4 hours agoBoston Red Sox pitcher Walker Buehler enters the 2025 season as a high-risk, high-reward starting pitcher for fantasy managers. After undergoing his second Tommy John surgery in 2022, Buehler returned to action in May 2024 and struggled to find his groove. During the 2024 regular season, Buehler had 16 starts and went (1-6) across 75 1/3 innings with a 5.38 ERA, 18.6% strikeout rate, and a 5.54 FIP. Those numbers were easily the worst of his successful career. To put things into perspective, in 2021, he was (16-4) with a 2.47 ERA in 207 2/3 innings pitched. During his 2018-2021 seasons, he ranked in the top 10 in WAR, ERA, and FIP. Buehler, now at 30 years old, comes with a risk of re-injury, combined with his numbers all declining in the 2024 season (vFA, ERA, WAR, FIP, HR/9, and K/9), and now pitching in a hitter-friendly ballpark, Fenway Park. Fantasy managers will want to proceed with caution and not overdraft Buehler. The silver lining for Buehler is he turned things around quickly in the 2024 postseason with a 3.60 ERA across 15 innings pitched. In addition, during the season, he had a 4.78 xERA, compared to his 5.38 ERA, meaning some progression could be on the horizon. If Buehler can stay healthy and regain some of his fastball velocity, he could hold solid draft value at his 251.0 ADP on the NFBC, which aligns with 225 overall ranking at RotoBaller.--Nicho Roessler - RotoBaller