It’s time for Week 5 of the abbreviated fantasy baseball season. Maximizing each outing has become so important for your pitching categories, so putting an emphasis on streaming this year is even more important than ever.
Let’s see how we did last week, as it’s important to hold ourselves accountable.
- Brandon Bielak – 6 IP, 1 W, 4 K, 1 ER, 4 BB
- Tony Gonsolin – 6 IP, 0 W, 3 K, 0 ER, 0 BB
- Pablo Lopez – 6.1 IP, 0 W, 5 K, 2 ER, 1 BB
- Alex Young – 4 IP, 0 W, 4 K, 3 ER, 1 BB
- Elieser Hernandez – 5 IP, 1 W, 6 K, 2 ER, 1 BB
- Chad Kuhl – 5 IP, 1 W, 1 K, 1 ER, 3 BB
- Corbin Burnes – 5.1 IP, 0 W, 7 K, 3 ER, 2 BB
- Total: 37.2 IP, 3 W, 30 K, 12 ER, 12 BB
Take note that we are looking for pitchers who are rostered in less than 30 percent of Yahoo leagues. Occasionally a recommendation will exceed that threshold if they are in a particularly favorable streaming situation.
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Monday, August 24
Austin Voth (WAS) vs. MIA 5%
So, Monday isn’t the best streaming day here. There are a lot of good pitchers, and a lot of pitchers who are over the 30 percent rostered mark. So that brings us to Voth, who has been, well, pretty bad in his last two outings. He’s given up eight earned runs in his past eight innings, but this week, he gets a Marlins team who, after surprising everyone, is playing like a team that has a lot of replacement players, featuring a .241 average and a 95 wRC+.
Other options: Alec Mills (CHC) at DET 29%
Tuesday, August 25
Alex Young (ARI) vs. COL 4%
Young did OK for us last week but didn’t pitch long enough to qualify for a win. He does offer some swing-and-miss in his game, and he gets the Rockies out of Coors Field, who are slashing .199/.277/.297 with a 25.5 K% and Major League low 57 (!) wRC+ outside of Coors Field. Let’s fire Young up again for the great matchup.
Other options: Kyle Gibson (TEX) vs. OAK 12%
Wednesday, August 26
Elieser Hernández (MIA) at NYM 35%
We are going to break the rules here to go with Hernández, who is slightly over the threshold. It’s mainly to point out just how good he’s been, and how filthy his slider is. He is up 27 percent in rostership from last week, but he should be even higher. If he holds his own against the Mets, expect him to rocket up to around 50-60 percent rostered.
Other options: Danny Duffy (KC) at STL 17%
Thursday, August 27
Kwang-Hyun Kim (STL) vs. PIT 30%
We’ve already doubled down on two arms that we used last week, so in an attempt to try to mix it up (it’s tough when everyone needs arms and gobbles them up after a good start or two, elevating them above the threshold), we’ll turn our attention away from those we used last week here, and instead go with Kim. Kim, who was originally going to the closer for the Cardinals at the beginning of the season, threw six shutout innings Saturday against the Reds. This week, he gets the Pirates, who despite turning their offense on slightly lately, are still the worst team in baseball by a wide margin. Keep in mind, though, it’s the first game of a scheduled doubleheader.
Other options: Chad Kuhl (PIT) at STL 6%
Friday, August 28
Sixto Sánchez (MIA) vs. TB 29%
Kudos to Sánchez, who picked up a win in his debut against the Nationals. For Sánchez, the stuff is filthy, it’s all about staying healthy. He reached 100 with his fastball, and he struck out four against the Nationals. The Rays are a tough matchup, but he did enough to get him in the streamer column at least once before his rostership goes above the threshold.
Other options: Daniel Ponce de Leon (STL) vs. CLE 7%
Saturday, August 29
Tyler Mahle (CIN) vs. CHC 12%
The matchup isn’t as bad as it seems, as the Cubs have been struggling of late. He has 14 strikeouts in 13.1 IP (heading into his Sunday matchup against St. Louis), so we are trusting the stuff here. The Cubs have the second-worst K% (29.1%) against righties this year, so while their offense can get hot at any time, the strikeouts should be there for Mahle to return value in this spot.
Other options: Justus Sheffield (SEA) at LAA 22%
Sunday, August 30
Justin Dunn (SEA) at LAA 2%
So, for a minute, there was about to be an N/A listed above for the suggested streamer. The majority of probable pitchers (a week out, at least) are well over the rostership threshold, or they are just plain bad with a bad matchup. The advice is to avoid them here, but if we have to go with one, let’s roll the dice on Dunn, who was smacked around his last time out against the Dodgers. He gets the Angels, who have been struggling all year, so he could post a solid enough line to escape with a streaming victory.
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Michael Waterloo is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Michael, check out his archive and follow him @MichaelWaterloo.
