The Tampa Bay Rays rotation from top to bottom is pitching well. Matt Andriese has a favorable matchup on May 8 and is worth adding for a spot start.
The Tampa Bay Rays are currently in fourth place in the American League East, mostly because of their offense. Luckily, the starting pitchers don’t need them to perform in order to put up good numbers. One pitcher with good outings recently and possibly a third is Matt Andriese.
Andriese averaged a 4.28 ERA, 1.257 WHIP and an 11-13 record in his first 54 games (27 starts). This season has been a big turn around. In six starts, he has a 3.09 ERA, 1.286 WHIP, 7.7 K/9, 3.3 BB/9 and 2-1 record.
Let’s take a look at the positives. He isn’t allowing many runners to score. They get on base, but Andriese has an 84.7 left on base percentage. He also has 30 strikeouts in 35 innings. His most recent outing is a sign of what Andriese can be.
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He pitched seven shutout innings, allowing five hits and three walks while striking out eight against the Miami Marlins.
The Marlins offense scored 10 runs the game before. He pitched another quality start on April 29 against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Andriese is also a heavy ground ball pitcher. He has a 49.0 percent ground ball, 18.6 line drive and 32.4 fly ball rate.
The downside to Andriese is his control. He has 13 walks, just over half of his 2016 total. Andriese also has a 4.63 FIP. What that means is his defense is helping him out a bit. He has given up six home runs and 12 earned runs. He had a high ERA and low FIP in 2016.
Andriese has an 18.2 home run to fly ball rate. With the low amount of fly balls he allows, the amount of home runs he allows it not good. The inconsistency is what is killing his value.
Despite that, I think his matchup is worth the add. Andriese and the Rays face the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday. The Royals are last in batting average (.208), OBP (.270) and runs scored (82). They are the only team with less than 100 runs scored this season. Only two batters have at least six home runs and three have double-digit RBIs.
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Andriese is owned in just in just 13.4 percent of ESPN leagues. Depending on the matchup, he could be worth holding onto after the Tuesday start. The Royals aren’t a good offense and worth streaming against with Andriese and any pitcher going forward.