2025 Fantasy Baseball: Michael Wacha Profile, Preview, Predictions

Over his 12 major league seasons, Wacha has underachieved his potential and expectations more often than not. However, his wins have picked up over the past three years (38-14) while pitching for three different MLB franchises (BOS, SD, and KC).

SP – Michael Wacha, KC (ADP – 271.4)

2025 Michael Wacha Pitching Stats Profile | Shawn Childs

His ERA (3.30) and WHIP (1.160) finished in winning areas over this span, but Wacha did miss about 21% of his starting chances from 2022 to 2024. He landed on the IL over the first three weeks of June last season with a foot injury. Batters hit .235 against him over the past three years with a favorable walk rate (2.5) and weakness in his strikeout rate (7.8).

Wacha allowed two runs or fewer in 18 of his final 22 starts in 2024, leading to a 2.72 ERA, 1,116 WHIP, and 114 strikeouts over 129.0 innings. His arm played better at home (7-3 with a 2.89 ERA, 1.161 WHIP, and 68 strikeouts over 81.0 innings).

His average fastball (93.8) was his highest since 2021. Wacha throws a changeup (.164 BAA) as his top pitch (30.8% of the time). He mixes in a four-seamer (.295 BAA), sinker (.244 BAA), curveball (.333 BAA), and cutter (.329 BAA).

Fantasy Outlook: With only one true out-pitch, Wacha has outperformed his body of work over the past three seasons. He must get ahead in the count to take advantage of his changeup (81 of his 150 strikeouts). His off-speed pitches grade poorly, and I can’t see an uptick in velocity.

Wacha looks attractive based on his recent success, but regression is a great equalizer in fantasy baseball. For reference, he had an ERA of 4.62 over 138 games from 2016 to 2021, and batters hit .208 against his changeup. Wacha is a fade for me in 2025.

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