Hayden Wesneski

Wesneski turned a strong spring training into the No. 5 spot in Chicago's rotation to begin the 2023 campaign, though he failed to do a ton with the opportunity. The righty finished with a 4.63 ERA and 83 strikeouts across 89.1 innings, making 11 starts and appearing in 34 games overall. His 5.48 FIP and .258 BABIP suggest that Wesneski's middling ERA could have been worse, and if he regresses closer to a 5.00 ERA in 2024, fantasy managers will want to look elsewhere. However, there are still a few encouraging signs here. Wesneski struck out 28 batters in only 20 innings while with Triple-A Omaha last year, and he had good strikeout numbers earlier in his minor-league career as well. If the 26-year-old can miss a few more bats at the MLB level, he may be poised to take a step forward and post better overall numbers. A complicating factor is where Wesneski will slot in for the Cubs. Justin Steele, Jameson Taillon and Kyle Hendricks are all locked into starting jobs, and Javier Assad, Caleb Kilian and Jordan Wicks are in the mix behind the aforementioned trio. Wesneski may then end up serving as a long reliever, which would cap his fantasy value.

A combination of impressive minor-league numbers and a strong first 33 innings in the big leagues has pushed Wesneski from dynasty-league sleeper to in-demand late-round redraft target. The former Yankee (shipped to the Cubs at the deadline for Scott Effross) is best known for his low-80s frisbee slider that averages 18.1 inches of horizontal break, which is 7.1 inches more than the average MLB pitcher's slider. He throws four other pitches, including a pair of low-90s fastballs. His small-sample xStats are off the charts (.231 xwOBA and 2.18 xERA) and the drafting public already thinks he is worth a top-300 pick (in NFBC). His 19.7 K-BB% in the majors would have been a top-30 mark among pitchers who threw 100 innings last season, but projection systems are expecting significant regression for Wesneski over a full season. At the very least, he seems locked into the Cubs rotation and is poised for a full season of work after logging 143.1 innings in 2022.