Highlighting potential busts at starting pitcher for 2022 fantasy baseball

The 2022 MLB season will get started on April 7th. Now is the perfect time to get your fantasy baseball drafts in as spring training is winding down. As you are looking into starting pitchers, health history is certainly something to consider as both Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer will miss the beginning of the season for the New York Mets. You want to make sure that you are drafting healthy players with upside for your fantasy baseball teams. With that in mind, here are some starting pitchers to avoid in your drafts.

Fantasy baseball 2022 busts: Starting pitcher

Tyler Mahle, Cincinnati Reds

If there was a worthwhile way for the Reds to schedule Mahle to only start on the road, they would probably look into it. At Great American Ball Park, Mahle is posting a 5.63 ERA as opposed to his 2.30 ERA on the road. He has given up 19 home runs in Cincinnati and only five on the road. Throw in that the Reds’ lineup is taking a giant step back this season after trading away Jesse Winker and Eugenio Suarez and letting Nick Castellanos go in free agency, and Mahle is going to be in for a rough 2022 campaign.

Blake Snell, San Diego Padres

Snell switched coasts ahead of the 2021 season when the Tampa Bay Rays dealt him to the San Diego Padres. The change of scenery didn’t sit well with Snell as he had a whopping 5.44 ERA through July. Snell was able to adjust and come out of the All-Star break looking like his usual self, but he still had a 4.20 ERA on the year. His command comes and goes and if he starts off slow as he did in 2021, he will be a bust in fantasy baseball again.

Zac Gallen, Arizona Diamondbacks

Gallen is coming off a season where he had a hairline fracture in his forearm, a hamstring sprain and an elbow sprain. In 2021, he pitched in 23 games and had four wins with a 4.30 ERA. The Diamondbacks lineup isn’t going to provide ample run support on a regular basis playing in a tough NL West division. He’s being drafted ahead of Hyun Jin Ryu for the Toronto Blue Jays, Ian Anderson for the Atlanta Braves and Logan Gilbert of the Chicago Cubs who are all more reliable than Gallen.

Other candidates: Kyle Hendricks, Chicago Cubs; Alex Wood, San Francisco Giants