Pitchers and catchers are arriving at MLB facilities in Florida and Arizona, and we’re just over a month away from Opening Day. Whether you prefer season-long leagues, DFS contests, or DraftKings Best Ball, it’s time to start gearing up for another great fantasy baseball season. No matter what format you play, starting pitchers are key to success. Every year, new starting pitchers emerge to help you claim victory, so let’s take a look at some of the potential SP Breakouts to watch in Spring Training.
Hunter Brown, Houston Astros
The Astros are looking to win the AL West for a fifth straight season, and one key to their success this year will be the continued development of Hunter Brown. This will be the 26-year-old Brown’s third full season in the majors, and he seemed to turn a corner last year after an awful start out of the gate. He finished the year 11-9 in 31 games with a 3.49 ERA and 3.58 FIP while racking up 9.5 K/9.
In his first six starts last April, Brown went 0-4 with a 9.78 ERA and 5.73 FIP. He flipped the script in May when he started to incorporate a sinker into his pitch mix. From May 1 on, he went 11-5 with a 2.51 ERA and 3.52 FIP. He held opponents to just a .218 batting average and had a 26.0% strikeout rate. He reduced his HardHit% to just 21.8% per StatCast after giving up 41.6% hard contact in those first six starts.
He finished the year even stronger, allowing more than two runs in just one of his last nine starts down the stretch.
Even after his remarkable turnaround, Brown comes into this season a little undervalued since his numbers from last year were still weighed down by that awful start. If you get the May-September version of Brown, he has the potential to be a breakout star and be one of the core starting pitchers on one of the best teams in the American League.
Taj Bradley, Tampa Bay Rays
The Rays will hopefully get Shane McClanahan back at the top of their rotation this year, allowing Bradley and Ryan Pepiot to continue to grow into their roles without the pressure of being the “Ace.” While 2024 was an uneven season for Bradley, he flashed a glimpse of his true potential with a dominant stretch in the middle of the season.
Bradley was the AL Pitcher of the Month for July and looked outstanding for a nine-start stretch from June 8 through July 25. In those outings, Bradley went 5-1 with a 0.82 ERA and 2.49 FIP, allowing just a 32.0% HardHit% per statcast and giving up only a .161 batting average. He totaled 65 strikeouts in 55 innings and had two 11-strikeout performances.
He started last season on the IL and had some struggles after that dominant stretch. In fact, he went 0-7 over his next nine starts with an ugly 7.88 ERA. He bounced back though with 11 strong innings against the Blue Jays and Red Sox to finish the season, giving up one run and striking out 11 in those two outings.
Bradley will definitely need to be more consistent this season to be a fantasy baseball league winner, but the 23-year-old has immense upside and excellent stuff. He has a very high ceiling if he continues to develop like most of the Rays’ stud starting pitching prospects have in the past. He has plenty of room to grow and improve, especially against lefties, but he’s going very late in drafts compared to the upside he brings. If he looks like that mid-summer edition of himself in Spring Training, he’ll definitely be a SP breakout to target in all formats.
Osvaldo Bido, Athletics
Even teams like the Athletics are worth watching for fantasy baseball options and potential SP Breakouts. Coming into 2025, Bido is a great late-round target in season-long or Best Ball leagues and will be a good DFS value early in the season.
Bido was totally off the radar coming into 2024 after the Pirates non-tendered him after a 5.86 ERA in 2023. The A’s snagged him as a free agent and started him in the minors. In Triple-A, Bido had a 4.50 ERA and 5.38 FIP, but he showed intriguing potential with 55 strikeouts in 48 innings.
In mid-June, he was called up to the A’s and appeared in 15 games (eight starts). He had 59 strikeouts in 60 2/3 innings with a 2.97 ERA and solid 3.35 FIP.
In his eight starts, Bido went 4-2 with a 3.56 ERA and 3.21 FIP. However, those overall numbers mask his strong outings a little bit. He had two rough outings but allowed two runs or fewer in six of those eight outings. He also had at least five strikeouts in seven of those outings.
Coming into the Spring Training, the 29-year-old from the Dominican will need to earn his rotation spot after his team brought in Luis Severino and Jeffrey Springs this offseason. However, that strong stretch in 2024 shows he’s definitely worth keeping an eye on this spring as a fantasy baseball sleeper and one of the potential SP breakouts to watch this Spring Training.
