Quality starting pitching has been tough to come by this season for many fantasy owners as baseball is currently on pace to break the single-season home run record. The reason behind this is unclear — conspiracy theorists may hint that the MLB is using a “juiced ball” to improve ratings and make the game more appealing overall to the average fan. What is clear is that a whole bunch of pitchers have unsightly ERAs this season which has left fantasy owners scraping for reliable starting pitchers.

If you happen to play in a deeper league with 12+ teams then you may think that it is impossible to find reliable starting pitching on the waiver wire, but maybe you just have to dig a bit deeper and take a chance on some young hurlers. You should consider picking up these four starting pitchers if they are still available in your league.

Import your team to My Playbook for instant Waiver Wire advice

Nick Pivetta (PHI)
Not to be confused with longtime NBA referee Dick Bavetta, Phillies starter Nick Pivetta is much younger and had been really good over his last two starts before running into the Diamondbacks on Monday. Pivetta was likely written off by many fantasy owners because he pitches for the Phillies and struggled when he was first called up, but he’s had some impressive outings recently against the Red Sox and Cardinals in which he struck out 19 batters and allowed only three earned runs.

Yes, the six earned runs in 2.2 innings in Arizona on Monday was a step back and the five walks are ugly. However, there is still reason to be optimistic. Pivetta showed signs of being a potentially dominant pitcher in Triple-A striking out 26.1% of batters in 2016 and 30.1% in 2017. He also only walked two batters in 32 innings in Triple-A this season so it’s a bit surprising that he’s struggled so much with control. If he can regain that control, then Pivetta is going to be a really solid starter for fantasy owners and is at least worth a flier in hopes that he does. Wins may be hard to come by on the Phillies, but look for Pivetta to get better as the season goes.

Yahoo: 3% owned
ESPN: 3% owned

Andrew Moore (SEA)
Moore had a really solid MLB debut against the Tigers letting up three earned runs and striking out four batters in seven innings and is definitely going to stick around the Mariners’ rotation even with Felix Hernandez back and Hisashi Iwakuma due to be back soon. The righty had decent strikeout rates and low walk rates in the minors and has put up great numbers at every step of his career. The biggest concern surrounding Moore is that he’s a fly ball pitcher and more fly balls generally mean more home runs. Despite this, his home run rate throughout his career has actually been pretty low and his first start against the Tigers was no different as he had a fly ball rate of 59.1% on batted balls and only let up one home run. If he can keep up that trend, he’s going to be a really effective pitcher this season for the Mariners.

Yahoo: 9% owned
ESPN: 5% owned

Dinelson Lamet (SD)
Lamet was probably dropped in your league after he imploded for seven earned runs in back-to-back starts. Lamet has recovered nicely with quality starts in each of his last two appearances and 17 combined strikeouts. Lamet is too talented to be left on the waiver wire in deeper leagues even while pitching for the lowly Padres. His strikeout potential offers too much value and his unsightly 6.60 ERA is going to drop significantly. He’s been fairly unlucky early in his MLB career with an HR/FB rate of 19.5%, and his excellent K-BB% of 24.6% indicates that more productive starts are on the horizon.

Yahoo: 11%
ESPN: 9%

Jake Junis (KC)
The numbers don’t look good so far (5.22 ERA, 1.70 WHIP), but Junis could be a nice source of wins for the resurgent Royals and — like Pivetta — will continue getting stronger with more starts. Junis was dominant in Triple-A this season with a K% of 34.6% in 42 innings and a 2.34 ERA. Junis recovered nicely from a rough outing against the Angels, holding the Blue Jays to two runs on six hits and two walks in 6.1 innings. He tacked on four Ks as well. The strikeout potential is there for Junis as he flashed a whole bunch of that in the minors this season. His walk rate is uncharacteristically high early in his MLB career. Look for that rate to go down along with his ERA and WHIP. Junis has a chance to make it three out of four quality starts with a match-up against the Tigers in Detroit this week.

Yahoo: 1%
ESPN: 1%

Subscribe: iTunes | Stitcher | SoundCloud | Google Play | TuneIn | RSS

Joey Korman is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Joey, check out his archive and follow him @leaveit2divac.