Mets starting pitcher Zack Wheeler had another rough start Wednesday against the A's, adding to his disappointing season. Though, Wheeler's start Wednesday was really disappointing because he had just come off a great start at Miami.
At one point during Wednesday's start Wheeler asked catcher Travis d'Arnaud to change up signs because he felt maybe the A's were a little too much on top of his pitches. Though, after the game Wheeler just called it "a bad outing." Well, he's had more than one of those this season.
It really seems Wheeler is still just having to deal with a little bit of bad luck. His groundball rate is up significantly (from 43.2 percent in 2013 to 53.5 percent in 2014, per FanGraphs.com), so it's no surprise his BABIP is at .332, which is well above the league average for starters (.296). It's really the only explanation because his hits per nine innings is barely up, he's giving up less home runs, his walk rate is down and his strikeout rate is up compared to last season.
Given Wheeler's upside, I'd bench him over dropping him in the majority of Fantasy leagues. Shallow-league owners have a greater luxury of dropping Wheeler given what's on waivers, but if you're in a 12-team or deeper format, I'd still keep him on my roster.