Andrew Heaney DVOA, Advanced Stats, & Fantasy Rankings

Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Andrew Heaney picked up the win and fired six scoreless innings against the Angels in a 3-0 victory on Wednesday. He struck out nine and only allowed one hit. This was his second straight scoreless outing, and his ERA on the season is now down to 1.72 with 31 strikeouts compared to only six walks in 31 innings pitched. He looked truly dominant in this start, inducing 24 whiffs on the night for an elite 46% whiff rate. However, it's hard to fully trust Heaney going forward, no matter how good he looks in any given start. He's shown flashes like this in every one of his more recent seasons, and still finished with an ERA above 4.00 in 2024 and 2023.

Pittsburgh Pirates left-hander Andrew Heaney had a nice bounce-back outing on Thursday to help sweep the visiting Washington Nationals at PNC Park, tossing 7 1/3 scoreless innings with five hits allowed, two walks and four strikeouts to win his first game of the season in a 1-0 ball game. It wasn't an eye-popping stat line when all was said and done, but Heaney induced a lot of weak contact and was efficient while throwing 95 pitches. The 33-year-old southpaw let up four earned runs in six innings in a loss to the Cincinnati Reds his last time out, but outside of that outing he's been strong in his first season in Pittsburgh. Heaney's strong effort on Thursday lowered his season ERA to 2.13 with 22 strikeouts and six walks in his first 25 1/3 innings pitched. While he shouldn't be counted on as a big strikeout guy, Heaney can continue to be a productive fantasy streamer in the right matchups.

Left-handed pitcher Andrew Heaney signed a one-year contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates worth $5 million. Heaney spent the 2024 campaign with the Texas Rangers. The southpaw logged 160 innings and held a 4.28 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP. He tallied 159 punchouts. He also showed solid command as he allowed walks at a 5.9 percent rate. However, he generated a 4.46 xERA and a .253 xBA, which suggests he may face some regression when he returns to the mound. During the 2023 campaign, Heaney posted a similar 4.15 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP across 147 1/3 innings. Fantasy managers should expect Heaney to compete for one of the final spots in the rotation. Heaney will likely provide rotational depth and could eventually shift to the bullpen. If he earns a spot in the rotation, he could have value as a streaming option in deeper formats in favorable matchups.