Sean Burke’s fastball has really popped in his last two starts, which times up well with a two-start week. He’ll get another crack at a Jose Ramirez-less Guardians lineup that managed to score just one run over 6 1/3 innings against him last time.
TB
Tampa Bay
• #22
•
Age: 31
Griffin Jax’s 11 starts have gone about as well as they could have, seeing him deliver a 2.40 ERA, 1.20 WHIP and 8.6 K/9 rate to go along with the sort of swinging-strike rate (14 percent) that would hint of even more strikeout potential. He has yet to exceed five innings in a start but is consistently going five and will have an extra turn to pad his totals his week.
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PIT
Pittsburgh
• #36
•
Age: 23
Bubba Chandler’s control has been improving little by little, and he’s performed respectably in his past four turns, putting together a 2.82 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and 7.3 K/9. That’s not exactly dominant, but it’s good enough to give him a second thought with two starts coming up.
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HOU
Houston
• #45
•
Age: 28
Tatsuya Imai may finally be getting the hang of this MLB thing, having recorded 21 strikeouts while issuing just one walk in his past two turns, both quality starts. He’s credited the turnaround to improving his fastball shape and tunneling his slider off it better, but in any case, it’s time to give him another shot even with an iffy matchup against the Twins.
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LAD
L.A. Dodgers
• #11
•
Age: 24
Roki Sasaki’s past couple turns might qualify as his one step back after two steps forward, but he still registered a ton of whiffs while issuing just one walk against the Orioles last time out. He has a much more favorable matchup against the Padres over the weekend, and provided that goes well, he’ll face them again in Week 15.
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SF
San Francisco
• #65
•
Age: 27
Landen Roupp has emerged from a rough patch with back-to-back quality starts and still rates well in a number of critical areas such as average exit velocity, ground ball rate and strikeout rate. He’s back to being a solid play most any week, but he’s facing a team this week that ranks in the bottom half of the league in scoring.
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WAS
Washington
• #24
•
Age: 27
Cade Cavalli just came through in a favorable matchup with the Phillies and now has an even more favorable one against a Red Sox lineup that ranks dead last in scoring. He’s a middling pitcher overall but generally delivers with a good matchup, usually with a nice strikeout total.
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MIL
Milwaukee
• #23
•
Age: 25
Brandon Sproat seemingly turned the corner in his last outing, striking out 10 while allowing just two baserunners in six innings. There’s no telling how sustainable it is, but his prospect pedigree would suggest it’s at least plausible, which makes him a fascinating boom-or-bust play in Week 15.
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CLE
Cleveland
• #54
•
Age: 26
Joey Cantillo spammed his curveball in his last outing, and it worked wonders as he dominated a tough Astros lineup over eight innings. Provided he builds off that outing against the Mariners, then he’ll be well worth using in Week 15 against a Rangers lineup that ranks third-to-last in scoring.
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TB
Tampa Bay
• #61
•
Age: 27
Ian Seymour showed Thursday what kind of impact he could have as a regular part of the Rays rotation, no-hitting the Royals over 6 2/3 innings. He reported he feels “more crisp” in the rotation, and his 13 percent swinging-strike rate and 87.8 mph average exit velocity both point to him having genuine upside in the role. He’ll be facing the Royals again next time out.
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