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Fantasy Baseball Out% Standouts From Week 19

Here are the best pitchers at getting batters out from Week 19.

Taylor Tarter
Fantasy 8/11/2025

With league average Out Rates stabilizing (they still may fluctuate by .1% or so), we have a clear picture of who some of the best pitchers are at inducing outs. We can also use Out% to determine which individual pitches are the best.

Analyzing Out% along with other data points can make certain decisions, like who to start or sit, and which pitchers to drop and add from the waiver wire. Out% is an essential and important tool in analyzing the effectiveness of a pitcher for fantasy baseball purposes.

For first-time readers, this article will provide some tips on how to analyze Out%, how you can use it to determine who the best pitchers are at inducing outs, what to look for, and how to make decisions based on Out%.

Check out our app to help track Out%: https://pl-out-percentage.streamlit.app/ – here you can search by pitcher and see leaderboards by pitch type.

You can read more of the intricacies of the stat here, where I reflect on what we learned from Out% last season and how to use it in fantasy, as well as the real-life implications.

For the purposes of this article, we will focus more on how to use this stat for fantasy baseball and how it can help you make fantasy-relevant decisions in-season.

Here is where the league-average Out% stands on each type of pitch as of writing on Saturday, August 2 (they will fluctuate as the season goes on):

  • Fastball – 16.4%
  • Cutter – 16.3%
  • Sinker – 17.9%
  • Splitter – 21.3%
  • Slider – 18.5%
  • Sweeper – 18.4%
  • Curveball – 16.7%
  • Changeup – 19.4%

A few notable pitchers sit atop the leaderboards for each pitch, including

For the sake of this article, my analysis will primarily focus on starting pitchers. Currently, the leaderboards (especially fastball and fastball adjacent pitches like cutters) are dominated by relievers because of their small sample size.

 

Fastball Out% Highlight

 

Brandon Woodruff – SP TEX

 

Brandon Woodruff has thrown fewer fastballs than the league average after missing a large chunk of the season. Still, his fastball Out Rate of 31% not only is impressively high, but would also lead qualified pitchers had he thrown enough to qualify.

Woodruff’s three most-used pitches all rank above league average in Out%, so it is no surprise to see he is off to some early success. Woodruff owns a 3-0 record, with four quality starts in his five appearances. He has an 11.7 K/9 rate, a 1.2 BB/9 rate, and a 2.22 ERA.

Incredibly, of Woodruff’s 37 strikeouts this season, 23 have come from his fastball. It has a .116 BAA, a 34% whiff rate, a 39% putaway rate, and a 43% K rate.

Woodruff’s fastball velocity has averaged two miles per hour slower than in 2023, taking his overall PLV down. Still, it grades as a league average pitch thanks to some serious vert. That induced vertical break helps to fool batters, along with above-average location. So even though PLV does not love his fastball, it has features that make it a top-notch out pitch. Plus, his fastball velo has started to creep up – he touched 96 MPH in a recent outing. Here he is talking about his “angry fastball”:

Woodruff should continue to see success, with three elite out pitches. Having a fastball with a high Out% means batters have to stay on their toes, especially considering Woodruff’s ability to locate his pitches. He has a 61% zone rate, and a 106 Location+. This means that he is likely pounding the zone with his fastball, and then tossing his sinker and changeup in the corners to induce whiffs.

If you were lucky enough to add him while he was still on the IL, you are reaping the rewards.

 

Out% Pitchers To Buy

 

Randy Vasquez – SP SD

 

Randy Vasquez has a shot at a solid final two months of the season. He has a few very good out pitches, and one that is borderline.

Vasquez features seven pitches overall, with his cutter, curveball, sinker, sweeper, and fastball all within about 13% usage of each other. His best out pitch is his sinker, which has a .211 BAA as well. His cutter’s 18% whiff rate is the second-best in his arsenal. But his best pitch overall is a nasty sweeper that he needs to throw more frequently.

Vasquez’s sweeper is a legit weapon. It has a .179 BAA, a 28% whiff rate, and a 20% K rate.

It grades as a league-average pitch, according to PLV. It comes in a little below league average in velocity and location, but has elite movement. The key for Vasquez is that his Location+ on similar breaking pitches like his curveball and slider are elite. So, he can get away with an average location on this pitch thanks to his other ones that he does locate well.

Vasquez’s cutter and sweeper have been great for him all season:

If he keeps using his pitches like this, he should earn some more wins as the season winds down and should be able to avoid his ERA ticking much higher than it is at 3.93.

 

Michael McGreevy – SP STL

 

Michael McGreevy looks like a new version of Miles Mikolas on the surface, but has the potential to be more successful. He is a low-strikeout, but also a low-walk pitcher. McGreevy features a 5.3 K/9 rate, but a 1.3 BB/9 rate. He also has three wins and a quality start in six starts this season.

McGreevy’s ERA arguably has suffered due to a terribly low 59% LOB rate, which should see some positive regression considering the Cardinals have a top-10 defense according to fielding percentage. And considering how good he is at getting batters out, things should continue to improve for the young starter.

McGreevy’s sinker, cutter, changeup, sweeper, and fastball all possess Out Rates above league average. His curveball is the only one that does not reach league-average Out%, and thankfully, it is his least-used pitch. Aside from that, this is a deadly arsenal.

In particular, McGreevy’s sinker, sweeper, and cutter are excellent, with his sinker and cutter borderline elite pitches overall.

His sweeper has some of the best statcast metrics of all the pitches in his arsenal. It has a .212 BAA and a 27% whiff rate, but a low putaway rate. He should be tossing it much more in counts where he can manufacture outs. But his cutter is absolutely unreal.

McGreevy does not throw his cutter very fast, but his near-elite extension makes up for it. He also gets above average horizontal break. But his bread and butter is his location. A 119 plvLoc+ is elite, which pushes his PLV into Quality Pitch territory. This is a pitch he should lean on much more.

Overall, McGreevy owns a 111 Location+ that would match Paul Skenes for third best if McGreevy qualified. He tosses 53% of his pitches in the zone and allows a relatively high 82% contact rate, so it would help if his defense turned in some more outs for him. That would push his already high Out Rates even higher, and would raise his LOB% to a more reasonable level.

Still, McGreevy’s ability to locate so well gives him a way to work around the low strikeout rate and supports the low walk rate. His xFIP and SIERA are more than half a run better than his 5.08 ERA, and he could get his ERA under 4.00 if his Out Rates continue to be this good.

 

Out% Pitchers to Sell

 

MacKenzie Gore – SP WAS

 

It may be time to consider dropping MacKenzie Gore. He has lost four straight and given up six earned runs or more in three of those four games. In two of those games, he did not make it past the third inning. Gore has been striking fewer batters out of late, while walking batters more, and his Out% is not looking great.

On the surface, having three pitches graded as above league average looks good. But this is where context is important. Those three pitches make up under 50% of his pitch usage, and his fastball (his most used pitch) is far below league average.

His fastball actually grades as a league average pitch according to PLV, but location is a problem. His Location+ is exactly league average. That is perhaps why it has been hit so much. It has a .316 BAA and only a 15% putaway rate.

Here is how his PLA breaks down for all of his pitches:

His overall PLA of 4.20 nearly matches his 4.29 ERA. Many of the pitch grades reflect his Out%, especially his changeup. With his changeup, location is a significant problem that tanks his overall pitch quality. With just an 82 plvLoc+, it is no surprise that it carries a .317 BAA.

Another thing to note with Gore’s cutter is that its high Out% is probably due to a small sample size. It is his least-used pitch and grades far below average according to PLV. And go figure, it features below average location.

Until Gore shows better command, he is a risk to continue to throw some clunkers. He is a risky pitcher to roster down the stretch.

 

Brayan Bello – SP BOS

 

Similar to Gore, it seems like Brayan Bello’s success may be a bit of a mirage. His 3.03 ERA comes with a 4.25 xFIP and a 4.45 SIERA, and both his PLA and Out% support the idea that things may start going south.

Context is key here. Bello’s slider has an insanely high Out Rate, but he barely uses it. Between that pitch, his changeup, and his fastball, they make up under 40% of his usage. That is not enough to be successful, even with an above average Out% on his fastball.

Three of Bello’s four most-used pitches grade as below league average according to PLA, and his overall PLA falls between his xFIP and SIERA, at 4.33.

The common thread between his sinker, fastball, and changeup grades is below average plvLocation+. They are 95, 96, and 96, respectively.

As for his fastball, his Out% may experience some regression soon, considering the poor pitch quality.

Bello’s velocity, break, and approach angle are above average, but he does not get enough extension or vert to fool batters. And he does not locate it well. It also has just a 10% putaway rate.

Similarly, his changeup grades as above average with Out%, but well below average according to PLV.

Again, with the location, low extension, and low vertical break, his PLV falls below average by quite a bit. Also, it has a .234 BAA, but a .303 xBAA, which reflects that this pitch may contribute to his downfall as its performance worsens.

If I rostered Bello, I would keep an eye on his matchups going forward, and potentially use him as a streamer, rather than a set-it-and-forget-it starting pitcher.

 

More Out% Pitchers to Buy

 

This will focus mostly on pitchers who may be on waivers in various league sizes, with trade deadlines likely over.

 

More Out% Pitchers To Sell

 

These are pitchers to consider dropping in exchange for players on the waiver wire.

 

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Taylor Tarter

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Taylor is an FSWA finalist, and a fantasy baseball champ that has been playing for well over a decade. Taylor is co-creator of Out%, a stat that measures how good pitches are at getting outs. You can find him @TaylorTarter on Twitter.

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