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What's up what's up! It's Jon Anderson filling in this week to recommend some two-start streaming options for Week 19 of the fantasy baseball season.
Week 19!? Holy cow, the season is flying by. This weekly fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups column aims to identify starting pitchers expected to make two starts in the upcoming fantasy baseball week, ahead of the Sunday night waiver wire runs for leagues with weekly transactions.
This list will be limited to players under 50% rostered in Yahoo leagues and divided into three sections based on recommendation levels: solid starters, risky streamers, and must-avoids.
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Solid Two-Start Pitcher Streamers
Jose Quintana, St. Louis Cardinals - 39% Rostered
Scheduled starts: vs COL, @ ARI
These are two of the best matchups you can have in the league today, with the road Rockies and the Diamondbacks on the slate for Quintana. Somewhat quietly, Quintana has given up just three runs over his last four starts. Oh, and he just put up a quality start in Coors Field, earning a win for his new team the Cardinals.
He is a pitch-to-contact guy, which heightens the chances for some bad luck ruining his week, but the 21.4% K% and 7.1% BB% are far from the worst marks you'll find out there, and he's clearly figured out a way to avoid hard contact. Hitters have slugged just .368 against him and have homered just once every 59.6 PAs – one of the best home run rates allowed in the whole league. Quintana might just get your fantasy team two quality starts and two wins with these cake matchups on tap!
Alex Cobb, San Francisco Giants - 37% Rostered
Scheduled starts: vs. ARI, @ COL
Cobb has a superb 29.8% K% and a 6.5% BB% over his last five starts, allowing just a .219 batting average and a .316 SLG. That has made him one of the better pitchers in the whole league over this span by these advanced metrics. His 61% GB% for the year is second-best in the league (Framber Valdez), and that should help him for this second Coors start.
The presence of Coors Field maybe should push him down into the "risky" category, but man I love Alex Cobb so I'm keeping him here. In theory, what you want for pitchers going into Coors is a bunch of ground balls, however, that didn't work for him in his first start there as he gave up seven runs there in May despite a 65% GB% that day.
Given the first start of the week being against the Diamondbacks, I'm starting Cobb with some level of confidence even though he has to finish the week in Colorado.
Nick Pivetta, Boston Red Sox - 38% Rostered
Scheduled starts: @PIT, @BAL
You cannot ask for matchups much better than these. That's good news for Pivetta because he hasn't been pitching very well. He's given up at least three earned runs in six of his last seven starts, and has a 4.51 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP on the year – pretty bad marks.
That said, his 22.5% K% is enough to consider, and he's put up a league-average walk rate of around 8.5%. That would be good enough for me to roll him out against the Pirates and Orioles, who are both bottom-five lineups in the league right now.
Josiah Gray, Washington Nationals - 39% Rostered
Scheduled starts: vs CHC, @SD
It's seemingly a soft week for two-start streamers because Gray is one of the better options I can find. He draws a strong matchup on Monday at home against the Cubs, but then a brutal one on the weekend in San Diego.
Gray is one of the most talented pitchers with a rostered rate under 50%, and he's flashed his upside plenty of times this year – striking out nine or more hitters in a start on four different occasions. It has been a bumpier road for him lately, as he has given up 15 runs over his last four starts and has pitched six innings just twice in his last six starts. We have to now consider the Padres one of the best offenses in the league, and that makes this a nerve-wracking guy to start, but he does project to give you one of the highest strikeout counts of the week given his two cracks at it.
Risky Two-Start Pitcher Streamer Picks
Zack Greinke, Kansas City Royals - 26% Rostered
Scheduled starts: vs. MIN, @ TB
The Rays are a sneaky good matchup for pitchers this year, and Greinke will get a crack at them over the weekend. The first matchup is admittedly tough, as the Twins swing some heavy bats – but Greinke has a way about him. Over the last month and a half, he's thrown five or more innings while giving up zero or one run on four different occasions – very useful starts for fantasy.
The strikeouts are, of course, non-existent as he has just 52 of them over his 92.4 innings – one of the worst strikeout rates you'll ever find. If you're in a league with K/9 or something like that, you don't want to be starting Greinke, but he's got a shot to get you seven or eight strikeouts between the two starts – which is more than what most one-start pitchers will give you.
Aaron Civale, Cleveland Guardians - 21% Rostered
Scheduled starts: vs. DET, vs. CWS
He was looking pretty good before hitting the IL for a second time, and he has just recently returned – so we could see him limited to 80-90 pitches here. That's probably enough to roll him out there against the Tigers and White Sox if you're in need of some innings.
Civale's 27.7% CSW% on the year isn't good – but it's not exactly horrible either, and it has come up to 29.2% if you just look at June and beyond. The 23.4% K% and 4.5% BB% over that time are solid numbers. The way Civale does it is with a huge array of pitches (he has six different offerings in his quiver) and a great location (18.9% called-strike rate this year). It could go pretty badly for him, but he's also a guy capable of some really dominant outings. I'd give him a look.
James Kaprielian, Oakland Athletics - 16% Rostered
Scheduled starts: @ TEX, vs. SEA
I'm not much of a Kaprielian fan because I don't see any strikeout upside whatsoever, but he has been getting it done lately with a 2.36 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP over his last seven starts. The 17% K% and 8.8% BB% are scary numbers, but he seems to have enough ability to get soft contact that we shouldn't be surprised if he has a pretty good week next week.
The Rangers and Mariners are both around the middle of the league in terms of offensive ability, and Kap is a guy who could luck into a couple of quality starts here – the Athletics tend to let him get as deep into games as he can.
JP Sears, Oakland Athletics - 3% Rostered
Scheduled starts: @ TEX, vs. SEA
Two middling matchups for Sears here, and he really hasn't shown us much in the majors to get excited about. However, this guy put up a 33.3% K and a 3.9% BB% in the minor leagues, which has me pretty interested in his future. Putting up numbers in the majors is a completely different story as compared to AAA, but the elite K-BB% is what I want to see from young pitchers regardless of what level they're at.
It's a risky play for sure, but you might get yourself some strikeouts and a strong WHIP over these two starts.
Mitch Keller, Pittsburgh Pirates - 2% Rostered
Scheduled starts: vs. BOS, vs. CIN
The initial reaction is to be afraid of that Boston matchup, but that has not been the case this year. The Red Sox are hitting just .236/.285/.393 since June 1. A couple of those weeks were without Rafael Devers and he's back now – but still, they are no longer an offensive juggernaut.
Keller hasn't given up more than three earned runs since July 6 and has a pretty solid 3.47 ERA over his last ten starts. Over the last seven starts, he has a 2.78 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP. The strikeout rate has fallen below 20% as he's re-tooled a bit, but he's been keeping the Pirates in games recently and that could result in a pretty useful two-start week for fantasy purposes.
Stay Away from these Two-Start Pitchers
Madison Bumgarner, Arizona Diamondbacks - 25% Rostered
Scheduled starts: @ SF, vs. STL
The first matchup is fine, but I wouldn't want to touch Bumgarner against the Cardinals lineup right now. He has very little going for him at this point in his career besides being an innings-eater for the team, so I think it's a safe bench here.
Dean Kremer, Baltimore Orioles - 11% Rostered
Scheduled starts: @ TOR, vs. BOS
He hasn't been all bad this year with an ERA in the mid-threes, but I'll pass on him against the Blue Jays and Red Sox.
Patrick Corbin, Washington Nationals - 10% Rostered
Scheduled starts: vs. CHC, @ SD
Worst starting pitcher in the league – no thanks!
Kyle Freeland, Colorado Rockies - 9% Rostered
Scheduled starts: @ STL, vs. SF
A brutal matchup on the road and then back into Coors makes Freeland an easy pass for week 19.
Mitch White, Toronto Blue Jays - 6% Rostered
Scheduled starts: vs. BAL, @ NYY
The first start is interesting, but White is often used as more of an "opener" than a traditional starter, and we certainly don't want to mess around with him against the Yanks.
Kris Bubic, Kansas City Royals - 3% Rostered
Scheduled starts: @ MIN, @ TB
Another guy with a K-BB% under 10%, you just shouldn't be starting guys like that (19% K%, 11% BB% for the year).
Glenn Otto, Texas Rangers - 3% Rostered
Scheduled starts: vs. OAK, vs. MIN
It's somewhat tempting with the Athletics matchup, but Otto's 19% K% and alarming 12% BB% are just too much for me to go with.
Mike Minor, Cincinnati Reds - 3% Rostered
Scheduled starts: vs. PHI, @PIT
He's been getting hit quite hard all season long, and while that might work out in Pittsburgh – I would rather not start my week with Minor against the Phillies.
Ryan Yarbrough, Tampa Bay Rays - 2% Rostered
Scheduled starts: @ NYY, vs. KC
Sometimes the Rays let him throw a full array of pitches, but more often he's throwing three or four innings – which makes the downside severely outweigh the upside.
Drew Hutchison, Detroit Tigers - 1% Rostered
Scheduled starts: @ CLE, vs. LAA
A 14.5% K% and a 9% Brl% – no thanks!
Kyle Bradish, Baltimore Orioles - 2% Rostered
Scheduled starts: @ TOR, vs. BOS
The rookie doesn't seem to be ready for the bigs.
Cole Ragans, Texas Rangers - 1% Rostered
Scheduled starts: vs. OAK, @ MIN
His walk rate is almost five points above his strikeout rate.
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