I’m buying the Corey Kluber upside today. This is a fairly thin slate of pitching options and Kluber certainly looks like the headliner. His 2.43 ERA over the last 30 days is second best on the slate and his 9.74 K/9 in the same span, ranks him third on the slate. I’ve mentioned this before, but Kluber is an absolutely workhorse. He’s pitched at least six innings in 18 or his last 20 starts. Today he’s going to face the Astros who can slug it, but also strikeout at a very high rate. They own a 23.5% K rate this season which is the 4th highest in the league.
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Plenty of young pitchers make their debuts in September. The rookie du jour is Luke Weaver of the Cardinals. Weaver was actually called up in mid-August and has been solid in those four starts. He’s boasting a 3.86 ERA and pitched six innings in each of his last two starts. The really impressive part for Weaver is his big time strikeout ability. In his 21 innings this season, he’s K’d 26 batters including a ten strikeout performance in his last outing. Today he will battle the Pirates who rank 26th in wOBA in the last thirty days.
This is actually a very mediocre pitching slate in both directions. There aren’t a ton of great pitching options but there also isn’t a ton of bad pitching options. With that being said, I’m looking at Yovani Gallardo to stack again. His 6.04 ERA over the last 30 days is worst on the slate. In the same stretch, he’s nearly walking more batters per nine (4.62) than he’s striking out (4.97). Also, he’s facing the Rays who most owners have given up on at this point in the season, but they’ve been surprisingly good this month. In the last 30, the Rays actually rank 4th in wOBA and own a .206 ISO which is third best in the league.
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