Fantasy Baseball: Top Three Comeback Pitchers
Sometimes, the best values at starting pitcher are beaten-down veteran arms coming off injuries. The key to their success is a healthy spring training with no injury news. These are the top three comeback pitchers entering the 2025 fantasy baseball season.
Comeback Player: Lance McCullers, Houston Astros
When I worked through the starting pitcher projections for the Houston Astros, McCullers drew my attention. He battled injuries (right elbow and forearm surgeries) over the past two seasons, which resulted in no major league games. In early March, his fastball was getting closer to 95 mph.
McCullers is close to pitching in spring training, which should make his name more prominent if his reports are positive. In my first projection run, I gave him 24 starts, so I'm bullish on a helpful season for the Astros.
Comeback Player: Brandon Woodruff, Milwaukee Brewers
The Brewers expect Woodruff to be a helpful arm in 2025, but he may not be ready for opening day. His lack of a return date, paired with some fantasy apprehension about the value of his stuff, has created a potential discount in drafts.
Shoulder injuries can be challenging to recover from, so following his fantasy progress this spring is essential. Based on his previous four seasons on the mound (30-20 with a 2.76 ERA and 566 strikeouts over 473.1 innings), Woodruff could be a big mover up the draft board in March once he shows success in major league games. Milwaukee has him slated to pitch in a minor league game next week.
Comeback Pitcher of the Year: Robbie Ray, San Francisco Giants
Ray will enter 2025 with only 34.0 innings pitched over the previous two seasons. Despite his struggles with command last season, his best two pitches were still challenging to hit, highlighted by his career-low hard-hit rate (35.4) and weaker exit velocity (86.8 mph). On the downside, he did pitch up in the strikeout zone (fly-ball rate – 53.1 – 39.5 in his career), inviting more home runs.
Ray struggled with left-handed batters (7-for-21 with two home runs) last year. In his breakout season in 2021, his stuff showed more upside in spring training. I would look for that pattern again this year. I’m keeping an open mind about his potential in 2025.
Over his first two games in spring training, Ray tossed five shutout innings with two hits, no walks, and nine strikeouts. His fastball has been reported in the mid-90s while adding a new changeup via a consultation with Tarik Skubal. If his command, velocity, and added swing-and-miss pitch remain intact in two weeks or so, Ray will push further up draft boards.
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With 20+ years of experience in the high-stakes fantasy market, I aim to research and compete at the highest level in baseball and football each season. I've contributed as a writer/analyst for Sports Draft Daily, ScoutPro, Scout Fantasy, Fulltime Fantasy, FFToolbox, and Sports Illustrated Fantasy. I'm honored to be in the National Fantasy Baseball Championship Hall of Fame. My drafting philosophy is risk-averse yet open to betting on potential game-changers. I approach player selection with a neutral perspective, acknowledging that fantasy sports are inherently unpredictable due to injuries, performance dips, and managerial decisions. My work focuses on these main areas: - Season-long fantasy baseball and football - BestBall Baseball and Football Events - Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS): DraftKings, FanDuel, and Underdog - Long Shot Player Prop Parlays for NFL I participate in various leagues and contests, including NFBC, NFFC, RTSports, FFPC, DraftKings, Underdog Fantasy, FanDuel, and FFWC, with the goal of leveraging my extensive experience and research for success in each game format. A fantasy follower can expect in-depth profiles of NFL and MLB players, along with season-long and weekly projections for each fantasy football season. In addition, I have many strategy articles to help develop fantasy players' learning curves.