2023 Fantasy Baseball Week 20 Drop List

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Welcome to the 2023 Fantasy Baseball Week 20 Drop List!

As we approach crunch time in the 2023 Fantasy Baseball season, there is no longer room for error. While some owners may have a  playoff spot locked up, plenty are still on the cusp of a playoff birth. The moves made in the regular season's final weeks can make or break your season, especially when it comes to pitching. Pitchers' innings get too high, arms get tired,  and implosions occur.

Speaking of pitchers, we are dropping three starters who can blow up right on time to ruin your year. They've already shown they are capable of doing so.

The drops this week include a near top-50 overall pick, the preseason SP47, and a first-half break-out candidate.

Head on into our Week 20 Drop List and find out more!

2023 Fantasy Baseball Week 20 Drop List

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Cristian Javier, SP, Houston Astros

Javier has greatly disappointed fantasy owners this season. To make matters worse, he's having the worst season of his four-year career.

While his record (8-2) tells you nothing about his performances thus far, his ERA sits at a career-low 4.49 which is then accompanied by a career-high WHIP of 1.23. Oh, and his K% also sits at a career-low of 21.83%. 

It's been a perplexing season for Javier as most drafts had him as SP18 and actually nearing the ADP top 50 overall (55). Unfortunately, his Home or Away splits tell the story here for Javier. 

Through nine home starts this year, Javier has a 3.19 ERA with a 1.16 WHIP. Not bad whatsoever. However, through 14 away starts, he has a 5.33 ERA with a 1.26 WHIP. 

Lastly, throughout the last month, Javier has pitched 26 innings to go along with a 4.85 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP. 

Javier's June, July, and August months have been horrible. I think it's finally time to let go.

Jesus Luzardo, SP, Miami Marlins

While not as highly regarded as Cristian Javier in preseason drafts, Luzardo was still drafted as a top-50 starting pitcher (47th).

Surprisingly enough, Luzardo has had a similar year to Javier and maybe even a better one.

By no means has Luzardo won you your league thus far, but he hasn't really hurt. Well, until now.

Without looking at Luzardo's last four starts, he was actually a very solid pitcher throughout the entire year. He's also put up a career-high in innings pitched for an entire season. 

Now, looking at his last four starts, things have imploded for Luzardo. His ERA has ballooned from 3.22 on July 23rd to 4.13 as of August 16th. He has also given up 20 earned runs in his last four starts combined. 

In August alone, he has started three games while pitching 12.1 innings, giving up 16 earned runs, and allowing eight homers. This has the makings of being one of the all-time fantasy implosions.

There is zero reason Luzardo should be on your team right now, he's just too risky. The whole year has been great, but these last four games really damper the mood. If you can't drop or still believe, I think the least you can do is bench him in his next start in San Diego.

Bailey Ober, SP, Minnesota Twins

Ober has had a fantastic year for the Minnesota Twins.

Coming into 2023 with 31 total MLB starts under his belt, expectations were not high. Ober was ranked as SP121 in preseason rankings along with an overall rank of 344.

In the first half of this season, Ober went 5-4 with a 2.61 ERA and a 0.968 WHIP.

As for the second half, things haven't been as great for Ober. 

In his six starts since the All-Star break, Ober has a 5.52 ERA and 1.55 WHIP. While surprising everyone in the first half, it seems Ober has slowly but surely come back down to earth. There seems to be some bad luck included with these numbers, but nonetheless, they aren't pretty.

Throwing him out there this late in the season can be an extremely risky move. I feel the exact same way about Ober as I do about Luzardo in the section above. The cons simply outweigh the pros in this situation.

Ober is a drop.

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