CC Sabathia (SP, NYY) - Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in Deeper AL-only Leagues and add as streaming option.

OWNED IN: 24% of fleaflicker leagues.

ANALYSIS: At first glance, it looks like CC Sabathia is having another disappointing season, but that isn't the full story. Sabathia currently has a 5.96 ERA, a 1.36 WHIP, and a record of 0-4; so why is there reason to be optimistic? Sabathia has a 22:4 K:BB ratio, and is averaging 6.9 IP per start and a 7.7 K/9. Those are really solid numbers that line up with his solid seasons of years past.

Sabathia's currently high ERA can be attributed to fielding misfortune and some good old fashioned bad luck. Sabathia currently allows only 0.4 HR/9 and is among league leaders in Fielder Independent Pitching with a 2.32 FIP. His isolated performance has been superlative. The misfortune comes in with his Batting Average on Balls In Play (BABIP) which is at .356 and ridiculously unlucky 559% strand rate. With Sabathia's excellent ground ball rate of 53% and line drive rate of 15.2%, those hits should start turning into outs, and those ER should start turning into scoreless innings.

Considering Sabathia's K/9 potential and massive IP totals, he should turn into a valuable streaming option once his BABIP and strand rate inevitably trickle down to more reasonable figures. For fantasy managers, bad luck statistically won't last when it comes to this aging ace.