Jacob Misiorowski struck out 12 and allowed one run in seven innings Monday as Milwaukee topped St. Louis 5-1, becoming the first pitcher to reach 100 strikeouts this season. His MLB-record 57 pitches at 100+ mph in the game added another superlative to a season already featuring a 1.83 ERA and 100:19 K:BB ratio across 64 innings. Manager Pat Murphy has flagged workload concerns and is actively limiting pitch counts, raising the prospect of a late-summer pullback.
Phillies lefty Cristopher Sanchez enters his Wednesday afternoon start at Petco Park needing just 3.2 more scoreless frames to break the franchise record set by Grover Alexander in 1911. Sanchez (5-2, 1.62 ERA) is the first pitcher since Kershaw in 2015 to throw four consecutive starts of 7+ scoreless innings, and Yahoo's latest fantasy top-300 update elevated him to the No. 1 overall SP, displacing Paul Skenes.
Oakland placed Aaron Civale on the 15-day IL after a velocity drop in his May 25 start, then called up 23-year-old lefty Gage Jump to make his MLB debut. Jump, a 2024 second-round pick out of LSU, had 56 strikeouts in 38 Triple-A innings this season and finished his Triple-A stint with 11 consecutive scoreless innings. His fastball touches 97 mph with a late-breaking slider as his out pitch.
Max Fried was placed on the IL with a left elbow bone bruise after exiting a Baltimore start with posterior soreness. MRI and CT scans confirmed the bruise but his UCL looks clean; he has been shut down from all throwing and needs follow-up imaging in a few weeks before any return timeline can be established. Elmer Rodriguez-Corona was recalled to fill the rotation spot.
Who's Hot This Week
Ryan returned sharp from a Triple-A hamstring IL stint — 9 IP, 1 ER, 11:1 K:BB in his last two OKC outings. With Blake Snell joining Tyler Glasnow on the Dodgers' IL, a rotation vacancy is wide open. At 5% owned with top-60 SP rest-of-season upside cited by multiple analysts, this is the lowest-risk, highest-ceiling bench stash available in Week 9.
Worth Reading
Towers makes the case for Colt Emerson (SEA, SS/3B) — the Mariners' $95M top prospect debuting this week — as the centerpiece add of Week 9, alongside the broader prospect parade of callups. Clear breakdown of debut roles and which league sizes each target applies to.
Wannemacher assigns specific dollar values to this week's top waiver targets, headlined by Troy Melton and Jake Bauers. Essential reading for competitive FAAB leagues where bid sizing matters as much as target identification.
A statistical case for why Benge's slow start was misleading and how his stance adjustment produced measurable contact gains. Also covers Griffin Jax and Troy Melton as pitching stashes with realistic rotation paths.
Exited his May 25 start vs. Pittsburgh in the fifth inning with a left hamstring strain. Manager Schneider called it mild and the Blue Jays expect a return around the 15-day minimum, but hamstrings in pitchers are unpredictable. Cease had been excellent this year — 3.05 ERA, 92 Ks, 1.21 WHIP across 62 innings.
On IL since April 22 with a left calf strain. Has begun running and cage work as of May 25. A June return is possible per Jon Heyman, but no rehab assignment has been set yet. Monitor for a rehab announcement — that's the clearest signal a return is imminent.
Placed on IL May 6 with left elbow impingement (VEO), then woke with elbow discomfort the morning after a promising May 24 Triple-A rehab start — team shut him down an additional 3-4 days for re-evaluation. The setback pushes a realistic return to mid-June at the earliest, with a 60-Day IL transfer possible if he flares again.
On the 60-Day IL since late March with left biceps tendinitis. Has completed six rehab appearances across two levels — 6 IP, 1 ER, 9 Ks — and is expected back in the first week of June. Bryan King has stepped in with 4 saves and a solid ERA.
Hancock entered 2026 with one of the more striking mid-career mechanical overhauls in recent memory. He dropped his arm angle roughly 10 degrees — from approximately 23 degrees down to 13 — and built a new sweeper as his primary off-speed weapon. The result is a fastball with sharper, more deceptive shape and a breaking ball with genuine horizontal sweep that hitters had no early-season answer for.
The change unlocked something rare: simultaneous improvements in stuff quality and command. His Location+ marks on both his four-seamer and sinker surged, and the sweeper immediately became a put-away pitch with a 32% whiff rate. Opponents had yet to record a hit off the offering at publication, and it was generating a 55% strikeout rate when thrown with two strikes. Rosen flags that location-driven breakouts historically carry more regression risk than pure stuff changes, but acknowledges the results are impossible to dismiss.
Through nine starts in late May, the profile has held up better than skeptics expected. Hancock is generating weak contact alongside real strikeout numbers, and his WHIP reflects it. He has gone from a streaming afterthought to a rostered asset in most competitive leagues — and still has room to climb in shallow formats where the early-season skepticism kept ownership low.
The May 26 Leverage Ledger leads with Jhoan Duran's 100th career save — his 10th this season — and notes ongoing volatility across multiple bullpens. Ryan Walker was demoted after 7 ER in 4 appearances, leaving the Giants' ninth inning in Caleb Kilian's hands. The Reds committee continues to rotate between Santillan, Ashcraft, and Johnson with no commitment from the manager.
Read the full Ledger →| Closer | Team | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caleb Kilian | SF | 🟡 Watch | Ryan Walker demoted after 7 ER in 4 appearances; Erik Miller on IL (back). Kilian has 2 saves and a 1.40 ERA but a 12.5% walk rate. Monitor Miller's return — he likely reclaims the role when healthy. |
| Tony Santillan | CIN | 🔴 Committee | Three blown saves and 6 HR allowed in his last 23 batters faced since May 5. Graham Ashcraft and Pierce Johnson are absorbing chances. Manager Bell says he wants one closer but hasn't committed — buy the matchup, not the role. |
| Lucas Erceg | KC | 🟡 Watch | Holding the job with 10 saves while Carlos Estevez (shoulder) is out at least another month. Erceg's K-BB rate raises durability concerns — he could lose the role if he struggles before Estevez returns. |
| Gregory Soto | PIT | 🟡 Watch | Has emerged as Pittsburgh's clear closer (5 May saves, 2.22 ERA) after a committee arrangement early in the year. Worth monitoring — any late-game usage change would signal the committee returning. |
MLB's official YouTube channel posted every strikeout from Misiorowski's 100-K milestone start vs. the Cardinals — 12 Ks, 57 pitches at 100+ mph, and the clip capturing why his stuff is genuinely historic.
ESPN's Jeff Passan broke the Gage Jump callup news: the 23-year-old LSU lefty runs his fastball to 97 mph and struck out 56 in 38 Triple-A innings, with Passan noting the 2024 draft class is producing at the MLB level faster than expected.
RotoBaller framed the Gage Jump callup as a must-add waiver wire pickup for Week 9, providing the bullpen depth chart, debut role context, and the A's schedule outlook for fantasy managers weighing the add.
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