Starting Pitcher Streamer Rankings Fantasy Baseball – 4/28 & 4/29

Here are today’s daily SP Streamer rankings.

Every day of the 2023 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 10am – 12pm ET. If you have questions about 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. This includes “if I have them rostered, I’m starting them” pitchers.

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-not-elite pitcher or a weak lineup for a volatile arm. These pitchers have a 50% or greater chance of performing well in my view.

Questionable Start – Think of this tier as “I don’t want to start these pitchers in a vacuum, but you could do worse.” Streamers found in this tier are not pitchers I’m targeting and are only if you are in dire need of one. To play it safe with streaming, just start the Probably Start streamers.

Do Not Start – The reward is not worth the risk. Don’t do it. Seriously, these pitchers have a very slim chance of success or sometimes none at all.

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. Those in Yellow in the third tier and should be okay if you’re searching for something on a given day, but I don’t recommend streaming unless you’re in need. 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:

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

Alright, let’s get to it.

 

This year, with our new daily fantasy baseball projections powered by PLV, I’ll be competing against PL Bot to pick the best streaming option each day.

To get access to PL Bot’s picks each day, sign up for PL Pro here.

 

Nick’s 2023 Streamer Record: 15-12

My pick yesterday: JP Sears vs LAA

PL Bot’s 2023 Streamer Record: 13-14

PL Bot’s Pick yesterday: Matt Strahm vs SEA

Want PL Bot’s pick today? Sign Up for PL Pro here.

 

Today’s Starting Pitcher Rankings

 

• The clear #1 is Jacob deGrom and after that it is…difficult to discern. Luis Castillo and Max Fried are the aces that follow, but get a pair of tough matchups. I could place Pablo López higher against the Royals, but his velocity dropped 1.5 ticks in his last outing and his sweeper did little work. Here’s to hoping he rebounds here.
• Marcus Stroman is a high floor play against a poor lineup, while Jesús Luzardo has struggled in his last two outings but I expect better moving forward.

 

• The likes of Shane Bieber and Aaron Nola are both in the top tier as well, but I’m not super confident in them. Bieber hasn’t had his slider lately and Aaron Nola hasn’t had that dominant start yet this season. With Yordan Alvarez out of the lineup, Nola’s matchup does get a little easier.
• At the bottom of the tier is Grayson Rodriguez against the Tigers. I still attest that once he earns at least 50% loLoc on his changeups and sliders, Rodriguez will become an ace. With the Tigers in front of him, it creates a good floor to go for this in all leagues.

 

• The second tier starts with Alek Manoah fresh off an excellent outing against the Yankees. He’s still failing to get four-seamer whiffs, though, and I’m not sold he’s ready to fully rebound quite yet.
• Zach Eflin gets the White Sox and as a proper Toby on a winning club against a struggling White Sox lineup, you should go for it wherever you can.

 

• After two phenomenal starts, are we buying Eduardo Rodriguez to soar once again against the Orioles? I’m a little hesitant to do so, but feel like you need to at this point.
• I still have some uneasiness about Dustin May – will he develop the command he needs and will his cutter + curve return consistent whiffs? – but the Cardinals have been struggling and this start seems worth it.

 

• In the third tier, I trust in Lucas Giolito to continue trending upward throughout the season…but maybe after starting against the #1 offense in baseball.
• Our streaming pick of the day is Rich Hill against the Nationals. I don’t like it (Tier 3!) but Hill has made it work lately and the Nats are as good of a team to stream against as any.

 

• I don’t like the matchup for Jack Flaherty, but last time out he was sitting 93/94 with 10 slider whiffs for the second time in three starts. This may be the time to pounce.
• I see Wade Miley and Tyler Anderson as low-level Toby arms at this point, while Nick Pivetta as a Cherry Bomb. Do what you want.

 

• In the bottom tier, Clarke Schmidt had more success with his sweeper last time out, yet it came with a ton of pitches over the heart of the plate. I worry the Rangers will punish him plenty here without a ton of upside to chase.
• The rest of the tier is pretty easy to deny a start. David Peterson doesn’t have the slider you want, Jordan Lyles is too volatile, Merrill Kelly gets Coors, and the rest are never starts.

 

• Updates: The Athletics are activating Drew Rucinski from the IL to make his season debut and it’s a clear Still ILL. I wonder if Drew can turn into a decent Toby or at least a deep streamer in due time.

 

Tomorrow’s Starting Pitcher Rankings

 

• The top tier is once again straightforward without a whole lot of nuance. Don’t be scared by Zack Wheeler getting the Astros or really anything else. Just start em all.
• But why isn’t Joe Musgrove here? That’s because his game Saturday isn’t getting played in San Diego – it’s in Mexico City with a higher elevation than Colorado. It means we have what I call Coors Might on our hands and it’s a bit terrifying throwing guys into the fray. That said, it’s still Musgrove and I’m starting him where I have him, but it’s not a blind set-and-forget like those in the top tier.

 

• The second tier also contains our streaming pick of the day, Vince Velasquez. He’s squaring off against the Nationals and has been on a roll with sliders & fastballs. It’s as solid of a stream as you’ll find this weekend.
• If you need another streamer, Dean Kremer could work in your favor against the Tigers. He wasn’t as his best against the Sawx, but Detroit should make for a high win chance and a good shot at overall production.

 

• As for the rest of the second tier, Jordan Montgomery and Nathan Eovaldi have cemented themselves as solid SP #4 types who you should feel fine starting against a pair of struggling offenses. Sure, the Dodgers and Yankees could explode for a ton of runs in the blink of an eye, but it’s worth the risk here.
• Lastly, Garrett Whitlock hopes to rebound against the Guardians. It’s not the ideal matchup you want, though I believe his ability is plenty better than what we saw last time out. I’m rolling with him.

 

• The third tier kicks off with the controversial Lance Lynn. With his recent struggles mixed with a date against the Rays, I imagine most managers will be sitting him and that seems like the play here. That said, the underlying skills are still present for Lynn and there’s a better chance than most in the bottom tiers for Lynn to be his best self.
• Matthew Boyd is an intriguing play against the Orioles. He’s still struggling to earn slider whiffs, but his four-seamer has been as good as it’s ever been. The Orioles have the firepower to make this uncomfortable for Boyd, but there is a ceiling here you may want to chase.

 

• I don’t trust the command of Edward Cabrera, especially against one of the shockingly best offenses in baseball across the last two weeks.
• The new Zach Plesac is leaning slider nearly half of the time and it may be enough to squeeze out production against the Red Sox, though I’d hate to chance it in standard leagues. Same goes for Tylor Megill against Atlanta – there just isn’t a whole lot to chase here.

 

• In the bottom tier, Sean Manaea is opposite Joe Musgrove in Mexico City and I’m avoiding it completely, especially with his lack of volume as of late.
• Brad Keller’s new curveball hasn’t made a difference lately, Caleb Kilian hasn’t been great in the minors, Jhnoy Brito strikes out few and faces a mighty offense, and the rest are obvious avoids for Saturday’s games.

 

Featured Image by Kurt Wasemiller (@KUWasemiller on Twitter / @kurt_player02 on Instagram)