Starting Pitcher Streamer Rankings – 5/22 & 5/23

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 – 11am 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.

(Opener) – Outlines that a pitcher is being opened for that day & the pitcher listed will follow the opener.

 

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: 27-16

 

Today’s Starting Pitcher Rankings

 

• Sunday is always a major streaming day and while there aren’t a ton of locked plays, they should all help you out. Like Luis Severino was before the rainout on Friday, he’s still a top tier play against a White Sox team that struggles against right-handed pitching.
• Merrill Kelly also gets love in the top tier despite his recent struggles against top teams. He’s rostered across leagues and now faces the Cubs. You’re starting him.

 

• Despite allowing 5 HR in one inning, Nathan Eovaldi is still a good play against the Mariners. He had a start where things didn’t go his way, don’t overthink it.
• Like Severino, Jameson Taillon throws pearls with his right arm. Start him against the ChiSox.

 

• The second half of the probable start tier is filled with Tobys facing poor lineups. Yusei Kikuchi is on a fantastic three-start run now and gets the lowly Reds in Toronto. You have to let him roll there.
• Steven Matz has had his fair share of bumps in the road, but the Pirates make way for what should be a smooth Sunday afternoon.

 

• It’s wild to see such a string of Tier 2 streamers and Wade Miley is the latest as he faces the Diamondbacks. He dominated against the Pirates with cutters inside to right-handers, changeups away, and good fastballs. The Sneks aren’t much different, making for what I expect to be a very popular pickup for tomorrow.
• With yesterday’s rainout, Alex Faedo is going today against the Guardians, marking another solid streaming option if you need one last minute for Sunday.

 

• I know it’s been a tough road for Alex Wood thus far, though I very much believe in the skill set with a harder fastball from last year and a slider that looks to match its dominant self from last year. Sadly, he gets the Padres, who can make southpaws struggle on the bump. I think he can still pull it off, but it could be tricky.
• The Padres have elected to give an extra day of rest to Mike Clevinger and Blake Snell, allowing a free start for MacKenzie Gore against the Giants. I’m a little wary of this for a few reasons. 1) The Giants are good against lefties. 2) Gore isn’t in a starting rhythm and may not be fully stretched out. 3) Gore wasn’t in routine with his repertoire when he was starting. This isn’t a slam dunk.

 

• The Red Sox are heating up thanks to Trevor Story, and it forced me to move Logan Gilbert to the top of the third tier, as I did with his rookie teammate George Kirby. He can still make it work, it’s close to a coin-flip, though.
• It hasn’t been a fun season rostering José Urquidy, and even against the Rangers, I’m not sure his repertoire is at the place it needs to be to take advantage.

 

• I’m excited to see Bailey Ober return from the IL, who fanned seven without a walk in his 5.0 IP rehab start. I generally follow the rules of Still ILL for a guy like Ober, but I recognize that he may be ready against a weak Royals offense.
• Tony Gonsolin isn’t impressing me enough with his sldier to warrant a second tier spot against the Phillies, though he could go five and earn a Win on the back on his splitter.

 

• It was a turbulent outing last time for Michael Kopech against the Yankees – he tossed 41 pitches in the second frame before he cruised toward six full frames – and with his questionable breakers I’m skeptical he can make this outing worth the roster spot for fantasy managers.

 

• In the bottom tier, Chad Kuhl has featured a better slider as of late, but it’s the Mets and Coors. No thanks.
• Zach Eflin is a Toby facing the Dodgers. This is when you don’t start Eflin.

 

• I recognize Connor Overton and Johnny Cueto have each performed well lately, but their matchups are rough. Don’t do this.
• Lastly, there’s Cole Irvin returning from the IL in an incredibly obvious Still ILL against the Angels. It’s a tough matchup and rust to brush off and he’s a Toby at best. Absolutely not worth the risk.

 

Tomorrow’s Starting Pitcher Rankings

 

• Only a lucky few have made it to the top tier for Monday’s games, with Gerrit Cole and Zack Wheeler leading the way. Are you hesitating to start them? Why?
• The Great Undulater José Berríos returned the favor for trusting managers last week and may be on the path to redemption against the Cardinals. Trust the history of Berríos and start him.

 

• The second tier is filled with some great matchups for solid arms. Luis Garcia hasn’t fallen into the rhythm we want him to land into, but the Guardians don’t pose a major threat.
• Mike Clevinger was pushed to Monday with Gore going on Sunday, allowing him to get an easier matchup against the Brewers. He should be safe.

 

• It’s wonderful to see Marco Gonzales on one of his patented Vargas Rule stretches and a date against the Athletics shouldn’t interrupt his trajectory.
• I know some are frustrated with Alex Cobb, but the skills are very much intact while his last outing was inside Coors. Now he hosts the Mets, which isn’t the easiest of dates, but should help rosters.

 

• There are two solid streaming options in the second tier with very similar skill sets as they square off in Pittsburgh. I’m favoring Chad Kuhl and his slider over JT Brubaker’s but it’s anyone’s guess who will have the better line here. Both should rack up the strikeouts without much damage to the ratios.
• Tyler Anderson is a Toby facing a mediocre offense. Let him fly against the Nationals, but don’t expect too much from him. He’s just a Toby, y’all.

 

• The same applies to Zack Greinke as he faces his former Diamondbacks squad. The strikeouts won’t be much, but he should help in ERA and WHIP.
• I had some trouble placing Triston McKenzie and Miles Mikolas given their tough matchups. McKenzie feels a little safer to provide some value given his strikeout upside, while Mikolas could find a way to survive despite the mighty Jays bats. Up to you if you want to risk them or not.

 

• In the bottom tier, I can’t convince myself to trust Adrian Houser despite facing a Padres team that struggles against right-handers. Houser did fail to overcome the Reds on back-to-back starts, after all.
• There’s been a touch of intrigue surrounding Zach Logue lately, but he only went 4.1 frames in his last outing against the Twins and you’d be wise to be wary of the Mariners offense.

 

Featured Image by Drew Wheeler (@drewisokay on Twitter)