Griffin Canning DVOA, Advanced Stats, & Fantasy Rankings

New York Mets right-hander Griffin Canning (illness) has recovered enough to make the start in the series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday, according to MLB.com's Anthony DiComo. Lefty David Peterson, right-hander Kodai Senga and righty Clay Holmes will follow him in the four-game series. Canning began feeling sick on Tuesday and was scratched from his originally scheduled start in Minnesota in the series finale against the Twins. The 28-year-old staying on turn in the rotation means that the Mets won't be tempted to call up top pitching prospect Brandon Sproat to make his MLB debut this week. Due to injuries to several of New York's starting pitchers, Canning made the Mets' Opening Day rotation and has gone 1-1 with a 4.20 ERA, 1.53 WHIP and 13:8 K:BB in 15 innings over three starts against the Astros, Blue Jays and Athletics. He'll be a middling deep-league streamer against St. Louis.

New York Mets right-hander Griffin Canning (illness) has been scratched from his scheduled start on Wednesday against the Minnesota Twins due to an illness, according to MLB.com's Anthony DiComo. The Mets have yet to announce a replacement, but it's unlikely to be pitching prospect Brandon Sproat on short rest. If Canning is feeling better in a few days, he could be asked to make his next start this Friday against the St. Louis Cardinals. After making some mechanical tweaks in the offseason, the 28-year-old has opened his first year in New York by going 1-1 with a 4.20 ERA with 13 strikeouts and eight walks in 15 innings over his first three starts. His last outing against the Athletics was his worst, as he allowed four earned runs on seven hits while walking three and fanning three. Canning will be a middling fantasy streamer in deeper formats whenever he makes his next start.

The Athletic's Will Sammon and Tim Britton think that New York Mets right-hander Griffin Canning is probably ahead of someone like Tylor Megill for the sixth starter role to open the 2025 regular season because he doesn't have minor-league options left like Megill does. Canning, who has a 4.78 career ERA, said he expects to approach new assistant pitching coach Desi Druschel about tinkering with a two-seam fastball to help him improve. He all but ditched the pitch in 2024 and threw it 1% of the time. In general, the Mets want the 28-year-old to throw fewer fastballs, though, which means he'll likely lean more into his slider and changeup while also working to improve his curveball. If Canning does win the No. 6 spot, he could still be coming out of the bullpen more often than not in a piggyback role to help ease the early season burden on Clay Holmes and Kodai Senga, limiting his already low fantasy ceiling.