Matt Shoemaker: Waiver Wire Pickup
By Bill Pivetz
Jul 30, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Matt Shoemaker (52) delivers a pitch during the second inning against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
This is the home stretch. There are roughly five weeks left in the fantasy baseball regular season. It’s time to a make a push and look for those diamonds in the rough, needle in the haystack, whatever you want to call it. There are very few players that the other owners in your league haven’t heard of, so this is going to be tricky. Hopefully you are in a league where Matt Shoemaker is still available. If so, pick him up now.
Shoemaker had his breakout season last year. He went 16-4 with a 3.04 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 124:24 K:BB rate in 27 games.
This season, however, started off a little rough. He allowed three runs or more in seven of his first eight starts, including three starts with at least five earned runs. He had a record of 3-4 in that span.
With the changing of the seasons, Matt Shoemaker turned his 2015 season around. Since June 26, six starts, he allowed three earned runs just once. Despite the 1-2 record, he struck out 10 batters twice and has a 34:11 K:BB rate. The best stat of them all is his 19.0 scoreless innings over his last three starts. He has 27 strikeouts and six walks in those games.
On the season, Shoemaker still has a 5-7 record with a 4.01 ERA and 1.22 WHIP. With the news that C.J. Wilson will miss the remainder of the season, Matt Shoemaker has a lock in the Angels’ rotation. As a part of a team looking to make a push for the playoffs, Shoemaker is worth picking up.
He has improved on his K-BB percentage, opposing team batting average and FIP from the beginning of the season until now. Throughout the month of July, he had a 15.4 K-BB percentage, .229 opponent’s batting average and 3.25 FIP with a 1.78 ERA.
Fantasy owners have picked up on Shoemaker’s recent success, even before Tuesday’s game. He has been picked up in 19.7 percent of ESPN.com leagues over the last seven days.
Matt Shoemaker’s next opponent is the dangerous Baltimore Orioles on Sunday. The matchup may not be the best, but it’s tough to bet against Shoemaker at this point.