PPP 776 – Fantasy Baseball Starting Pitchers To Add And Drop – 4-23-26

Nick Pollock of Pitcher List Fantasy Baseball delivers a high-stakes, data-driven breakdown of starting pitchers to add and drop for the 2026 fantasy baseball season, focusing on early-season performance, pitch mix efficiency, and matchup context. The episode centers on a pivotal shift in strategy: moving away from relying on traditional 'ace' narratives and instead targeting pitchers with high-velocity, high-impact pitch usage—especially cutters and sliders—despite inconsistent command. Pollock highlights Peter Lambert’s breakout with a cutter that masked a struggling changeup, and champions Tyler Malley and Connor Prelip as undervalued southpaws with elite stuff and low walk rates. He warns against overvaluing pitchers like Jansen Junk and Jack Leiter despite strong early numbers, citing command issues and unsustainable efficiency. The most contrarian take? That pitchers with 'strange' or inconsistent pitch behavior—like Braxton Ashcraft or Didier Fuentes—may still be worth holding as 'cherry bombs' with explosive upside. Pollock’s core thesis: in a year of injury-plagued rotations, the real fantasy edge lies not in perfection, but in identifying pitchers whose pitch profiles suggest future dominance even if their current results are messy.