James McDonald

[Tigers1223]

I remember reading a lot of hype in previous seasons regarding this guy. He is pitching well. Is he finally breaking out? Thoughts?

[RyeWhiskey]

I remember reading a lot of hype in previous seasons regarding this guy. He is pitching well. Is he finally breaking out? Thoughts?

Could be.

His minor numbers are solid, but he's been quite shaky in the majors so far (until this season). That said, I could definitely see a final line of:
175 IP, 12 W, 145 K, 3.50 ERA, 1.20 WHIP

That's a good SP4 and a great SP5/6 in a 12 team league.

[Ender]

He quietly broke out last year and was very decent after April. Too bad he plays for a pretty bad offensive team.

[Element]

When he was pitching for the Dodgers he was virtually a 2 pitch pitcher (fastball/curveball). He started throwing a slider last season and according to fangraphs has increased the frequency from 5% to 21% with that offering. He always had a fairly live fast ball. He just needed that third pitch.

[wazzeus]

Someone in my league was nutty enough to drop Beckett for him. I was on it like white on rice!

[footballisbetter.com]

Is it getting to the point where he should be 100% owned?

His last 4 starts

DATE IP H R ER HR BB K
04/25 7.0 1 1 1 0 3 8 vs Colorado
04/30 7.2 7 3 3 1 2 10 @ Atlanta
05/05 6.1 6 1 1 0 2 7 vs Cincinnati
05/11 8.0 4 1 1 0 2 8 vs Houston

And he's rolling tonight.

[Izenhart]

He looked great until the last inning when he got tired and left all his breaking pitches up in the zone. This year the K's are there and from what my eyes have seen in 3 of his starts, he is mastering command of the zone using three pitches as previously mentioned. If he can keep up his stamina and consistency he could have a very good season.

[jman1840]

His slider is nasty so I hope he keeps it up since I picked up last week!

[CBMGreatOne]

Yesterday was his first start for my team, as I picked him up after 8 IP and 8 K in his previous start. The strike out numbers are legit, but he won't get a lot of wins. I'm hurting really bad in ratios and Ks in my main league, so he was a welcome addition. 5 IP with 9 Ks, a BB and no Hs allowed he was looking like a stud. He gave up some runs in the next inning, but still an encouraging outing.

I think he has top 20 SP upside.