Starting Pitcher Streamer Rankings – 5/8 & 5/9

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.

(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: 22-9

 

Today’s Starting Pitcher Rankings

 

• We have more changes today because of the lovely weekend of rain. Take note, some of these matchups could change last minute.

• The top tier is a lovely place. Some may not want Gerrit Cole atop the ranks and I get that. I see his rest of season as the SP #2 and there’s no reason that doesn’t include tomorrow.
• Seriously, I can’t wait to watch these outings as they all could be absolute bliss.

 

• The second tier has Luis Severino once again and (pardon the copy/pasta) has certainly displayed the stuff to make us consider him as a legit starter this year, but he hasn’t quite put it all together lately. The Rangers are a hot/cold crew and shouldn’t pose a massive threat, but I understand if some want to proceed with a touch of caution. Update:  Nope, it’s Jordan Montgomery now, who should do well against the Rangers given his high CSW on sinkers lately.
• I know it’s been rough for Tyler Mahle as of late, but he has all the chances in the world to recalibrate facing the Pirates twice in his next two starts. It’s too good of a chance to pass up.

 

• Let’s talk about the third tier. Can we talk about the third tier? I’ve been dying to talk about the third tier. It’s a LONG boy. And comes in many different shapes and sizes.
• First you have Charlie Morton and Trevor Rogers as your potential aces who haven’t had the best start to the season. Milwaukee and San Diego aren’t the cushiest of matchups and while their ceiling is higher than any in this tier, we just don’t know if they’ll hint at it here.

 

• Then it’s a slew of Toby characters and we’ve got a whole lot of em today. Marcus Stroman, Zack Greinke, Chris Flexen, all lead the way despite Stroman and Flexen getting served some tough matchups. They can handle it. Update: It looks like George Kirby got the callup to take the pearl for the Mariners. He should be picked up in your league, but it doesn’t make him a “must start” for his debut – I’m generally cautious for those.
• The streaming pick of the day is labeled a Toby as well and that’s Bruce Zimmermann against the Royals. His changeup and slider are solid and overall, he’s fine.

 

• How much are we buying into the recent surges of Jake Odorizzi and Michael Wacha? Odorizzi may have been a product of fortunate BABIP while Wacha could be a Vargas Rule. Take your pick here.
• The Brewers have announced they are going to be a little more aggressive starting Aaron Ashby moving forward, which is great news though a start against Atlanta isn’t much of a welcome party. Be careful.

 

• At the end of the tier, Dane Dunning and Jon Gray each face the Yankees in the Bronx. Dunning had pristine command last time and it could carry over, while Gray was far from sharp in his return from the IL. Here’s to hoping we can cough it up as a Still ILL. Update: It’s Glenn Otto instead of Gray, who has some strikeout upside, but is a bit too risky to casually let loose.
• And Zach Eflin also exists. He’s a coin flip to go 5/6 frames of solid ball each day, so don’t ignore him as an option if you need it.

 

• In the final tier, (more Copy/Pasta, sorry!), Daniel Lynch could thrive against the Orioles, but I’m still waiting for an overwhelming start to instill the faith on a given day. His floor is so dang low.
• And there’s an outside chance Zach Thompson finds some of the cutter/curveball magic he had last year as he faces the pedestrian Reds offense.

 

Tomorrow’s Starting Pitcher Rankings

 

• The top tier is short and sweet on Monday. Carlos Rodón leads the way in a luscious start against Rockie Road and Brandon Woodruff is hot off a double-digit start that could repeat against the lowly Reds.
• I know we’re unhappy with Julio Urías‘ diminished velocity, but he’s still a strong arm, especially against the Pirates

 

• In the second tier, we’re still rolling out both Noah Syndergaard and Nestor Cortes Jr. despite solid opponents in the Rays and the Rangers. Hard to deny them a start at the moment.
• I’m excited to watch the season debut of Luis Castillo and given he’s had three rehab starts with his final game at 4.1 frames, I imagine he can comfortably go at least five against the Brewers. I’d start him instead of treating this as a Still ILL. 

 

• It wasn’t the return we wanted to see from Mike Clevinger, but with his first outing of the way I’d anticipate a step in the right direction against the middling Cubs lineup.
• Michael Kopech hasn’t impressed me as much as I hoped he would, but the Guardians don’t pose enough of a threat to question a spot in my lineups.

 

• In the third tier, Chris Flexen, Paul Blackburn, and Corey Kluber are decent Toby options who could make it work. Kluber is the largest question mark there, with Flexen and Blackburn as stronger options if in need.
• Our streaming pick of the day is Elieser Hernandez as he faces the Diamondbacks a second time. It didn’t go his way last week, but I believe in Hernandez’s slider and the lack of strength in the Sneks bats to give a good chance at success for Monday’s stream.

 

• I wish I could be thrilled about a Michael Pineda start against Oakland, but he’s running on fumes at the moment. We’re hoping he can make it five frames without damaging your ratios, but it’s a toss up right now.
• We were excited about Austin Gomber heading into San Francisco last year and got completely burned by the play. Now faced with the same decision, it may be smart to be cautious, even if Gomber had his slider working last time out.

 

• In the bottom tier…there isn’t much to celebrate. Humberto Castellanos did succeed in his previous start against the Marlins, but I’d rather not roll that die a second time.
• There’s an outside chance Carlos Hernández and Tyler Wells make it happen against weak lineups, but they are both highly susceptible to disaster. I’d prefer to avoid these entirely as you begin your week.

 

Featured Image by Drew Wheeler (@drewisokay on Twitter)