Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Streamers for Week 12 (Part 2)

Below are some of the starting pitcher streaming sleepers for the second half of Week 12 to consider adding off your league’s waiver wire. Some of these SP options can be considered sleepers for your team depending on the league format and depth, including NL-Only, AL-Only and head-to-head formats.  Unfortunately the Braves are facing four starters that are all heavily owned, so picking good matchups for the second half of this week actually requires a little research as opposed to just picking up a right hander facing Atlanta.

Thursday SP Streamers

Erasmo Ramirez (SEA at SD)

Ownership: 2% Yahoo!, 1% ESPN

This article has just started and there’s already a wild card selection.  Ramirez hasn’t been pitching well and doesn’t have a good history against these Padres, but he is pitching against these Padres in San Diego.  He could get a lot of strikeouts and he could also pile up the walks.

MATCHUP RATING: Desperate Stream

Drew Hutchison (TOR at NYY)

Ownership: 30% Yahoo!, 1% ESPN

Toronto is on the road and Hutchison is on the road, which means his fantasy owners will reap the benefits as opposed to clinging to the scraps of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hutch.  Nine of Mr. Hutch’s fourteen starts have been on the road and of those nine starts, he has pitched in nearly three times as many innings (60.1 IP on the road to 21.2 IP at home), given up less than half as many long balls (3 HR to 7 HR) and less walks (10 BB to 13 BB) and is striking out batters at a higher rate (20.9% K rate to 19.8% K rate).  Yada, yada, yada.  The point is Hutchison has been a really, really ridiculously good looking pitcher on the road.

MATCHUP RATING: Solid Stream

Friday SP Streamers

Charlie Morton (PIT at CHC)

Ownership: 21% Yahoo!, 16% ESPN

This is just your average, run of the mill type stream.  Morton has actually pitched quite well despite the Pirates' poor defense behind him.  A typical ground ball pitcher, Morton will face the Cubs for the third time this season.

The fly ball hitting Cubs have lacked to clear the outfield fences in 2014 vs. Morton and even if it’s a humid day in Chicago, most of the current Cubbies lack the power to tee off against the ground ball specialist.

MATCHUP RATING: Solid Stream

Henderson Alvarez (MIA vs NYM)

Ownership: 32% Yahoo!, 28% ESPN

Alvarez is a perfect example of why a pitcher should not be rated by win-loss record.  He has a mediocre 3-3 record but Alvarez has arguably been a top 20 pitcher in the Senior Circuit and easily has been Miami’s best pitcher.  And he’s only gotten better in the month of June.  The Mets offense hasn’t been completely terrible, but their run creation absolutely has- especially over the last three weeks.  Go with the trends and expect Alvarez to dominate in almost all pitcher categories.

MATCHUP RATING: Must Stream

Jaime Garcia (STL vs. PHI)

Ownership: 26% Yahoo!, 30% ESPN

The light switch that is Garcia (he turns it on and off, on and off, get it?!) may just go for double digit strikeouts on Thursday vs. the Phillies. They do like to strikeout a lot, and Garcia has 32:3 K:BB ratio in 38 2/3 innings.

Then again, this is a guy who owns an atrocious 23.8% HR/FB rate at home.  So this could be the type of game where he goes 5 or 6 IP with 8 K, but also gives up 3 HR. He's been pitching pretty well since coming off the DL, with a 3.72 ERA and 0.96 WHIP. He also owns a career 2.77 ERA and 1.21 WHIP against the Phillies, in 39 IP.

MATCHUP RATING: Solid Stream

Saturday SP Streamers

Jake Odorizzi (TB v. HOU)

Ownership: 7% Yahoo!, 2% ESPN

In case you fantasy baseball fans out there haven’t noticed, and judging by his ownership numbers you haven’t (shout out to Harry Doyle), Odorizzi has been dealing more often than not over the last month and some change.  He’s improved his pitching numbers across the board since May 3 and he’s done it efficiently as he’s going deeper into games.  There is some hesitation to stream him though.  Odorizzi has sprinkled in gems with some not so hot games as well (Boston, Miami). Also the Houston offense has been able to score pretty much at will over the last three weeks.  Odorizzi may be able to strike out around 6-10 batters, but he’s also likely to only go 5-6 innings and give up around 3 ER.

MATCHUP RATING: Risky Stream

Ryan Vogelsong (SF at ARI)

Ownership: 23% Yahoo!, 20% ESPN

It’s clear that Vogelsong is on the back end of his career (thanks Captain Obvious) but he’s still getting good enough run out of his fastball and cutter to be an effective streamer.  Unfortunately, the D-backs have hit him extremely well: current Arizona players have a .321/.396/.464 slash line against Vogelsong since 2010.  He may get you some strikeouts, but isn't the best stream for this week.

MATCHUP RATING: Risky Stream

Sunday SP Streamers

Marcus Stroman (TOR at CIN)

Ownership: 15% Yahoo!, 4% ESPN

Stroman is completely capable of reaching double digit strikeouts against Cincinnati (20.7% K rate).  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that Stroman is very hittable (.314 BAA) and the Reds long ball bats have woken up with an NL-best-outside-of-Colorado 14.1% HR/FB rate at home. Stroman has been pitching pretty well since moving into the rotation, but didn't have the best game last time out. As a rookie he will struggle at times, and this is a game where he may be challenged by some talented veteran hitters. It's possible that he can rack up some strikeouts, but if he isn't hitting his spots it will be a long day for him and his fantasy owners.

MATCHUP RATING: Risky Stream

Tommy Milone (OAK vs. BOS)

Ownership: 16% Yahoo!, 7% ESPN

After an extremely strong May, Milone has regressed a bit in June. But he is still pitching well recently, and he still has the Oakland offense helping his and his fantasy owners’ chances for a win whenever he takes the mound. Milone has excellent home numbers this year, with a 2.35 ERA and 1.07 WHIP, but I'm still not in love with this matchup. Boston is middle-of-the-pack in most offensive categories against lefties, but their big hitters have had success against Milone. For his career, Boston owns Milone as he has given up 14 hits, 13 ER, 6 HR and a .333 AVG to them over 8 2/3 IP. Ouch.

MATCHUP RATING: Risky Stream

Matt Shoemaker (LAA vs. TEX)

Ownership: 3% Yahoo!, 1% ESPN

There’s nothing like streaming a starting pitcher at the last possible chance to steal a win or grab a lead in some important categories.  Shoemaker is a great candidate to make everyone in your league mad at you. Tough luck for them. Even though the Rangers don’t strike out against righties often, Shoemaker and his 25.7% K-rate possess enough firepower in his arsenal to blow by their batters.  He’s been most effective with his split finger and slider and, as I’m sure you’ve already guessed, Texas has struggled the most against those two pitches.  He's also dominated the batters on the current roster in Texas.  Add in that the Rangers have struggled to create runs away from Arlington and you can see it being possible for Shoemaker to go deep into the game with some good numbers.

MATCHUP RATING: Solid Stream