting stream candidate.

Nate Karns / SP / Tampa Bay Rays
1% Yahoo / .2% ESPN / 4% CBS

Drew Smyly has hit his innings limit for the year, causing the Rays to shut down the left-hander and give the 26-year-old Karns his rotation spot for the season’s last two weeks. That worked out well on Friday night against the Blue Jays, when he picked up a win thanks to eight strikeouts over seven scoreless innings.

Like Tropeano, Karns’ call-up comes after a season in which he handled the competition at Triple-A pretty well; decent peripherals indicate that his 5.08 ERA owed much to bad luck, and he zapped hitters to the tune of a 24.5 K%. There’s much to like about this guy; he possesses a heater that tops out in the mid-90s, and a power curveball that hit 87 mph a few days ago.

A meh walk rate and a lack of a strong third pitch suggest that Karns’ major league destiny could be in the bullpen, but that’s not of much concern to fantasy owners right now. What’s of greater interest is Karns’ next matchup, which will likely be at home against the White Sox. Considering how bad their offense has been over the past two weeks — they rank second-to-last in runs scored among AL teams this month, and have the second-highest K% in that span — they’d be an enticing target for any hurler, much less a new kid on the block who has legitimate strikeout potential.