You should be grinding fantasy baseball two-start pitchers to give you an advantage over your competition during the season.
Each week, I will give you a breakdown of the two-start options for your fantasy leagues, broken up into the following tiers:
- Must Start: Pitchers you have to start because of their talent/matchups.
- Should Start: Pitchers rostered in most formats and who should probably be in your lineup.
- Here We Go: Pitchers you are probably starting in most formats, but who come with some level of risk.
- Feeling Lucky: Pitchers available in fewer than 25% of leagues that are risky, but viable in deeper formats.
- Desperate Measures: Pitchers you shouldn’t use unless you have no choice.
Make sure you are aware that when making fantasy baseball start or sit decisions that these projected two-start pitchers are subject to change.
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- Fantasy Baseball Trade Analyzer
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- MLB Prop Bet Cheat Sheet
- Rest-of-Season Projections
Fantasy Baseball Two-Start Pitchers
Must Start
- Kris Bubic (SP, RP – KC) vs. NYY, vs. ATH
- Nick Pivetta (SP – SD) vs. LAD, at ARI
- Robbie Ray (SP – SF) at COL, at LAD
- Yusei Kikuchi (SP – LAA) vs. ATH, at BAL
- Chris Sale (SP – ATL) at MIL, vs. COL
- Andrew Abbott (SP – CIN) at CLE, at DET
- Freddy Peralta (SP – MIL) vs. ATL, vs. STL
- Matthew Boyd (SP – CHC) at PHI, vs PIT
- MacKenzie Gore (SP – WSH) at NYM, vs. MIA
- Merrill Kelly (SP – ARI) vs. SEA, vs SD
Should Start
Logan Gilbert (SP – SEA) at ARI, vs. CLE
Logan Gilbert would normally be a must-start in every format, but he is coming off the injured list (IL) and has a very tough matchup in his first start back. We don’t know whether he will be on a pitch count, but it is likely the Mariners will be careful with their stud pitcher.
Jose Berrios (SP – TOR) at STL, at PHI
Jose Berrios got blown up in his first start of the season, but has been fantastic since then, throwing 71 innings with a 3.17 ERA and 65 strikeouts. He has two tougher road matchups this week, but you are using him just about everywhere.
Zebby Matthews (SP – MIN) vs. TEX, at HOU
Zebby Matthews has struggled, if you look at his ERA, but the underlying numbers are really good. He has 25 strikeouts in 19 innings and is just getting unlucky in the strand rate and batting average on balls in play (BABIP).
The Twins are letting him face more batters, which is a great sign for his fantasy value moving forward. He has a great matchup versus the Rangers and a tougher one at Houston, but you should roll the dice on his upside.
Here We Go
Clarke Schmidt (SP – NYY) at KC, at BOS
Clarke Schmidt has thrown 49 innings this season with a 4.04 ERA and 50 strikeouts. The walks have been a bit of an issue for him, but the underlying skills have been pretty good for the most part. He has a 3.04 xERA and the best swinging strike rate of his career.
Schmidt has a good start to the week in a solid pitcher’s park in Kansas City, but a tougher start in Boston to end the week. However, he is backed by the Yankees’ offense, and I believe in his talent.
Griffin Canning (SP – NYM) vs. WSH, vs. TB
Griffin Canning has pitched well despite pretty scary-looking underlying statistics. He has a 2.90 ERA and 57 strikeouts in 59 innings, but a 4.06 xERA and a 1.32 WHIP. He has a good set of matchups here at home versus a Rays team that struggles on the road and a Nationals team that has big holes in it, but he is due for regression at some point.
There is some risk this week with Canning, but it’s hard not to play him.
Eury Perez (SP – MIA) at PIT, at WSH
Eury Perez is making his season debut after recovering from Tommy John surgery. I am usually not a fan of starting a pitcher in his first start back, but Perez is a special talent, and these are terrific matchups. There is some risk because Tommy John surgery returnees usually struggle with command and control.
However, if you can’t start him versus the Pirates, when will you start him?
Jeffrey Springs (SP – ATH) at LAA, at KC
Jeffrey Springs has been up and down this season, but he has been markedly better on the road than at home. He has a 3.86 ERA when away from Sacramento and a 5.51 ERA at home.
Springs gets two bad offenses on the road, so you’re starting him in most leagues.
Jack Leiter (SP, RP – TEX) at MIN, vs. CWS
Jack Leiter has amazing stuff, but struggles with command and control. He is facing a tough Twins roster, but gets a terrible White Sox team to end the week. It is hard to pass up on the latter half of the two-step, but there is some risk here.
Feeling Lucky
Sawyer Gipson-Long (SP – DET) at BAL, vs. CIN
Sawyer Gipson-Long finally returned from Tommy John last week and is now set up for an intriguing two-start week. This one is risky because he struggled in his first start back, and we don’t know how long the leash will be.
Luis L. Ortiz (SP, RP – CLE) vs. CIN, at SEA
Luis L. Ortiz has been up and down this season, but he has a pretty decent two-step versus a Mariners team that has struggled as of late in a great park and a Reds team that is hit or miss. There is a ton of strikeout upside in the profile, but there is some risk he could walk too many batters and pay for it.
Mitch Keller (SP – PIT) vs. MIA, at CHC
Mitch Keller is boring but stable. Despite being a pitcher you can rely on to go deep enough in games to qualify for a win, he hasn’t won many because the Pirates are so bad, and the strikeouts have dried up a bit this season. Keller has a great start at home against the Marlins before heading to Chicago for a tough start against the Cubs, which makes him a bit of a risky streamer.
Desperate Measures
- Cade Povich (SP – BAL) vs. DET, vs. LAA
- Brayan Bello (SP – BOS) vs. TB, vs. NYY
- Ryan Gusto (SP, RP – HOU) vs. CWS, vs. MIN
- Colin Rea (SP, RP – CHC) at PHI, vs. PIT
- Quinn Priester (SP, RP – MIL) vs. ATL, vs. STL
- Mike Burrows (SP, RP – PIT) vs. MIA, at CHC
- Andre Pallante (SP, RP – STL) vs. TOR, at MIL
- Chase Dollander (SP – COL) vs. SF, at ATL
- Clayton Kershaw (SP – LAD) at SD, vs. SF
- Miles Mikolas (SP – STL) vs. TOR, at MIL
- Sean Burke (SP – CWS) at HOU, at TEX
- Shane Baz (SP – TB) at BOS, at NYM
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