Phillies starting pitcher Jeremy Hellickson has had a good string of starts this month. He’s worth an add in deeper leagues or leagues that track quality starts.
The Philadelphia Phillies are in no way competing for the National League East title this season. They are building for the future and they have a lot of good pieces to be competitive in the next few seasons. One of those pieces is starting pitcher Jeremy Hellickson. He’s been very good since the start of the month and is worth picking up in most leagues.
Over his last six starts, he has a 1.89 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, five walks and 26 strikeouts with a 3-1 record. He’s face the Marlins twice, New York Mets, Braves, Kansas City Royals and San Francisco Giants. There are some good offenses mixed in there.
In five of those six starts, he’s allowed one or fewer runs. The other start, he allowed four runs in six innings against the Mets. If you go back one more start, he has six quality starts in his last seven outings. For leagues that use QS instead of wins, and all leagues should, he’s been a valuable asset.
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After a few years with the Tampa Bay Rays and one season with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Hellickson is pitching well in his first year with the Phillies. On the year, he has a 7-7 record, 3.65 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 7.7 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9 in 21 starts.
His walk rate is down and strikeout rate is up compared to last season, 2.7 and 7.5 respectively. The change in division definitely helps as he has faced the Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins, two of the worst-hitting teams in the league. The latter team is one reason Hellickson’s been a great pitcher since June 25.
Hellickson isn’t much of a strikeout pitcher, using his less than a strikeout per inning as evidence. His game totals can range anywhere from nine (May 13) to one (July25). His ground ball and fly ball rates have dropped while his line drive rate went up since last season. He is getting out of jams, though, as his left on base percentage is his highest since 2012.
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Hellickson has been added in 11.2 percent of ESPN leagues over the last week. His ownership percentage is now at 39.0 percent, so he’s still available in a lot of leagues. He and the Phillies travel south to take on the Braves in his next start on July 30, a matchup made in heaven.