Marlins Edinson Volquez: Week 11 top pitching waiver wire add

The Marlins best pitcher in recent weeks is Edinson Volquez. With a favorable matchup in Week 11, he is a must-add pitcher.

The Miami Marlins may not win the National League East, but they have a lot of fantasy relevant players. We all know who the batters are that we should own. However, the pitching staff features one player with recent success worth owning. If you need pitching help, pick up Edinson Volquez.

Volquez’s first five starts were a struggle. He pitched just six innings once. In 24.1 innings, he posted a 4.44 ERA and 1.685 WHIP with 23 strikeouts and 14 walks. The continues continued in his first start, allowing three runs on three hits and eight walks in 4.1 innings.

He then started to settle down and take advantage of the bad matchups. Volquez pitched five quality starts in his last six games. The one bad game was against the Los Angeles Dodgers when he gave up five runs over six innings.

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That, for some reason, is not the outlier. The recent game that stands out is Volquez’s no-hitter against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He walked just two while striking out 10 with 98 pitches. He followed that game up with seven shutout innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Volquez has a 1.29 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, 3-1 record and a 24:8 K:BB ratio. His season ERA dropped almost 1.50 runs from 4.87 to 3.41. He has a higher walk rate but his strikeout rate has also risen by almost two per nine innings.

He is giving up three percent fewer ground balls but maintaining the same fly ball rate and a lower HR/FB rate. Volquez’s opposing hit speeds are within points of his 2016 total. Maybe the change is that he’s pitching in the NL East instead of the American League Central.

He is inducing more contact and fewer swing-and-misses, 78.2 contact rate and 41.9 swing percentage.

Volquez will make his next start on June 14 at home against the Oakland Athletics. The last time Volquez pitched against the A’s, he gave up three runs on seven hits and two walks in six innings, the bare minimum for the quality start.

The A’s have Yonder Alonso having a career season with Khris Davis on pace for another 40-home run season, but the rest of the lineup isn’t hitting well. Though, the team is fifth in runs scored and 14th in batting average for the month of June.

Next: Who is the Pirates new closer?

Volquez has been added in 23.4 percent of ESPN leagues over the last week. Though, his ownership percentage is still at 30.7 percent. With a nice matchup coming up, a good last few games and many pitching injuries, Volquez is worth the speculative add next week.

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