I'm getting some real deja vu with Spencer Arrighetti. You know what his recent run reminds me of? Luis Gil.

When Arrighetti broke into the majors, it was pretty clear the stuff gave him the potential to be a difference-maker, but the command was just awful. He walked 35 batters in his first 14 starts, and if the Astros hadn't been absolutely demolished by injuries in the rotation, he probably would have earned a trip back to Triple-A early in the summer. And, despite some impressive standalone performances (and multiple breaking balls that rated out well above average by both Stuff+ and results) he still had an ERA of 5.58 at the end of July and was a total afterthought for Fantasy.

And now, just a month later, he looks like an absolute must-roster pitcher in Fantasy. I can't say I saw this coming, exactly, just like I never saw Gil's ace turn coming earlier in the season. But there's a reason smart pitching analysts have been spending the past few years trying to find a way to quantify stuff, and there's a reason we spend so much of our time as Fantasy analysts talking about whiffs, strikeouts, and the like; because when it all comes together for a pitcher like this, the results can be tremendous.

And they have been for Arrighetti of late. After flirting with a no-hitter Wednesday he finishes August with a 1.95 ER, 47 strikeouts, and only 10 walks in his five starts. Whether he can keep up this improved control is a tough question to answer, but it sure looks like Arrighetti is figuring it all out in real-time, and it's resulted in ace-level production.

I don't expect that to continue. But it was always within the range of possible outcomes once we saw what he was capable of at his best. It's hard to pitch at your best forever, and I still think there's quite a wide range of possible outcomes for Arrighetti moving forward. But the high end is extremely high, and it's worth chasing in all formats. We might just be looking at a true breakout here, and he's certainly worth adding in the 26% of CBS Fantasy leagues where he is currently available. 

Here's who else we're adding coming out of Wednesday's action, and everything else you need to know from around MLB: 

David Festa, SP, Twins (28%) – The most interesting thing about this performance from Festa – besides the fact that he went six innings for the first time in his major-league career – is that he leaned on his slider as his primary pitch and got such good results. The changeup has been his best secondary this season, but the slider might be even more important just because it would give him a second good secondary to lean on. The fastball is fine, especially with the extension the 6-foot-6 Festa gets with it, but the changeup has been the only plus pitch for him. If the slider can be something he can throw both for whiffs and for called strikes, that could make the whole profile play up. If Arrighetti isn't available in your league, I'm looking at Festa as an add for the stretch run with some upside. 

Rhett Lowder, SP, Reds (18%) – The Reds are calling Lowder up for his MLB debut Friday, per reports, just 14 months after he was the No. 7 pitch in the MLB draft and after just one Triple-A start. It was a very good start, as he struck out seven over six shutout innings, and with the Reds rotation suddenly decimated by injuries, they've decided it's time to see what their top pitching prospect can do. Lowder throws pretty hard, averaging 94.7 mph with his four-seamer in his lone Triple-A start, but it isn't necessarily a well-optimized pitch, featuring more sinking action than you'd prefer if you're looking for whiffs. That has led most scouts to view him as more of a mid-rotation starter, despite the presence of what should be a couple of very good secondaries. You see that in his minor-league numbers, as he dominated in five starts at High-A and then ran into some trouble in Double-A, sporting a 4.31 ERA with his strikeout rate dropping to a pretty pedestrian 23.8% rate. I don't expect Lowder to be a dominant force for Fantasy right away, but he's a talented young pitcher with some upside if he figures it out. With a lack of high-upside pitchers on the wire lately, I'm pretty interested in seeing what he might be capable of. 

Rafael Devers has missed two straight due to soreness in both of his shoulders. It doesn't sound like there's any long-term concern here, but it'd be nice to see him back out there soon. 

Dave Roberts said that Tyler Glasnow's progress from his elbow injury has been slow moving and indicated that Glasnow will need a rehab assignment prior to returning. Seeing as Glasnow hasn't even thrown off a mound yet, it seems safe to assume he's still multiple weeks away, which makes it pretty tough for him to return in time to have any kind of impact on the Fantasy playoffs. 

Hunter Greene will not throw for two weeks as he waits for inflammation to go down. It seems likely Greene's season is, for all intents and purposes, done, but if you have an IL spot to stash him in, I would try to avoid dropping him. 

Bruce Bochy said it's "going to take a while" for Max Scherzer to be built back up after he resumes throwing. Scherzer's been out since early August with right shoulder fatigue, and at this point, I think he's droppable in basically every league. 

Cole Ragans has been cleared for his next start Saturday against the Astros. He left his start Monday due to cramping in his left calf and hamstring.

Luis Gil will likely make a rehab start in five days. He got through a live batting practice session on Tuesday with no issues, and could be back within the next two weeks, seemingly. 

Clarke Schmidt will likely make two more rehab starts before being activated from the 60-day IL. I'm not sure how stashable he actually is, given that timetable. 

Michael Lorenzen was placed on the IL with a strained left hamstring. He's droppable. 

Thairo Estrada was placed on waivers. It's been a pretty big fall from grace after two very solid seasons in a row before this one, and seems to suggest he may be a non-tender candidate this offseason. 

The Astros optioned Chas McCormick to Triple-A. It's been a pretty big step back following his breakout in 2023.

Miguel Andujar has been ruled out for the rest of the season as a result of a core muscle injury.

Corbin Carroll, OF, Diamondbacks – We usually save whatever hitters we write about for the end, but I think we have to have a conversation about Carroll. He homered two times Wednesday, including a grand slam off Edwin Diaz in the top of the ninth to give the Diamondbacks their ultimate winning lead. If you chart his monthly production across the season, it's actually incredible how his OPS has gone up almost exactly 100 points every month to date – to steal a joke from someone on Twitter, if these trends continue, it'll be like disco sales in the 70s ! In all seriousness, Carroll might just be playing his way back into the first-round conversation for 2025, something many of you probably thought was basically impossible a few months ago. But he now has 15 homers over the past two months after hitting just two in the first three months, and if his stolen base pace has slowed down lately, it's probably because he's been too good of a hitter; in August, 13 of his 244 hits have either been triples or homers. I'm not saying I definitely would draft Carroll in the first round, but in a 15-team league … it's gonna be a discussion if he keeps this up. 

Paul Skenes, Pirates vs. CHC: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K – I don't really see why the Pirates are seemingly so insistent on limiting Skenes innings, but that seems to be the reality. I'm not saying this is a Garrett Crochet situation, but it was definitely frustrating seeing him pulled after just 82 pitches. I would expect he'll throw more pitches than most outings moving forward, but I also think we'll probably see a few more outings like this, too. I think you're probably just starting Skenes the rest of the way, but the ceiling may not be as consistently high as you'd hope. 

Corbin Burnes, Orioles @LAD: 5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K – Hey, that line's not so bad! You got lucky. Burnes gave up two homers, but because there was some bad defense behind him, he was only charged with the one earned run – six came around to score in total. One good sign is that Burnes' cutter was working in this one, generating 10 swinging strikes and a 39% CSW rate, elite marks from a pitch that has been rather pedestrian for much of the season. I still expect Burnes to be a must-start pitcher, but August was mostly a disaster, as he finished with a 7.36 ERA and only 22 strikeouts in 25.2 innings of work. His days of being a dominant, ace-level pitcher may not be totally behind him, but it's hard to feel confident in him, either. 

Freddy Peralta, Brewers vs. SF: 6 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 8 K – The fastball, slider, and changeup all generated at least five whiffs for Peralta, and when Peralta has everything working for him like that, he's going to be pretty tough to beat. He just hasn't had everything working for him as consistently as we'd like this season, with the fastball especially letting him down; his 24.8% whiff rate and .325 xwOBA with the pitch are both significantly worse than last season's marks, which explains most of why he's been less dominant. The thing about Peralta, though, is inconsistency has always been a part of his game, so this very good start could be the beginning of Peralta figuring it out … or he could fall on his face the next time out. Either way, the upside he showed here is a reminder of why you should probably just leave Peralta in your lineup. 

Tanner Bibee, Guardians vs. KC: 5 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 6 K – Bibee's velocity has been fine, and that's the first place I looked when trying to figure out why Bibee has been struggling lately. He did make some changes to his approach in this one, doubling his curveball usage, though it didn't make much of an impact – he didn't generate a single whiff with the pitch. Maybe focusing more on the slider is the path forward, as it generated 11 whiffs in this one. Either way, what Bibee is doing right now clearly isn't working, as he has just one quality start in the second half of the season with just 7.8 K/9. I'm not sure Bibee is a must-start pitcher unless and until he can figure this out. 

Carlos Rodon, Yankees @WAS: 5.2 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 8 K – Rodon has mostly been pretty good lately, but this was a bump in the road, though not one I'm overly concerned about. He generated 16 whiffs on 100 pitches and allowed an average exit velocity of just 83.3 mph on the day, so it was mostly just a few mistakes that cost him. Those mistakes count, of course, but this doesn't seem to be as concerning as the line would make it seem. Consistency has been an issue for Rodon all season, and the overall numbers are mostly on the wrong side of helpful, especially the 4.31 ERA. But he's been pitching well lately and should probably just be in your lineup moving forward. 

Chris Bassitt, Blue Jays @BOS: 6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K – Like me, you probably didn't have Bassitt in your lineup for this gem, unfortunately. He had been really struggling for a while, with a 6.80 ERA and 1.53 WHIP over his previous nine starts, so you shouldn't blame yourself for not trusting him against a very tough Boston lineup. These swings have been more wild than normal for Bassitt, though he is no stranger to inconsistency himself. The skill set doesn't look terribly different than it did last season, with his quality of contact and walk rates both moving just a tad in the wrong direction. Maybe that's all it takes with a pitcher like Bassitt who doesn't really get many strikeouts consistently. If you want to keep him benched, I certainly wouldn't blame you, but I also don't think this is the last good start we're going to get from Bassitt – though I would still probably prefer to sit him against the Phillies next week. 

Brayan Bello, Red Sox vs. TOR: 8 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K – This is arguably the best we've ever seen from Bello, and it came with real changes to his approach. Bello actually led with his slider in this one, using it 37% of the time, and he generated seven of his 15 whiffs with it. The changeup has always been Bello's best secondary, and if the slider can start to be a more consistent weapon, the whole package looks a lot more impressive. I still think I'd like to see him try the four-seamer more in lieu of the sinker, but I'm not sure we'll ever see that change from Bello, so it'll come down to the secondaries. I'd probably start him against the White Sox and Mets next week, though that latter one does carry some ratio-wrecking potential. 

Andre Pallante, Cardinals vs. SD: 5.2 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K – I've been trying to avoid talking about Pallante during his good run because I think if you've been following this newsletter all season, you probably have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to say: I don't have any faith in it whatsoever. He has a 3.51 ERA since the All-Star break, which is great, but it's also come with just 27 strikeouts to 16 walks in 41 innings of work. That approach can work for stretches, but you've gotta have outlier skills when it comes to suppressing hard contact. Maybe Pallante has that, but it's just not a profile I feel particularly confident betting on. Pallante is a viable streamer against the Brewers and Mariners next week, but I can't say I'm particularly excited about him.  

Jack Leiter, Rangers @CHW: 4 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K – Yes, I was touting Leiter as a worthwhile waiver-wire add literally yesterday before he made his return to the majors. And, to be clear, he wasn't awful – his ERA actually dropped several runs as a result of this. But it wasn't a particularly inspiring performance against the best matchup for a pitcher in the league. His fastball velocity was up a bit, and his slider showed decent whiff potential. But if Leiter was going to become a must-add pitcher, it was going to take a lot more than this against the White Sox. There's no urgency to add him at this point.