Starts: May 2nd vs. Milwaukee Brewers, May 7th at Atlanta Braves
Adam Wainwright is easily the most widely-owned starter that we've recommended for streaming this season, yet the fact that Waino has lost so much traction with fantasy owners that his ownership even approaches streamability should tell you all you need to know about how miserable the last year plus has been for the erstwhile St. Louis Cardinals' ace.
Still, the numbers underlying Waino's two most recent starts suggest that a minor resurgence might be at hand despite the by now commonplace poor results. After all, that 1.84 expected fielding independent pitching (xFIP) and 24.5 percent strikeout-minus-walk rate over his last 11-plus innings seems to suggest that the 4.76 ERA that Waino is sporting over that span is rather unlucky indeed -- and the .412 batting average on balls in play (BABIP) and 68.5 percent left-on-base rate confirms as much.
The 35-year-old hurler is in a nice spot to change his luck during this upcoming two-start week. Sure, the visiting Brewers have proven to be one of the more formidable offenses in the majors, but they're also among the league leaders in team strikeout rate against righties, with their overall on-base-plus-slugging percentage (OPS) dropping nearly 200 points compared to their performance against southpaws.
And while the Atlanta Braves do boast one notably fearsome lefty slugger, overall the team has been subpar in the power department when facing right-handers thus far, offering Wainwright a soft landing spot to end the week. You never know -- there's a good chance that if the veteran's luck takes a turn for the better this week, we might be talking about Waino as a must-add this time next week.