Notable Fantasy Baseball Pitchers Struggling Early This Season

Let's wrap up a short, four-part series looking at excelling and struggling fantasy baseball players at the start of the 2026 season. Here, we'll go over struggling fantasy pitchers.

We will keep the focus on notable fantasy assets.

Here is the story on excelling fantasy pitchers, and excelling and struggling fantasy hitters.

Explore the best in-season tool to manage lineup/start decisions including waiver pickups, projections, trade suggestions, trade value charts, rest of season rankings, power rankings, and tons more with Fantasy Assistant.

Chris Bassitt - Baltimore Orioles

Bassitt opened the year as a deep-league fantasy asset with standard league upside. He's started poorly, and is one of the worst fantasy pitchers so far.

In two starts, he's 0-2 with an ugly 14.21 earned run average. Bassitt has allowed 10 runs on 12 hits and six walks, while only striking out three over 6 1/3 innings.

He's been a solid fantasy asset over his career, but has started poorly in his new home. I'm not writing him off for good, but he'll be hard to trust until he posts better results.

He's not worth rostering in most redraft leagues, but he could be added quickly if he excels going forward, so keep tabs on him.

Griffin Jax - Tampa Bay Rays

Jax was an option for saves early in the season for the Rays, but he's started poorly too and is trending down. He's rostered in 45% of leagues after starting the year over 85% owned.

He has no saves, two blown saves and two losses over five appearances so far. Jax has worked four innings, allowing eight runs (five earned) on seven hits and three walks, while striking out just one.

Jax has been a good fantasy reliever in the past, but also struggled in 2025. His start to 2026 isn't promising.

He's droppable in all standard leagues, and some deeper redraft leagues as well. Jax just isn't doing anything worthwhile to hold him right now. 

Keep tabs on him in case he earns save chances down the line, or gets back to being a high-end reliever.

Shane Smith - Chicago White Sox

Smith was the team's Opening Day starter, but was just optioned to Triple-A on Wednesday. That's because he's struggled over his first three starts.

Smith is 0-2 with a 10.80 ERA over 8 1/3 innings in his three outings. He allowed 12 runs (10 earned) on 12 hits and nine walks, while striking out 11. Eight of those Ks came in yesterday's game, but five walks only allowed him to cover 3 1/3 innings.

Smith is droppable in most redraft leagues now as a result. He's rostered in 17% of leagues overall right now, and that will drop after fantasy owners see he was optioned.

We'll see if he can rebound later in the season after getting called back up, but for now, he's off the fantasy radar.

Brayan Bello - Boston Red Sox

Bello was another deep-league asset to kick off the season. He hasn't done much to convince fantasy owners to stream him in standard leagues.

In two starts, he's 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA. He's allowed 10 runs (eight earned) on 13 hits and seven walks over eight innings. Bello has struck out seven batters.

He was a solid fantasy asset in 2025, but has started poorly in 2026. Bello needs to show signs of improvement before fantasy owners trust him again.

Move on from Bello in most redraft leagues, but keep tabs on him in case he finds his groove and starts delivering better results.

Bryan Abreu - Houston Astros

Abreu was the guy who was supposed to serve as the Houston closer until the injured Josh Hader returned. Abreu has struggled, allowing at least one run in all four of his outings, and he's trending down as a fantasy asset as a result.

He's down to 64% rostered, after being near 90% at the start of the year.

In 2 2/3 innings, Abreu has allowed eight runs (seven earned) on four hits and five walks. He has struck out six batters at least. He is 0-1 with one save and one hold.

Abreu isn't getting every save chance now as a result of his poor start, and that deflates his fantasy value. He's droppable in almost all standard redraft leagues, and even some deeper ones.

Keep tabs on him, but with Hader eventually coming back, Abreu's chance to be a big-time fantasy asset will have passed.

Ranger Suarez - Boston Red Sox

Suarez was owned in nearly all fantasy leagues to start the season. He's down to 82% today after some rough starts.

In his first two starts, he's 0-1 with an 8.64 ERA over 8 1/3 innings. Suarez has allowed eight runs on 13 hits and three walks, while only striking out five batters.

Suarez has been a pretty good fantasy asset when healthy over the past several years, so he's been a surprising disappointment through two starts. Better days should be ahead, so keep tabs on him.

Treat him as more of a standard league streamer until better results come though. If he keeps struggling, he'll be dropped in most standard redraft leagues - hold out hope for him in deeper redraft leagues.

Now is the time to buy low on Suarez if you believe in him in the long run. You could scoop him up for free in some leagues, or get him for really cheap in a trade in others.

Tyler Mahle - San Francisco Giants

Mahle was a deep-league option to kick off the season, and he sits at just 12% rostered after some tough showings.

Over two starts, he's 0-2 with a 7.00 ERA over nine innings. He's allowed seven runs on 13 hits and three walks, while striking out nine batters.

He was a good fantasy asset over 16 starts last season, but seems to have regressed over the offseason. It could have just been a rough start to the year, so don't write him off for good. 

Until we see better results though, he's tough to trust in any leagues. He'll be added quickly if he pitches like he did in 2025, so keep close tabs on him.

Nathan Eovaldi - Texas Rangers

Eovaldi is struggling to start the 2026 season as well. He's down to 94% owned, after being at 100% to start the year.

He's 1-2 over three starts and 14 2/3 innings, and has a 7.98 ERA. Eovaldi has allowed 13 runs on 22 hits and five walks, while striking out 19 batters.

Eovaldi has been a pretty steady fantasy asset over the years, so his slow start to 2026 is pretty surprising. A lot of fantasy owners are holding out hope for him to turn things around, but it also means his value is low, so he's a buy-low candidate right now if you believe in him in the long run.

You might want to play matchups with him in standard leagues until he shows better results though.

Emmet Sheehan - Los Angeles Dodgers

Sheehan is down to 85% owned, after nearly being owned in all leagues for his first start of the year.

Across two starts, he's 1-0, but with an 8.00 ERA. Sheehan has allowed eight runs over nine innings. He's given up 12 hits and five walks, while striking out eight.

He was good over 15 appearances in 2025, so many were expecting a breakout 2026 campaign for him. Sheehan hasn't delivered yet, but it's early, so all hope isn't lost.

Buy him low, or maybe scoop him up for free in some leagues, if you believe in better days ahead. Temper expectations with him until he shows some improvement though.

Jack Flaherty - Detroit Tigers

Flaherty is down to 78% rostered in fantasy leagues, after being over 90% early in the season.

His first two starts have been lackluster, covering just 8 1/3 innings. Flaherty has a 7.56 ERA, allowing eight runs (seven earned) on seven hits and eight walks, while striking out eight as well.

He also struggled a bit in 2025, but has had better results in the past. Flaherty is trending more to being a standard league streamer, while being held in deeper leagues.

If you believe in him excelling down the line though, now is a time to buy low on him in a trade. You could just scoop him up for free in a good amount of leagues, so look into that.