Astros in Fantasy: Fantasy Players of the Week- Week 9

Week 8 Pitcher:

Lance McCullers– 5.0 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 6 BB, 10 K, 1 W, 1.80 ERA, 1.40 WHIP

In arguably one of the oddest starts in major league baseball this week, McCullers looked dominant against the Orioles on May 26th. In only five innings of work, he gave up one earned run, on a solo shot to Trumbo, on one hit and walked six. Reminiscent of his memorable start against the same team last season, McCullers struck out 10 on 108 pitches.

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Dominant stuff from a dominant pitcher. This is exactly what the Astros needed. When McCullers came off of the disabled list, the starting rotation was averaging a fastball velocity around 89 miles per hour. Even though his velocity has decreased a bit to 93.3 miles per hour, McCullers has been using a dominant knuckle curveball to strikeout out an average 12.06 batters per nine innings.

However, his walk percentage has almost doubled since a year ago to 17.1%. With six walks in his last start against Baltimore, McCullers had to leave in the fifth because of his high pitch count. The Astros are going to need his dominant stuff later in games if he wants to continue to be successful.

For now though, the Astros and fantasy owners alike should take a low batting average against, limiting base runners even though his WHIP is a little high, and his crazy strikeout numbers in their pitching rotation this season.

Next: Now on to Week 9