Fantasy Baseball Player Notes

Zack Wheeler remains an underrated starting pitcher, which is amazing, considering he reached the 200-inning mark while maintaining a 2.57 ERA and 0.95 WHIP in 2024. He struck out 224 batters with a 28.5 K% and was in the 95th percentile of chase percentage. Opposing batters look lost against his six-pitch arsenal, and he can put away hitters with any one of them. Wheeler will turn 35 in May, and while that may give some drafters pause, he remains an excellent SP1 option in 2025.

Aaron Nola had a mixed bag of stats in 2024. He continued his run of durability, starting 33 games, which was his sixth straight year of 30+ starts. After a supremely unlucky 2023, his ERA returned to his career average of 3.57. His 1.20 WHIP was a little higher than usual, and he failed to strike out 200 batters for the first time since 2017, ending at 197. Nola turns 32 this summer, and the only real blemish on his resume is that his K% has dropped each year for the past four, reaching 24% last season, which is in the 58th percentile. While his walk rate has gone up in the past two years, it remains at an acceptable 6.1%. Nola is a good SP2 option and falls into the "boring but reliable" category of fantasy pitchers.