What to Do With These Struggling Fantasy Baseball Pitchers

After checking out some struggling fantasy baseball hitters, let's now turn our attention to some struggling pitchers.

Check back later in the week for articles on excelling hitters and pitchers of late.

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.

Nolan McLean - New York Mets

McLean has an ugly 9.00 earned run average over his past three starts in the past two weeks (May 11-25).

He has a 1-2 record over that span, while allowing 19 runs (16 earned) on 19 hits and seven walks. McLean has struck out 18 batters over 16 innings to work out of even more trouble.

McLean was part of today's drop article. He's being let go in some standard leagues after a rough stretch of late, but I'm not fully ready to bail on him.

I'm actually more inclined to try and buy low on McLean, as I believe he will bounce back and be a much better fantasy asset going forward. Only drop him if he continues to struggle, which would take another bad start to two yet, in my eyes.

Shota Imanaga - Chicago Cubs

Imanaga is still rostered in nearly all fantasy leagues, but he could be dropped soon if he doesn't turn things around.

He's allowed 17 runs over his past three starts, which have only spanned 17 1/3 innings. Imanaga allowed those 17 runs on 21 hits and four walks, while striking out 14 batters along the way. He has an 0-3 record in those outings.

Imanaga has been a good fantasy asset in the past, and I'm not ready to bail on him yet either. I'd be happy to buy low on him, as his value is really down over the past couple weeks. See if you can snag Imanaga before he starts pitching better.

You might be surprised how cheap you could add the left-handed pitcher for.

Jack Flaherty - Detroit Tigers

Flaherty has allowed 13 runs (10 earned) over his past three starts. He's 0-3 over the past two weeks, and continues to struggle at the start of the 2026 season.

Flaherty allowed the 13 runs on 19 hits and three walks over just 13 innings. He's also struck out 13 batters.

He has been a decent fantasy asset in the past, but has struggled most of this season. Flaherty is way down to 39% rostered right now, which not many people saw coming.

Flaherty is a name to keep tabs on in case he turns things around and settles in. Right now, he's a better deep-league asset, but is still a standard league streaming option in the right matchups.

Keep tabs on Flaherty, but also move off him, even in deeper leagues, if you see better waiver wire options out there.

Trevor Rogers - Baltimore Orioles

Rogers is in a similar boat to Flaherty, as he's down to 37% owned. That makes Rogers a better deep-league asset for the time being, although he could bounce back, or at least be a standard league streaming option here and there.

Rogers has allowed 18 runs (17 earned) over his past three starts. He has an 0-3 record and has worked just 12 1/3 innings in that stretch.

Rogers has allowed 18 hits and seven walks on the way to allowing those 18 runs. He only has eight strikeouts in that span.

He's hard to trust right now, even in deeper fantasy leagues. Don't write Rogers off for good, but don't hold on to him if there're desirable fantasy options on your waiver wire.

Robbie Ray - San Francisco Giants

Ray has an 0-2 record and 11.08 ERA over his past three starts. He's allowed 18 runs (16 earned).

Ray has given up 20 hits and 11 walks in that timeframe, while only striking out six batters. He's been a pretty steady fantasy option when healthy, so the past two weeks have been a bit of a surprise with Ray.

He's still owned in 80% of fantasy leagues, so he's trending toward being a standard league streaming option if he cannot bounce back. He's a buy-low trade option right now, but that's more so in deeper leagues with how he's been trending.

Again, don't give up on Ray for good, but definitely be cautious of trying him (even in great matchups) until he starts pitching a bit better.

Lucas Erceg - Kansas City Royals

Erceg has been serving as the Royals' closer since an early-season injury to Carlos Estevez. Erceg was doing pretty well in that role, but has struggled of late.

He's allowed seven runs (six earned) over his past five appearances. He's 0-1 with one save and two blown saves in that two-week stretch.

Erceg has better numbers for the season overall, and over his career, but he's trending in the wrong direction right now. He looks like a better deep-league asset, which is something he's been despite not being a closer over the past couple seasons.

He's worth tracking until Estevez is back, and maybe even after that if KC doesn't give Estevez the closer role back right away. Right now, Erceg is droppable in a lot of standard leagues.

He's a sneaky-good buy-low target in deep leagues, especially really deep ones. Again, he can be worth rostering in those leagues even when he's not closing games, so buy low on him now before he bounces back.