RADIO
Nestor Cortes Jr. is a fantasy baseball waiver wire pickup for Week 25 of the 2021 MLB season. Consider adding the SP if he's a free agent in your leagues.
BALLER MOVE: Add in leagues of 10+ teams
ROSTERED IN: 50% of leagues
ANALYSIS: It's taken several stints in the majors since 2018, but Cortes seems to have figured things out on the mound this season. Over 79 2/3 innings of work this year, Cortes has gone 2-2 with a 2.60 ERA, 1.054 WHIP and 27.3 percent strikeout rate. He's looked good over his last three starts with a 2.00 ERA, 0.944 WHIP and 23 strikeouts over 18 innings — including an 11-strikeout performance his last time out against the Orioles.
He'll open up the week at home, which will be a boost to his value as he's pitched far better in New York this year (1.93 ERA, 0.938 WHIP) than on the road (3.19 ERA, 1.157 WHIP). He'll be facing off against the Rangers, who are averaging 5.0 runs per game and slashing .253/.304/.394 over their last 10 games. While that could make it somewhat of a challenging start for Cortes, he'll be aided by the fact that not only are the Rangers hitting worse against left-handed pitchers this year (.232/.288/.363), they are also hitting worse on the road (.226/.286/.363) than at home (.236/.300/.393).
Afterwards he'll head out on the road to Boston, where he'll face the red-hot Red Sox who are slashing .267/.335/.463 and averaging 5.8 runs per game over their last 10 games. Cortes will not benefit from any home-road splits, because along with pitching worse on the road, the Red Sox are hitting much better at home (.278/.348/.477) than on the road (.242/.305/.417). He'll have a slight benefit though as a left-hander, as Boston is hitting slightly worse against southpaws (.261/.328/.426) than against right-handers (.259/.326/.457).
The outing against Texas should be a solid one for Cortes — especially coming off his stellar performance against the Orioles. The Red Sox matchup will be a tougher one, but Cortes could still provide decent value there. Cortes is likely the top two-start streaming option managers can find this week, and he should be targeted in all formats.
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