Fantasy Baseball: 4 Pitchers to Stream for Week 13
Hyun-jin Ryu, Los Angeles Dodgers
Start: June 27th vs. Los Angeles Angels, July 2nd at San Diego Padres
ESPN ownership: 8 percent
Essentially three years removed from his last stint of substantial MLB work, Los Angeles Dodgers lefty Hyun-jin Ryu has struggled to work up to his prime fastball velocity. Accordingly, his four-seam has taken quite a beating, with a .446 isolated slugging (ISO) and 237 weighted runs created plus (wRC+) allowed on 363 offerings, though the suspiciously high .426 batting average on balls in play (BABIP) on that pitch should signal some impending positive regression.
If and when the batted-ball luck on that fastball cools down, Ryu should be able to chip away at his less-than-stellar 4.30 ERA, especially considering his secondary pitches remain very effective, highlighted by a changeup that's coaxed an 18% swinging-strike rate and a dynamite curveball that's earned a 32% strikeout-minus-walk rate and allowed an incredibly stingy 6 wRC+ on almost 200 offerings.
Ryu should be able to chisel his ERA down this week against two below-average offenses, including a Padres lineup that strikes out a ton against lefties and a Trout-less Angels squad that has struggled to produce against southpaws over the last month. It helps that both teams have been miserable against the curve all season, especially the Padres.