Ottoneu Drip: Finding Under-rostered Pitchers: August 27, 2024

It’s been a little over a month since I’ve written up some under-rostered pitchers and the search for useful pitching is never ending. With Ottoneu playoffs starting in head-to-head leagues next week and stretch run for points leagues upon us, here are five starters who are rostered in under 60% of all Ottoneu leagues who could be nice pickups for the final month of the season. I’ve also tried to guess at these pitches potential opponents through the end of the season, provided their teams stay on schedule and no injuries occur. With so few days left to affect your position in the standings, every start can make a difference.

Frankie Montas joined the Brewers at the trade deadline and has made five solid starts for his new team. Milwaukee has had him continue to reemphasize his four-seam fastball in his pitch mix; he’s throwing that pitch over 40% of the time in August, a higher rate in any single month since May 2017. Maybe it’s because he’s throwing his heater harder than he has all season long, getting back up to the velocity he was enjoying a couple of years ago before his shoulder issues. The fastball has returned a 30.2% whiff rate this month and that solid foundation has helped the effectiveness of his entire repertoire. If his velocity sticks into September, he could be a nice addition to your fantasy team, particularly in the matchups against the Rockies and Giants.

With the Orioles dealing with a number of injuries to their starting rotation, Dean Kremer has stepped up with a string of three straight solid starts. He’s been increasing the usage of his brand-new splitter each month of the season and he’s now incorporating it into his pitch mix around a quarter of the time. Opposing batters are whiffing 34.2% of the time they offer at that offspeed pitch and are producing a .249 expected wOBA off of it. The rest of his arsenal is too inconsistent to be of note, and his schedule isn’t that favorable outside a pair of home starts against the Rays and Giants.

After undergoing Tommy John surgery last year, Matthew Boyd has made it back to the majors with the Guardians. He’s made three starts for Cleveland and has looked decent. As with any pitching rehabbing from a major surgery, there are bound to be hiccups along the way, but Boyd may still have the talent and coaching staff surrounding him to thrive. His fastball’s velocity is sitting right around where it was at his peak with the Tigers and it’s generating a whiff rate a hair under 30%. His secondary offerings aren’t getting the swings and misses yet, but when they click for him, he should enjoy some additional success. His starts against the Dodgers and Astros are pretty easy skips, but the other four games on his potential slate look like decent to good matchups.

You may not have noticed, but Osvaldo Bido has been on fire for the A’s during the second half of the season. Over his last three starts across 17 innings, he’s allowed just a single run. His four-seamer has been a fantastic weapon for him, generating both swings and misses and weak contact with plenty of ride at the top of the zone. His changeup and slider are both effective secondary offerings giving him a pretty deep repertoire. His batted ball profile leans pretty heavily towards fly balls and the one start he’s made on the road in a hitter friendly stadium ended up being a seven-run disaster in Anaheim. His xFIP as a starter is 4.20 which isn’t nearly as nice as his actual results. You can probably trust him in his cavernous home ballpark in Oakland, but he might be a risk to start on the road in places like Cincinnati.

It took a while for David Peterson to get his legs under him after starting the season on the Injured List as he rehabbed from his hip injury from last year. Since the beginning of July, spanning his last 10 starts, he’s posted a perfectly acceptable 3.82 FIP with a 4.17 xFIP. He’s been even better in August with those marks falling to 3.17 and 4.14, respectively. That his xFIP didn’t really budge despite seeing much improved actual results is a possible yellow flag. He’s also struggled with his command at times, a skill that was never his strong suit to begin with. He’s got a pretty generous schedule on the docket, however, and even if he regresses towards his xFIP, he should still be a useful starter down the stretch.