Anthony Nunez: Strikeout Surge Makes the Orioles Reliever Worth Watching
Anthony Nunez is punching out batters at a 30.8% clip over the last seven days — a significant jump from his 22.2% rate over the prior 30 days — and the underlying skills are starting to catch up to the swing-and-miss stuff. At just 2% rostered, this is still a near-invisible asset in most leagues, but early signs suggest something real could be brewing in the Baltimore bullpen.
The Rolling Window Tells a Story
Start with the most recent look. Over his last 3 innings (7-day window), Nunez posted a 3.00 ERA with a 12.0 K/9 and a 3.43 FIP. That FIP is the number that matters most here — it strips away sequencing noise and says the underlying performance is legitimately solid.
Pull back to 14 days and the picture gets muddier: a 7.89 ERA across 5.7 innings, but paired with a 12.63 K/9 and an even better 2.40 FIP. That massive ERA-FIP gap screams bad luck. Nunez was getting hit around in ways his strikeout rate and batted ball profile didn't support. The 30-day view (7.96 ERA, 9.56 K/9, 5.40 FIP over 11.3 innings) shows where he started — rough and still finding his footing as a 24-year-old in his debut MLB season. The trajectory from that 30-day baseline to where he sits now is encouraging.
The K-Rate Jump Is the Headline
A reliever posting a 30.8% strikeout rate with a 3.43 FIP deserves attention, period. Nunez has gone from a guy who looked overmatched in late April — WaiverScout classified him as deprioritize on April 8, April 18, and April 30 — to someone whose stuff is clearly playing up. The strikeout rate climbing from 22.2% to 30.8% in a short window could be noise, but paired with the FIP improvement, it suggests a mechanical or pitch-mix adjustment that's generating more whiffs.
We've been tracking this one for a while. WaiverScout first flagged Nunez as a watch back on April 12 at just 1% ownership. He cycled through deprioritize classifications as the results lagged the stuff, but we kept coming back — most recently tagging him as a watch on May 20. The signal has only strengthened since then.
Save Opportunities Add Speculative Value
Here's the kicker: Nunez already has three saves on the season, per FantasyPros, including a recent one against Detroit. In a Baltimore bullpen that features veterans like Paul Sewald, the fact that Nunez is getting save chances at all speaks to the coaching staff's confidence. He's not the established closer, but he's clearly in the mix for high-leverage work alongside arms like Louis Varland and Riley O'Brien.
The Caveats
We're dealing with tiny samples — 3 innings in the last seven days, 11.3 innings over 30 days. The confidence level is early signal, and that inflated 30-day ERA of 7.96 is a real number, not just noise. Nunez could be emerging as a legitimate late-inning weapon, or this could be a hot week from a young arm still adjusting to big-league hitters. The FIP trends argue for the former, but we need more innings to be sure.
Verdict: Watch
Anthony Nunez isn't a must-add yet — but at 2% rostered, he's essentially free. The rising strikeout rate, the strong recent FIP, and the save opportunities in a competitive Baltimore lineup make him a compelling watch-list target. If the K-rate holds above 28% over the next two weeks and he continues to see ninth-inning work, this classification escalates quickly. Most publications aren't talking about him yet. WaiverScout has been watching since April. Add him to your list now, and be ready to move if the signal strengthens.