Fantasy Baseball 2012: Is Kansas City Royals' Luke Hochevar Fantasy Friendly?

Kansas City Royals pitcher Luke Hochevar struggled to start his career, seemed to figure things out last year and took a step back to start the 2012 season.

He had a 9.00 ERA after getting shelled by the New York Yankees on May 6 and a 6.57 ERA as early as June 8 after yielding four runs over six innings to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Hochevar has been better of late, but is he fantasy friendly?

Hochevar has had a quality start in his last three outings, posting a 2-0 record 1.13 ERA and 1.00 WHIP. On top of that, he has struck out 19 batters in 24 innings during those starts and has not yielded a run over 16.2 innings in his past two starts.

His recent success has helped him lower his season ERA to 5.07 and his WHIP to 1.40. Both remain bloated, but if he can continue to pitch effectively, he has a chance to get them closer to the 4.68 and 1.28 numbers he posted last year.

Hochevar’s downfall has been his home starts. While he’s 4-3 with a 3.88 ERA on the road, he’s 1-4 with a 6.57 ERA at Kauffman Stadium.

Part of the struggles could be contributed to bad luck. His BABIP is .338, which is significantly up from his .275 mark last year and .304 career number.

Hochevar is barely owned in fantasy baseball leagues. The way he has been pitching, he should at least be considered as a streaming option, especially on the road and/or in favorable matchups.

His next matchup is Saturday against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field, which could be a nice time to test him out.

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