Joe Ross: Waiver Wire Pickup
The Washington Nationals came into the season looking like one of the best pitching staffs headlined by Stephen Strasburg, Max Scherzer, Jordan Zimmermann, and Gio Gonzalez.
This rotation has showed glimpses of that potential, but injuries have plagued them as a group. Strasburg is out with another injury, but it has given him time to work on his mechanics, which will improve his overall value. But it still left a big void in the Nationals rotation.
The Nationals called up rookie Joe Ross to replace him, and he has outperformed expectations. Ross is currently 2-1 with a 2.66 ERA and 23 strikeouts. He was able to shut down a hot Pittsburgh team in Washington on Friday night by only allowing one earned run to a team that had won eight straight games previously.
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He has been a nice compliment to the dominant Max Scherzer, who came so close to a perfect game on Saturday against the Pirates, but he was still able to claim a no-hitter.
Ross has looked extremely solid on the mound for the Nationals thus far in 2015, even though he is a rookie who has only made three appearances.
The most impressive thing I have seen out of him is that he shut down the dangerous Pirates offense, which seemed to be clicking on all cylinders. But Ross was able to interrupt their style of play by not allowing baserunners and changing speeds seamlessly. Ross went 7 1/3 innings in the his second victory of the season last Friday night, and he gave up one earned run and rung up 11 batters.
If that isn’t pure fantasy success, than I don’t know what is.
Ross is only owned in 7.0% of all ESPN fantasy baseball leagues, so he is available in most leagues. You need to go grab him while he is still out there on your waiver wire.
His next start is scheduled for Wednesday, so go scoop him up. He will not be a top-tier fantasy pitcher all season long, but he seems to be on a hot streak, which you most definitely need to ride.
Baseball is a game of streaks, and now, Ross is on the best hot streak of his young career.
FOR MORE by Caleb Luketic, check out CalebOnSports.com and follow him on Twitter @CalebOnSports
