Ryan Yarbrough

Ryan Yarbrough

32-Year-Old PitcherRP
Los Angeles Dodgers
2024 Fantasy Outlook
Despite playing for a team other than the Rays for the first time in his big-league career last season, Yarbrough once again served as the pitching equivalent of a super-utility player, bouncing between working as a starter, a bulk reliever and a conventional reliever. The left-hander even picked up first two MLB saves, though one was in a three-inning outing and the other covered four frames. Yarbrough's versatility makes him a useful part of a big-league pitching staff, but it hasn't usually translated to fantasy viability. The veteran hurler simply doesn't put up the type of stats that are attractive in most formats; namely, his strikeout rate (17.8 percent last year) typically hovers near the bottom fifth of the league, and he's posted a cumulative 4.80 ERA over the past three campaigns. His role as a soft-throwing swingman figures to remain the same in 2024. Read Past Outlooks
RANKSFrom Preseason
#591
ADP
$Signed a one-year, $3.9 million contract with the Dodgers in January of 2024.
Effective in long relief
PLos Angeles Dodgers
April 17, 2024
Yarbrough (2-0) picked up the win Tuesday night against the Nationals, allowing two runs on two hits while striking out three over five innings.
ANALYSIS
Yarbrough was deployed as a bulk reliever and entered to begin the third after Kyle Hurt tossed two scoreless frames. Things started off a little rocky after he surrendered a two-run homer to Jesse Winker in his first inning, but the southpaw was able to settle in moving forward, retiring 14 straight batters to complete his outing. Five of Yarbrough's six appearances this season have lasted more than three outs, and he's been effective in a long relief role, posting a 3.20 ERA, 0.86 WHIP and 9:4 K:BB in 19.2 innings.
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Pitching Stats
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2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2024 MLB Game Log
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2023 MLB Game Log
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2022 MLB Game Log
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2021 MLB Game Log
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2020 MLB Game Log
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2019 MLB Game Log
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2018 MLB Game Log
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Pitching Appearances Breakdown
Average Pitch Count
47
Last 10 Games
47
Last 5 Games
49
How many pitches does Ryan Yarbrough generally throw?
 
1-10
 
11-20
 
21-30
 
31-40
 
41-50
 
51-60
 
61-70
 
71-80
 
81-90
 
91-100
 
101-110
 
111-120
 
121+
 
1-10
 
11-20
 
21-30
 
31-40
 
41-50
 
51-60
 
61-70
 
71-80
 
81-90
 
91-100
 
101-110
 
111-120
 
121+
 
1-10
 
11-20
 
21-30
 
31-40
 
41-50
 
51-60
 
61-70
 
71-80
 
81-90
 
91-100
 
101-110
 
111-120
 
121+
What part of the game does Ryan Yarbrough generally pitch?
 
 
 
1st
 
 
 
2nd
 
 
 
3rd
 
 
 
4th
 
 
 
5th
 
 
 
6th
 
 
 
7th
 
 
 
8th
 
 
 
9th
 
Extra
 
 
 
1st
 
 
 
2nd
 
 
 
3rd
 
 
 
4th
 
 
 
5th
 
 
 
6th
 
 
 
7th
 
 
 
8th
 
 
 
9th
 
Extra
 
 
 
1st
 
 
 
2nd
 
 
 
3rd
 
 
 
4th
 
 
 
5th
 
 
 
6th
 
 
 
7th
 
 
 
8th
 
 
 
9th
 
Extra
% Games Reaching Innings Threshold
% Games By Number of Innings Pitched
Left/Right Pitching Splits
Since 2022
 
 
-20%
BAA vs LHP
2024
 
 
-2%
BAA vs LHP
2023
 
 
-4%
BAA vs RHP
2022
 
 
-48%
BAA vs LHP
BAA Batters K BB H 2B 3B HR
Since 2022vs Left .223 215 46 12 44 6 0 8
Since 2022vs Right .279 594 91 28 153 29 0 20
2024vs Left .179 29 6 1 5 0 0 2
2024vs Right .182 48 3 3 8 2 0 1
2023vs Left .280 106 20 6 28 5 0 4
2023vs Right .268 271 47 8 68 9 0 9
2022vs Left .159 80 20 5 11 1 0 2
2022vs Right .308 275 41 17 77 18 0 10
More Splits View More Split Stats
Home/Away Pitching Splits
Since 2022
 
 
-13%
ERA at Home
2024
 
 
-46%
ERA on Road
2023
 
 
-21%
ERA at Home
2022
 
 
-5%
ERA at Home
ERA WHIP IP W L SV K/9 BB/9 HR/9
Since 2022Home 4.04 1.18 89.0 8 4 3 6.2 2.3 1.1
Since 2022Away 4.66 1.32 100.1 5 11 0 6.8 1.5 1.5
2024Home 3.60 1.00 15.0 2 0 1 3.6 2.4 1.2
2024Away 1.93 0.43 4.2 0 0 0 5.8 0.0 1.9
2023Home 3.98 1.09 43.0 4 2 2 7.1 1.5 1.0
2023Away 5.01 1.35 46.2 4 5 0 6.4 1.4 1.5
2022Home 4.35 1.39 31.0 2 2 0 6.1 3.5 1.2
2022Away 4.59 1.37 49.0 1 6 0 7.3 1.8 1.5
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Stat Review
How does Ryan Yarbrough compare to other relievers?
This section compares his stats with all relief pitcher seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 30 innings)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity, Barrels/BBE %, Balls Hit 95+ MPH %, and Spin Rate are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 30 IP). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • K/BB
    Strikeout to walk ratio.
  • K/9
    Average strikeouts per nine innings.
  • BB/9
    Average walks per nine innings.
  • HR/9
    Average home runs allowed per nine innings.
  • Fastball
    Average fastball velocity.
  • ERA
    Earned run average. The average earned runs allowed per nine innings.
  • WHIP
    Walks plus hits per inning pitched.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many balls in play against a pitcher go for hits.
  • GB/FB
    Groundball to flyball ratio. The higher the number, the more likely a pitcher is to induce groundballs.
  • Left On Base
    The percentage of base runners that a pitcher strands on base over the course of a season.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Barrels/BBE
    The percentage of batted ball events resulting in a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Spin Rate
    Spin Rate is the rate of spin on a baseball after it is released. It is measured in revolutions per minute (rpm).
  • Balls Hit 95+ MPH
    The percentage of batted balls hit that met or exceeded the 95 MPH threshold.
  • Swinging Strike
    The percentage of pitches that result in a swing and a miss.
K/BB
2.25
 
K/9
4.1
 
BB/9
1.8
 
HR/9
1.4
 
Fastball
86.3 mph
 
ERA
3.20
 
WHIP
0.86
 
BABIP
.177
 
GB/FB
0.79
 
Left On Base
70.3%
 
Swinging Strike
6.3%
 
Advanced Pitching Stats
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Defensive Stats
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Stats Vs Today's Lineup
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Included in trade talks
PKansas City Royals
August 1, 2023
Yarbrough has come up in trade discussions Tuesday, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.
ANALYSIS
The left-hander joined Kansas City on a one-year, $3 million deal over the winter and has been solid as a swingman with a 4.24 ERA, 1.20 WHIP and 29:9 K:BB across 51 innings. Yarbrough missed two months after being struck in the head by a comebacker, but he's pitched especially well out of the rotation since he returned from the injured list July 9 with just six runs allowed in four starts.
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Past Fantasy Outlooks
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2016
Yarbrough was designated for assignment by the Rays in the offseason ending his run as the original bulk outing guy who found success working behind an opener while finding the exact opposite most outings as a traditional starter. Yarbrough owns a 4.75 ERA with a .257 opponents' batting average in his career as a traditional starter and a 3.82 ERA with a .248 opponents' batting average as a non-starter. He lacks any type of velocity or spin so he walks an extremely fine line of working the periphery of the strike zone while mixing and matching his pitches and arm angles to keep hitters off balance. The approach can work for sprints, but he also has a career 5.00 ERA once he has flipped a lineup over once. He could be a sneaky AL-Only play after signing with Kansas City, as he induces some of the softest average contact in the league along with a lot of infield fly balls. It's one of the few places where he could have signed on to be a starter out of spring training.
Yarbrough now has four seasons under his belt as the Swiss army knife of the Tampa Bay pitching staff, but he is now at a bit of a crossroads. The 21 starts he made last season were a career high. The club did not use the opener as often with him, but that also cost Yarbrough as he had a career-worst 5.11 ERA. His ERA as a pure starter was 5.46 and 22 of his 25 homers came in those outings. When he pitched in bulk relief, his ERA dropped to 4.03 and he did a much better job limiting hard contact. Ironically enough, Yarbrough has the lowest average exit velocity of any non-full-time reliever in baseball over the past two seasons (min 1,000 pitches). His slippery approach to pitching in and around the strike zone is frustrating for hitters when he hits his spots, but he becomes batting practice when his command falters. If he stays with the club, more bulk pitching could put him back in a better place and make him rosterable again.
Yarbrough appeared almost exclusively as a starter last season for the first time in his three-year career, starting nine games while appearing in relief twice. He cruised to a career-best 3.56 ERA, though the ERA estimators were slightly more pessimistic, as his 3.87 FIP and 4.33 xFIP both sat at roughly the midpoint between his marks from the two previous seasons. His strikeout rate fell to a career-low 18.8%, but when combined with a strong 5.1 BB%, it was generally enough to get the job done. Yarbrough should remain one of the Rays' primary rotation options this season, especially after the departure of Charlie Morton, and there's every reason to believe he'll remain a serviceable starter heading into his age-29 season, albeit a fairly low-ceiling one for fantasy purposes given his consistently mediocre strikeout rates.
Yarbrough worked in the bulk role again in 2019, but early on, his season was disastrous. He was sent down to Triple-A after five appearances to begin the season with an 8.10 ERA and 1.32 WHIP. If it could have gone wrong for him in April, it did. He went down to Durham and tinkered with his approach, deciding to throw his below-average fastball less and add more cutters and sliders...and it worked! He was recalled May 23 and went 9-2 with a 2.55 ERA and 0.87 WHIP until hitting a wall in September where his numbers went back to their April form. Yarbrough is not a starter as he is ideally suited for the bulk role with this limited repertoire. When his command is on, he is excellent at inducing weak contact and generating infield popups and cans of corn to the outfield. He gets hurt when he fails to execute, so a misplaced fastball or a flat cutter becomes a rocket to or over the wall.
With the implementation of the opener in Major League Baseball also came the introduction of the primary pitcher. That was Yarbrough's primary role in 2018. He totaled 147.1 innings despite making just six starts in 38 appearances, and the results were relatively strong despite underwhelming peripherals. He didn't even crack 90 mph on average with his fastball, but his slider and cutter were effective enough against left-handed batters. It was a different story against right-handed hitters -- 10.1 K-BB%, .324 wOBA, 4.34 FIP. Further, Yarbrough's ERA jumped from 2.63 the first time through to 4.29 the second time through (as a reliever), which suggests that both Yarbrough and the team may be better off shortening him up. Factor in the caliber of the offenses in his own division and Yarbrough looks like a low-upside pitcher with the downside of a true middle reliever, so waiver-wire fodder in mixed leagues.
Yarbrough spent the majority of 2015 with High-A Bakersfield in the California League, where he finished with a 4-7 record and 3.76 ERA in 16 starts. He posted a 4.11 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .266 batting average against, and 1.28 WHIP. Part of his high batting average against can likely be explained by his .324 BABIP, which was much higher than the .266 BABIP he finished with in 2014. Yarbrough had a groin injury in June that sent him to the 7-day DL, but should be healthy to start 2016. Yarbrough's arsenal of pitches includes an average fastball and curveball to go along with an excellent change-up. He moved up from number 11 to number eight on the Mariners prospect rankings during 2015 and is estimated to make the MLB during 2016. Scouts believe has back-of-the-rotation potential, but will most likely end up in the bullpen long-term. If Yarbrough pitches well to start 2016, there is a good chance he could be called-up to the MLB at some point as a lefty reliever.
More Fantasy News
Could work in bulk relief Tuesday
PLos Angeles Dodgers
April 16, 2024
Yarbrough could be deployed as a bulk reliever in Tuesday's game against the Nationals or work as a multi-inning option as part of a bullpen day, Bill Plunkett of The Orange County Register reports.
ANALYSIS
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Grabs win in long relief
PLos Angeles Dodgers
April 3, 2024
Yarbrough (1-0) picked up the win Tuesday against the Giants, surrendering four runs on seven hits and a walk across 4.1 innings. He struck out one.
ANALYSIS
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In line for multi-inning role Tuesday
PLos Angeles Dodgers
April 1, 2024
Yarbrough is expected to serve as the bulk reliever Tuesday against the Giants, Eric Stephen of SBNation.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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Notches three-inning save
PLos Angeles Dodgers
March 28, 2024
Yarbrough picked up the save in Thursday's 7-1 win over the Cardinals, allowing just one hit while logging one strikeout over three scoreless innings.
ANALYSIS
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Gets $3.9 million from Dodgers
PLos Angeles Dodgers
January 11, 2024
The Dodgers and Yarbrough avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $3.9 million contract Thursday, Kiley McDaniel of ESPN.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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