MLB Pitchers Trending Upward: Hunter Brown, Taj Bradley, Paul Skenes, Trevor Megill, Carlos Estevez and More

Discussing several MLB pitchers who are trending in the right direction over the past 30 days of play.

After covering the MLB hitters trending upward and downward at the end of last week, it’s time to tackle the same stories, but for pitchers.

We’ll start with the pitchers trending upward and look at stats from the past 30 days of action. The last time we did a story like this was on June 11.

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Houston Astros’ Hunter Brown was a player I covered in the July 1 takeaways, but he needs to be covered again because of what he’s done over the past month.

In five starts, he’s got a 5-0 record and a ridiculous 0.29 earned run average - that’s one earned run over 31 innings. He has 34 strikeouts over that span.

Brown’s own percentage has jumped significantly over the past month, and he’s sitting around 95% right now. He’s rightfully rostered in most leagues, but it’s also worth noting that his five starts came against poor offenses, so keep that in mind if you want to pick him up.

Tampa Bay Rays’ Taj Bradley is 2-1 with a 1.24 ERA over his past five starts. He’s struck out 40 over his 29 innings of work.

Bradley’s own percentage is also on the rise. He currently sits at 74%, and will likely be closer to 100% when he makes his next start. Bradley is getting close to being too valuable to be looked at as a streaming option, so if you get a hold of him, you’d best just hold him - unless his production falls off, of course.

Toronto Blue Jays’ Chris Bassitt has a 1-0 record, but 1.41 ERA over his past five starts. He has 28 strikeouts over his 32 innings pitched in that span.

Bassitt had a rough start to the season, but has looked like the pitcher we all expected over the past month plus. Our charts show him at 92% owned, so there’s a select few who could still nab him off waivers. He should be owned and can be trusted against most opponents nowadays.

Milwaukee Brewers’ Tobias Myers is a surprise name among the ERA leaders. He is 4-0 with a 1.44 ERA across his past five starts. Myers has 24 strikeouts over his 31 1/3 innings in that stretch.

Myers was hardly known in the fantasy baseball world at this time a month ago, but has surged up over 50% owned now. With no track record, he’s still a streaming option in standard leagues and will be a hot waiver wire add any time he starts, at least until he stops pitching this well.

Seattle Mariners’ Logan Gilbert and George Kirby are both sporting sub-2.00 ERAs over the past 30 days.

Gilbert is 2-1 with a 1.51 ERA in his five starts. Gilbert has 31 strikeouts over his 35 2/3 innings pitched.

Kirby has 31 punchouts over his 31 frames. He has a 3-0 record and 1.74 ERA in his five starts.

Gilbert and Kirby are two of the better fantasy starting pitchers in the league, so if you hope to acquire them, it’ll cost a good bit in a trade. If you drafted them or got them earlier in the season, their trade values are both really high, but I’d prefer to keep both instead of trying to sell high. They continue to deliver, and there’s no reason to expect it to stop anytime soon.

Philadelphia Phillies’ Cristopher Sanchez has a 3-0 record and 1.64 ERA in his past five starts, including a complete game shutout. He had 23 strikeouts over his 33 innings in that stretch.

Sanchez has been an above-average streaming option for most of the season, but after his shutout (and last month of good pitching), his own percentage is above 90. Scoop him up if you still can and ride Sanchez for as long as he’s pitching well. You might be able to flip him for a good return if you don’t think Sanchez can keep things rolling.

Pittsburgh Pirates’ Paul Skenes went 2-0 with a 1.78 ERA in his past five starts. He struck out 40 over 30 1/3 innings.

Skenes has been fantastic since being called up. Not only is he striking out a bunch of batters, but he’s barely allowing any runs. His trade value is rising with each start, and if you drafted him or scooped him up when he got the call, you should just keep rostering him because he should only get better with more starts.

Chicago White Sox’s Garrett Crochet is a player I’ve been telling fantasy owners to sell high on, but he continues to deliver. He struck out 48 batters in his 31 2/3 innings pitched over the past 30 days. Crochet was 1-1 with a 1.99 ERA in that span.

I still am worried about Crochet going forward - he is in his first year as a starter and likely will be limited with his innings in the latter half of the season. At some point, I expect some regression, and when that happens, his trade value will fall off fairly quickly, so that’s why I prefer trading him now when his value is so high.

Los Angeles Dodgers’ Tyler Glasnow has 41 strikeouts over his 29 innings pitched over the past 30 days. In his five starts, Glasnow went 2-2 with a 3.72 ERA.

Glasnow is another sell high candidate in my eyes. He’s never been able to get through a full MLB season and is already approaching his career high for innings pitched in a season. I’d try to ship Glasnow off now before his value dips any more (he allowed five earned runs in two of his starts in the past month).

Cleveland Guardians’ Tanner Bibee has 40 punchouts over his 28 1/3 innings pitched in the past month. He was 3-1 with a 2.86 ERA over his five starts.

Bibee has been one of the bigger draft surprises of the season so far. He’s not elite in preventing runs, but his big strikeout numbers are definitely a plus in the fantasy world. If you drafted him, I’d prefer to just see things through with him instead of trying to sell high.

Let’s take a look at a few closers before we wrap this article up.

St. Louis Cardinals’ Ryan Helsley leads the MLB with 11 saves in the past 30 days. He was 0-1 with a 3.00 ERA and 19 strikeouts in 12 innings pitched.

His 1.33 WHIP mark is still not great, but he continues to get the job done. Closers don’t hold a lot of trade value, but he’s arguably the second- or third-best fantasy closer at this point, so if you are worried about some of his numbers working against him going forward, now would probably be the time to move him.

Milwaukee’s Trevor Megill is second in the league with nine saves over the past month. He’s got nine strikeouts in 12 1/3 innings and a sparkling 0.73 ERA in that span.

With Devin Williams on the verge of returning, Megill could maybe lose the closer role, but until that time, Megill needs to be owned and utilized by fantasy owners. He’s got an argument for the best fantasy closer right now, even with lower strikeout numbers.

Los Angeles Angels’ Carlos Estevez did not allow a single run over the past 30 days. He was 1-0 and earned eight saves in 10 games and innings pitched. Estevez is also a fairly low strikeout guy, with just 10 punchouts over that span.

Estevez is still available in over 30% of leagues, and even though he’s not getting a ton of closing opportunities on the Angels, he’s a good short-term option. His great performances over the past month could also make him a sell high option to a desperate fantasy owner looking for a closer.

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