The 2024 MLB season will resume on July 19, as the All-Star break has officially concluded. Meaning, it’s now time for roto players to start making up innings and getting strikeouts, while H2H players need to be on their toes before the playoffs start. With Week 16 of the 2024 fantasy baseball season on the horizon, here’s a look at five pitchers to consider targeting on the waiver wire.
Aaron Civale
Brewers starter Aaron Civale had his work cut out for him on July 5, his first with Milwaukee after being traded from the Rays. Civale gave up four runs against the Dodgers but did strike out eight in a promising debut with the Brewers. Six days later against the Pirates, Civale struck out six over 6.1 strong frames, as he allowed just one run.
Civale has good stuff; as we noted when the trade went down, Civale showcased a good curveball, and a high-carry fastball, among other pitches, with Tampa, despite a 5.07 ERA with the Rays. His ability to give batters different looks is a plus.
Yusei Kikuchi
Generally speaking, we tend to focus on pitchers available in over 50% of both Yahoo! and ESPN leagues for these lists. However, there aren’t many tantalizing options to choose from among pitchers who meet both criteria. One name who is owned in a slight majority of Yahoo! leagues is Yusei Kikuchi, who shouldn’t scare off too many players after a tough start on July 14.
Kikuchi gave up seven runs on July 14 against the D-Backs, although he did pick up six strikeouts over 4.2 frames. It marked the seventh time out of his last eight starts he punched out at least five. He’ll face the Tigers — a friendly matchup against a team 21st in total hits (763) — on July 20 and tentatively face the Rangers next weekend, both at home.
Tobias Myers
Tobias Myers cracked this list three weeks ago after the Brewers rookie mowed through lineups during his first two months in the Majors. Oddly enough, so was Spencer Schwellenbach, who we’ll get to in a minute. But getting back to Myers, the 25-year-old had one of, if not his best, outing of the season on July 10 when he struck out six over scoreless innings against the Pirates.
That outing pushed Myers’ ERA down to 3.13 on the season. He doesn’t have the most overpowering arsenal. But what Myers does have is a good fastball that lacks velocity but has induced movement, along with a good changeup and cutter to go along with it.
Spencer Schwellenbach
Three weeks ago, I wrote this about Schwellenbach, “The right-hander can dial it up to the upper-90s with his fastball…give hitters different looks with his cutter, curveball, and slider. And given his presence on a good Braves team, Schwellenbach should be an interesting fantasy asset moving forward.” Now that Schwellenbach has logged 44.2 innings in the Majors, we have a better idea of how the 24-year-old can operate at the highest level. The answer: pretty good.
Schwellenbach posted a 1.38 ERA over the first half of July, 13th-best among MLB pitchers with at least 10 innings thrown in the month. While isn’t a plus strikeout pitcher (41 over 44.2 IP), Schwellenbach does work hitters effectively across all quadrants. That allows him to be deceptive and get chases. His 35.1% Chase% is in the 96th percentile per Statcast.
Gavin Williams
We’ll finish our Week 16 fantasy baseball pitchers to target on the waiver list with Gavin Williams. Williams spent most of the first half on the IL and made three starts before the break. There was the good, namely a respectable 3.77 ERA, 30.8% Chase%, and a 9.7 BB% that’s lower than his 2023 figure (10.7%). The bad news? A lot of contact in the zone, as his fastball’s seen too much of the heart of the zone. He owned a 1.40 WHIP heading into the All-Star break.
Despite the rocky numbers, Williams is still a premier fantasy asset who’s available in nearly half of Yahoo! leagues. He’s still got the power fastball, a changeup that can get hitters off balance, plus a curveball.
For those looking for bats in Week 16, check our list of hitting waiver wire targets.