Archie Bradley is a nice talent. He’s also not doing much to be effective right now. He does have 88 punchouts in 90 frames over 16 starts, but that’s about the extent of the good work. He’s failed to get more than 15 outs in three of four starts, and he continues to be inconsistent, especially so of late (11 runs in eight innings his last two starts). He owns a 4.60 BB/9 rate this season, and you simply cannot consistently succeed in the big leagues doing that. Just how it is.

Adam Conley has made 23 starts for the Marlins going 8-6 with a 3.70 ERA and 1.39 WHIP. Those are passable, yet far from exciting numbers. Strikeouts are part of his game, 118 in 126.1 frames, but so are the walks at 4.06 per nine. It’s hard to consistently get big leaguers out when you’re walking that many men, and that’s what happened the last two times out as he’s walked 10 men in nine innings. That last outing, of six runs allowed, ended a run of 6-straight efforts of two earned runs or less allowed. Consistency is the last hurdle.

Scott Kazmir has 126 strikeouts in 121.2 innings. Good for him. Doing his best Francisco Liriano impression, Kazmir has a crappy 4.51 ERA, a league average WHIP (1.28), and is walking 3.18 batters per nine, a 4-year high. He’s also getting blasted by the long ball with a 1.48 HR/9 mark, this season, and his numbers of late just aren’t good at all. Check out the numbers the last five starts as he’s allowed at least one homer each outing while posting a 5.00 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP.

Jimmy Nelson has been very uneven this season with 23 starts for the Brewers leading to a 4.02 ERA, 1.48 WHIP and just 6.89 strikeouts per nine. Add in the 4.23 walk rate per nine and we have a young pitcher certainly trending in the wrong direction. Nelson has allowed six earned runs his last two outings, but it’s even worse than that. Over his last three starts he’s permitted 21 runs (14 earned). Yikes. Benching him is a best case scenario right now. Worst case would be letting him go to the wire.

Jeff Samardzija was at one point looking like a great signing by the Giants. Now – not so much. Over his last four starts he’s allowed at least five runs three times and once four runs. That’s bad. It’s way worse than that. Over his last eight trips to the bump Jeff has a 1-4 record. He’s allowed 11 homers. He’s posted a 3.11 BB/9 rate. Those are some of the better numbers he’s had in that time. Samardzija has a mere 5.63 K/9 rate. That’s scary bad for a guy with a 7.99 K/9 rate. He has a 6.99 ERA. He has a 1.49 WHIP. For two months he hasn’t even been league average, and there’s not much behind the numbers of late to make me overly excited that he’s going to flip the switch back to the guy we saw the first two months.

Matt Shoemaker always seems to be pitching well, yet every time I look up at his numbers I really don’t see it. Last year he had a 4.46 ERA, 1.26 WHIP and a 7.71 K/9 mark. This season the numbers are a big better but not overly impressive at 4.07, 1.24 and 8.34. Since July 1st he’s made seven starts going 3-4 with a 3.97 ERA, 1.21 WHIP and a receding strikeout rate of 6.55 per nine. Seems like just a guy in mixed leagues to me.

Josh Tomlin allowed seven runs the last time out. Over his last three starts he has a 6.62 ERA, 1.47 WHIP and a 2.04 HR/9 mark. Over his last five starts he has a 5.70 ERA, 1.37 WHIP and a 2.10 HR/9 mark. The wheels are falling off folks. My goodness. Over his last 10 starts he’s allowed at least one home run every game. In those 10 games he has allowed 16 big flies. Moreover, in 18 of 20 starts this season, all but two of them, he’s allowed a home run. Over his last 30 starts, going back to the start of last season, he’s allowed 39 homers leading to a 1.84 HR/9 mark. That’s just ghastly work folks. Ghastly.

Adam Wainwright, just when folks were buying in again, has hit another speed bump. Over his last three starts things have gotten ugly, this after allowed two or fewer earned runs in 4-straight starts. The last three times on the hill Waino has permitted 12 runs leading to a 6.11 ERA. He’s allowed 25 hits and six walks leading to a 1.75 WHIP. The 13:6 K/BB ratio in the three starts also stinks at 2.17. At this point it should be obvious to all that Wainwright simply isn’t going to excel this season. He may not ever be that guy again, so do yourself a favor and don’t expect it.

 

 

Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday, 8 PM EDT, on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 11 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).