Given everything he's been through, the fact that Lance McCullers made it back to the majors at all was a pretty big win. But when he was tagged for seven earned runs with just six strikeouts in 8 innings across his first three starts of the season, it was pretty easy to write McCullers off as a lost cause.

Maybe that was a mistake.

In his fourth start last week against the Mariners, he only made it through 4.1 innings of work, but he did so with eight strikeouts, the first positive sign we got from him. And he was even better Wednesday against the Athletics, as he put together his first quality start since October of 2022. And his 12 strikeouts were his most since July of 2018. It's been a long time since we've seen McCullers look this good.

McCullers' fastball still looks like a pale imitation of its former form, sitting at just 91.5 mph and generating few whiffs. But his slider and curveball were incredibly sharp in this start, as he generated four whiffs with the slider and a whopping 10 with the curveball. Add in some weak contact on the changeup, and he really had all of the secondaries working in this one.

Does that mean McCullers is suddenly back to being a must-roster pitcher? Certainly not. This was his first time completing even five innings, and his first time reaching 100 pitches on the season. And the fastballs still seem like they're going to be a problem, even if he only throws them around 30% of the time combined. McCullers is going to go as far as his secondaries can take him, and given his lengthy injury track record, that might not be especially long.

But he's a two-start pitcher next week, with matchups against the Pirates and Guardians on the way, and while I would have been totally uninterested a week ago, now I do have to at least consider McCullers as a potential streamer. And if he does anything like this again, well, he might be even more than a streamer. 

Here's who else we're looking to add from Wednesday's action:  

Camilo Doval, RP, Giants (55%) – The Giants made it official Wednesday, with manager Bob Melvin telling reporters Camilo Doval will be the team's closer moving forward. Ryan Walker will move to a setup role after struggling to the tune of a 4.95 ERA and 1.30 WHIP on the season. Doval has a 1.16 ERA and 0.73 WHIP, a significant improvement on the performance that cost him his job last season. It has come with just a 23.3% strikeout rate (nearly six points worse than his career average), but Doval is still generating swinging strikes at a pretty strong rate, and his stuff still looks pretty good, so I'm not too worried about the strikeouts not being there. The fact that he lost his job last season does suggest Doval probably doesn't have a ton of job security, but he's been an elite closer in the past and could still be one. I'm ranking him as a top-15 reliever now that he's back in the role, which makes him pretty much must-roster in all but shallow points leagues. 

Agustin Ramirez, C, Marlins (58%) – Since his debut on April 21, Ramirez is the No. 5 catcher in Roto leagues. In points leagues, which should be Ramirez's worst format, he's No. 2, behind only Cal Raleigh. Why isn't this guy anywhere close to being universally rostered? I understand there are plenty of catchers we expect big things from who are struggling like William Contreras and Adley Rutschman , and I'm not saying Ramirez is better than them just because he has been for the past five weeks or so. But he was a top prospect who hit 30 homers and stole 30 bases in 176 career games between Double-A and Triple-A, and he has started 29 of 33 games since his promotion to the majors. What's to be skeptical about at this point? 

Gavin Sheets, 1B, Padres (51%) – Sheets continues to be a big part of the Padres lineup, and while his track record suggests he's going to slow down at some point, I think he's a fine addition as a hot-hand play if you have a 1B or OF spot to play with He's up to 11 homers on the season, with five of them coming in his past seven games after he went 2 for 3 with a homer and three RBI Wednesday.

Robert Hassell, OF, Nationals (14%) – When Hassell got promoted from Triple-A, I said he needed to give us a reason to be interested in adding him, and he did so for the first time Wednesday, going 3 for 5 with his first MLB homer. Overall, he hasn't been particularly impressive – he's hitting .227 with a 32% strikeout rate – so he doesn't need to be added in all leagues. But as a flier in deeper category-based leagues? Sure, he's worth a look. 

Noah Cameron, SP, Royals (41%) – That's now four starts of at least 6.1 innings and one or fewer runs allowed after he up exactly that line Wednesday against the Reds . And if you've got a roster spot, you should probably just go ahead and add him at this point. But I'm gonna be honest: I remain mostly unmoved by his success. Cameron was a pretty good strikeout pitcher in the minors, but he's shown no sign of that so far in the majors, with his strikeout rate down to 16.3% after he struck out just two Wednesday. His 98.9% strand rate is totally unsustainable, as is his .153 BABIP, and I think at some point this is all gonna fall apart on him. Add in that Cole Ragans and Seth Lugo are going to be back from the IL at some point this week, which means Cameron could be sent back to Triple-A soon, and I just don't think there's much to be excited about here. But some people like playing the hot hand until they get burned.  

Hunter Greene , Reds @KC: 5 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K – It's too early to panic about Greene. But when he went on the IL with a groin injury at the start of May, my main concern was that it would knock him out of the groove he had been in during his incredible start to the season, and that sure looks like what's happened. He has just five strikeouts to three walks in nine innings since coming off the IL, which certainly isn't what we wanted to see. The stuff still looks terrific, so I'm inclined to write this off as more of a bump in the road than anything else. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried that we've already seen the best of Greene this season. Hopefully, it's just rust. 

George Kirby, Mariners vs. WAS: 5 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 4 K – Speaking of rust! Kirby hasn't quite looked like himself in his first two starts back from a shoulder injury, getting tagged for 11 runs in 8.2 innings to date. That's bad, and the fact that his velocity was down a bit in this start certainly isn't ideal. It's possible Kirby just isn't 100% healthy and this will go down as a lost season for him in the long run, but it's way too early to make that call. Since I'm definitely not dropping him after two bad starts, all I can do is hope he figures it out before long. 

Zac Gallen, Diamondbacks vs. PIT: 5 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 3 K – Gallen had the feel for his curveball in this one, which usually bodes well for him. Not so much in this one. Despite seven whiffs with the curve, Gallen just didn't really have much else working for him, with his changeup and fastball both getting hit hard and combining for just four swinging strikes. Gallen has been pretty mediocre for the past calendar year or so, and he hasn't really given us much reason to think he's on the verge of pulling out of it, so if you want to bench him for next week's matchup in Atlanta, I think that's fine. But I'm not dropping him yet. 

Matthew Boyd, Tigers vs. COL: 6 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K – I'm still not quite sure I understand how Boyd is doing this. His fastball looks like nothing special at this point, and none of his three breaking balls has been a great swing-and-miss pitch. He is generating a bunch of weak contact, which certainly helps, but I still think he's probably more like a high-3.00s ERA pitcher than his current 3.08 mark. But he's been proving me wrong so far. One thing is for sure, though: The Rockies are an absurdly good matchup right now. Opposing starters have a 2.89 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, and 27.7% strikeout rate while recording a quality start 66% of the time so far this season. They're basically turning every pitcher they face into Zack Wheeler. 

Tyler Mahle, Rangers vs. TOR: 6 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 K – Mahle's success is even more confusing than Boyd's. His strikeout rate is down to 18.5% while his walk rate is up to 9.3%, so he's basically only thriving because of outlier results on contact – most notably a .232 BABIP and 2.9% HR/FB rate. Mahle does a good job of limiting hard contact, but even with that, his expected ERA was more than two runs higher than his actual mark entering this start. He feels like one of the most obvious sell-high candidates in the league right now. 

Drew Rasmussen, Rays vs. MIN: 6 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K – That's three quality starts in a row for Rasmussen, but I still think his Fantasy appeal in most leagues remains limited moving forward. He pitched well Wednesday but was also allowed to throw just 74 pitches, as the Rays continue to keep him on a very strict workload limit. He's getting solid results, but with no more than five strikeouts in any of his past seven starts, it all feels like the ceiling just isn't very high here. He's a fine points league option thanks to his RP eligibility, and he gets two good matchups against the Rangers and Marlins next week, so he should probably just be started everywhere for that one. But he's a pretty fringe-y Fantasy option overall beyond that. 

Jackson Jobe, Tigers vs. SF: 4.2 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 4 K – It seems like something's up here. I didn't see anything specific reported, but Jobe didn't speak with the media after this start, which would be a violation of MLB media regulations, as the Detroit Free Press' Evan Petzold pointed out … unless Jobe is injured. Injured players don't have the same media obligations, and combined with the fact that Jobe's velocity was down 1.5 mph here, it's a little ominous. I could be reading too much into it, but this certainly seems like something to keep an eye on over the next few days. 

Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers @CLE: 5 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K – I guess Clayton Kershaw throws a splitter now? He tossed four of them in this one to give hitters another look. That's probably not a bad idea since Kershaw is sitting around 89 mph with his four-seamer right now, though it's still way too early to say whether that splitter can be a difference-maker for Kershaw. At this point, I'm guessing not, and my expectations for him moving forward remain pretty low. Kershaw is one of the best pitchers I've ever seen, but I think his days as a must-roster Fantasy player are basically finished. 

Ronel Blanco will undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery. That means he likely won't be back until the second half of next year. A disappointing outcome for one of the biggest breakout stars of the past year-plus in MLB. 

Cole Ragans threw a bullpen Wednesday and is expected to make a rehab start this weekend. That means he won't be ready to return when first eligible June 1, though hopefully, he'll be ready to return from his groin injury next week. 

Adley Rutschman was back in the lineup after missing a few games with a head injury.

Luis Robert was out of the lineup due to knee soreness.

Bo Bichette was out of the lineup due to lower-back tightness, but he then came off the bench to smack a pinch-hit, go-ahead homer in the 9th inning, so I guess he was feeling okay. 

Christian Walker left after getting hit by a pitch on his right hand. X-rays came back negative, so hopefully it doesn't cause him to miss much time. He doesn't need anything else to go wrong in a tough first season in Houston. 

Steven Kwan left Wednesday due to right wrist inflammation.

Lane Thomas was out of the lineup due to plantar fasciitis in his right foot.

Kyle Finnegan was available to pitch Wednesday after missing time with shoulder fatigue.

Seth Lugo is expected to return Friday against the Tigers.

Kristian Campbell will play first base during one game in their upcoming series against the Braves. The Red Sox have been trying him out there in recent weeks in reaction to Triston Casas ' season-ending knee injury, though if he doesn't start hitting again, all the flexibility in the world won't help his Fantasy value.

Grayson Rodriguez has started throwing on flat ground but remains without a timetable to return from his lat/shoulder injury. 

Max Scherzer threw a 45-pitch bullpen Monday and is expected to face hitters in live batting practice Thursday or Friday. If you have the roster spot to play with, he's still worth stashing, though I can't say he's an especially high-probability stash at this point. 

Tyler O'Neill resumed baseball activities and is expected to begin a rehab assignment soon.

Xavier Edwards will play in a couple rehab games with Triple-A before rejoining the Marlins "very soon".

The Pirates placed Joey Bart on the 7-day concussion IL and returned Endy Rodriguez from the IL. Rodriguez and Henry Davis will split catching duties in Bart's absence, though neither is much more than a deep-league No. 2 catcher option. 

Slade Cecconi is scheduled to start Saturday against the Angels. He was scratched from Wednesday's start with a groin injury, so hopefully this doesn't end up being a serious issue. 

Jose Quintana is preparing to come off the IL to start Sunday against the Phillies. That Brewers rotation is suddenly pretty crowded, with Brandon Woodruff expected back soon, too. 

The Mariners optioned Logan Evans back to Triple-A to make room for Jackson Kowar, who will pitch out of the bullpen.

The Rays agreed to a contract with Kyle Gibson on Wednesday, though they don't have any openings in the rotation right now.