Starting Pitching Pickups-Spot Starter Selection for June 27

Looking ahead to Wednesday’s pitching matchups, there’s hope for your fantasy baseball team if you are off to a rough start to the week. There’s some nice waiver wire grabs available in most leagues who look set up for a success on the MLB’s afternoon-heavy Wednesday slate.

Due to the transit from the East Coast back to Guam, there was no full write-up for Tuesday’s pickups. My top four widely available picks would be Dillon Gee of the Mets, Eric Bedard of the Pirates, Travis Blackley of the A’s, and Chris Archer o the Rays.

Here’s my favorites for Wednesday with their ownership percentage in ESPN leagues and a quick explanation:

The Pickups

Jonathon Niese – NYM: (23.5%) Beating the Yankees his last time out, Niese enters Wednesday afternoon’s matchup in Wrigley field with a 5-3 record and a 3.75 ERA. He’ll face off with Jeff Samardzija in the final game of the three-game series with the Cubs before the Mets head west to LA. Niese has allowed two earned runs or fewer in three of his last four starts and four of his last six. He is averaging just under a strikeout an innings and limiting opponents to a .241 BAA. The Cubs rank 27th in the league in runs scored as of Monday and in the bottom third of the league in almost every offensive category.

Trevor Cahill – Ari: (41.0%) The D-Backs and Braves face off at 7:10 in game two of their three-game set. Cahill will match up with Tommy Hanson in what should be a good pitching matchup. In his last start, Cahill went six innings and was around the plate too much as the Mariners scored six earned runs on nine hits but he still pulled out the win giving him four wins in his last four starts. Before that start, he had given up just two runs in three starts spanning 23.1 innings. On the season, Cahill is 6-5 with a 3.47 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP. He’s a solid option in Atlanta as he typically pitches better on the road than at home.

Joe Kelly – Stl: (0.6%) If you’re in a deeper league and Cahill and Niese aren’t available, Kelly makes a solid pickup as he and the Cards face Anibal Sanchez and the Marlins in Miami. In three starts this season, Kelly has pitched 15.1 innings allowing six earned runs with eight strikeouts and just two walks. He has a 1-0 record and a 1.63 WHIP. The fact that he’s got the high-powered St. Louis offense behind him and he gets a struggling Miami offense in pitcher-friendly Marlins Park make him an attractive matchup even though he probably won’t go extremely deep into the game.

The Payoff

Overall, the payoff has been mixed as usual with our pickups. There’s been some ugly outings that are inflating the total ERA and WHIP (Mazzaro, Eovaldi, and Hughes). Also, we’re definitely hoping to improve our record with today’s picks. Here’s how our picks have fared over the past week: