Jason Hammel has been one of the most picked up starters on the wire over the last week despite his lack of fantasy value.
Analysis: Jason Hammel is sporting a 5.43 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP. His xFIP is north of 4.60 and his strand rate this year is on par with his career average. There is not one stat or metric that could make anyone believe he will get significantly better. However, he does have 7 wins this year which is the 6th most in baseball. Wins are unreliable and hard to project as well as run support in any given game. Despite that Hammel is on pace to win 20 games this year so it should not come as a surprise that awful fantasy owners are picking him up.
Hammel is available in 30-70% of fantasy leagues which is shocking considering his poor performances this year. He was not reliable in Colorado and he is not reliable now. He’s actually the 101st rated fantasy starter this year. His 1.51 WHIP is 95th in baseball and his 5.43 ERA is 97th and 0.6 higher than Ubaldo Jimenez and his 4.83 ERA.