Starting Pitcher Streamer Rankings – 4/24 & 4/25

Every day of the 2022 baseball season, I’ll be looking at today and tomorrow’s slate of scheduled starting pitchers and ranking their matchups for your fantasy baseball streams.

There’s a lot that goes into this and you can hang out with me on Twitch.tv/pitcherlist to talk about the specific ranks as I make them every weekday morning from 9am – 12am ET. If you have questions to these ranks, please ask during the morning Twitch AMA. Those are my office hours as I generally don’t answer comments on the site.

There are four tiers to these rankings with 12-teamers in mind:

 

Auto-Start – Just do it. Don’t overthink this, start the man.

Probably Start – I’m likely starting these arms, though I recognize there is more risk than we’d like there to be. Either it’s a tough matchup for a good pitcher or a weak lineup for a volatile arm.

Questionable Start – There are situations where I’d take the chance, either with strong enough upside on the ability side, or a poor offense that a pitcher could take advantage of.

Do Not Start – The reward is not worth the risk. Don’t do it.

 

Obviously, there will be circumstances where pitchers should move between teams for your situation specifically and these new tiers should act as a little more help than the straight table from last year.

Please keep in mind that streaming is far from a perfect play. In fact, if they work out over half the time, I’d consider it a success. These matchup rankings & streamer picks are going to be wildly different than the actual results throughout the year, so please, have sympathy before the scathing comments and tweets. I’m only trying to help!

Make sure to read the notes if you’re wondering why I’m favoring certain pitchers over others – I won’t get to everyone and hopefully I answer what questions you will have.

There is a second table for tomorrow’s starting pitcher matchups as well, helping everyone get a jump on their nightly pickups. Please note that these matchups are subject to change, though, and there will be times when I have the incorrect pitcher going. I thank you for your future understanding.

Finally, there are my streaming picks of the day, and please keep in mind that I am forced to pick a streamer every day. Those highlighted in Green are in the second tier and I’d roll with them everywhere. The most common are those in Yellow in the third tier and should be decent if you’re searching for something on a given day. Finally, those are Red are those I really don’t want to start (they are labeled as “Do Not Start”, after all) but have no other choice. Don’t stream these guys until you are truly desperate. A streaming pick is defined as “rostered in 20% or fewer leagues,” which really emphasizes the point that I’d be happy if over 50% of these worked. I could do the whole sub 30/40% rostered, but there’s no fun in that. You can use the rankings to realize who would be those picks, instead.

 

As I do my rankings, I thought it would be helpful to showcase a table of how we’re ranking offenses. Dave Swan does an incredible job of showcasing future SP matchups every 2-3 weeks in this article, and I’ve elected to use his offense ranks to share with all of you here:

 

 

I’m sure it’ll change through the year + there are differences to be made about teams vs. LHP or RHP, but it’s a great general table that y’all should keep in mind.

Alright, let’s get to it.

 

2022 Streamer Record: 10-7

 

Today’s Starting Pitcher Rankings

 

• I struggled a bit with where I should place Gerrit Cole for Sunday. On one hand, we all expect him to dominate once again this season & he’s had decent excuses as to why he struggled in the other outings. On the other, he’s clearly a bit off at the moment and putting him #2 may feel wrong to some. Does it really matter? Just start the fella against the Guardians.
• The bottom four of the tier are a little shakier. Shane McClanahan looks great at the moment with sub 30% heaters, but the Red Sox aren’t a pushover. Meanwhile, Tylor Megill was throwing softer in his last start, Sean Manaea get the mighty Dodgers, and we have no idea what we’re going to see from Aaron Nola. Just start and hope for the best.

 

• In the second tier, we want to see the Adam Wainwright that can coast for 6+ frames, but he may have some trouble dealing with Cincinnati’s park.
• It may shock some to see Nick Lodolo in the second tier at home, but I think his strikeout ability and another start in the bigs will allow his best self to come out. This could be the breakout outing we’re waiting for and in leagues where I have him, I’m letting him go, making him the clear streaming pick of the day.

 

• In the third tier, Eric Lauer has continued to feature increased velocity, but gets a tough draw against the Phillies. I’m generally for it, but there could be some struggles.
• Luis Garcia was a new man last time out as he featured nearly two ticks more velocity…at the cost of worse secondaries. I’m not sure what we’ll see here against Toronto.

 

• Lucas Giolito is returning from his IL stint and normally he’d be in the top tier. However, I’m concerned he won’t go very long in this one and he may be shaking off a bit of rust. This isn’t a must start.
• I wonder what we’ll see from Aaron Civale. He does get a struggling Yankee offense, but he’s also dealing with his own struggles as his velocity has dramatically dipped recently.

 

• Normally I write off the final tier, but I understand how Sundays work and many of you will be going through these underwhelming arms hoping for a chance to steal a H2H victory. Nearly all of these names could give you a Win, but I’d avoid the bottom four as it’ll be a tough road for them to provide legit value tomorrow.
• There’s intrigue at the top of the tier, though. Bryce Elder could muscle out a decent game against the Marlins, José Suarez has shown himself a decent streamer in the past, Chris Archer has been shockingly decent and the White Sox are not their best selves, and Justin Steele could find gloves against the Pirates.

 

Tomorrow’s Starting Pitcher Rankings

 

• It’s a short Monday with just seven games on the docket, but it’s packed with aces. Put the top four any way you want, I’m electing to put Carlos Rodón at #2 as his stuff is just too dang good right now.
• The bottom three of the tier are a little shakier but I think you’re still starting them all, including José Berríos against Nathan Eovaldi. You slot them both in and hope for the best.

 

• In the second tier, we have our streaming pick of the day in Michael Lorenzen. I’d roll with him despite a rough outing last time out against the Astros as the Guardians should be an easier time. He’s a solid arm and I imagine his 13% rostership will go up over time.
• Framber Valdez joins Lorenzen as he squares up against the Rangers. After a strong debut to the season, Valdez has been all kinds of shaky on the mound. I’m still letting him fly, but I wish he were facing a weaker team than the Rangers.

 

• As for our questionables, we have Merrill Kelly who featured diminished velocity last time out and now gets the Dodgers. I love his new changeup, but I do wonder if this will be his first proper stumble of the year.
• Miles Mikolas and Kyle Gibson have each showcased themselves as decent options against weak teams. The Mets aren’t the weakest, this could still go well for Mikolas, while Gibson could feast on Rockie Road.

 

• In the final tier, I’d prefer to stay far away from Kyle Freeland and Dane Dunning. There just isn’t enough to chase while these offenses could make their days awfully short.

 

Featured Image by Drew Wheeler (@drewisokay on Twitter)