The first third of the season is nearly complete and there are clearly certain teams to pick on in streaming matchups. Teams have outscored the White Sox, Rockies, and Marlins by a combined 242 runs. The Mariners, Red Sox, and Rockies top the league in team batting strikeouts. Use that information to help you decide on your favorite pitching streamers for week eight.
Here are some of my favorites.
Pitching Streamers Available in Some Leagues (30-50% Rostered)
Javier Assad (SP – ChC)
Next Start: Thursday 5/16 vs PIT
Javier Assad continues to impress, now 3-0 through seven starts. He has just a 1.66 ERA, fifth best among qualified starters.
Assad’s strikeout-per-nine rate has remained a consistent 7.5 since 2022 His walks-per-nine rate, though, has improved to 2.8 this season. This improvement has factored into his 88% left-on-base rate. He also has an impressive 44% groundball rate. He has a low BABIP, but has limited line drives, pulled balls, and hard contact, helping to legitimize the low BABIP and ERA. I mean, how are batters supposed to get a hold of pitches like this:
Javier Assad's 3rd and 4th Ks pic.twitter.com/3sk0xpzQfp
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 14, 2024
Like some of the other pitchers mentioned below, Assad has been fortunate when it comes to allowing homers. This makes him a streamer still, despite his sterling ERA.
The risk with him and others mentioned in this article is that the ERA will balloon when the homers start coming. Assad should be able to avoid homers against the Pirates. They have the fewest home runs against righty pitchers. Pittsburgh also has the worst batting average against RHP, as well as the eighth-worst strikeout rate and the second-highest groundball rate overall.
Make Assad one of your top pitching streamers for the week ahead in this advantageous matchup.
Nestor Cortes (SP – NYY)
Next Start: Friday 5/17 vs CWS
We need to get Nestor Cortes off the streamer list. Yes, he had a clunker against Baltimore at the end of April, but he has three quality starts in his last four games. Cortes has a 3.72 ERA in 48 IP across eight starts. Here is a look at Cortes in his last outing:
Nestor Cortes, 3Ks in the 2nd.
5Ks thru 2. pic.twitter.com/LQDwETxyUz
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 5, 2024
Cortes continues to inch closer to his career 9.3 K/9 rate. While doing so, he has also lowered his BB/9 rate to under two, and his HR/9 rate to under one. Both are below his career averages and would be among his career bests.
Cortes has matched his career GB rate at 31% and has room to improve his 71% LOB rate closer to his 77% career norm. He also has a relatively normalized BABIP. All of this suggests there is not much regression coming for him, aside from a slightly suppressed HR/9 rate.
In this matchup, Cortes goes against not just one of the worst teams in baseball, but also a team that performs terribly against lefty pitchers. Chicago has the second worst AVG, the 10th most strikeouts, and the sixth-fewest walks against RHP.
This is a great matchup for Cortes, and he should continue to perform well for fantasy managers. He should not just be one of the top pitching streamers, but more widely rostered overall.
Widely Available Pitching Streamers (0%-30% Rostered)
Logan Allen (SP – CLE)
Next Start: Sunday 5/12 at CWS
Logan Allen possesses an ugly 5.11 ERA through seven starts. His matchup with Chicago, however, should help him improve that ERA.
Allen has a .303 BABIP, compared to a .312 career BABIP, despite lowering his LD% and Pull% significantly. He also has experienced some bad luck with homers. He has a 14% home-run-to-fly-ball rate, when league average is around 11%. Plus, he has allowed nearly half a home run more per nine innings than his career average. All of that comes with just a 4% increase in fly balls from last season. This all suggests some positive regression to his ERA as evidenced by his 4.29 xFIP and 4.23 SIERA.
Part of his issue may be due to reworking his pitch mix. He was primarily a sweeper/fastball pitcher but has tossed mainly a sweeper/sinker/splitter combination this season. His splitter, in particular, has been effective. Allen has tossed it 29 times, and batters have yet to pick up a hit against it. It carries a 43% whiff rate, and a 40% putaway rate.
The White Sox are awful against lefty pitchers, making this a great streaming matchup. Chicago possesses the worst AVG and fewest walks against LHP. They also strike out the seventh most overall. Helping Allen even more is that Chicago’s park leans pitcher-friendly.
Allen is an excellent choice as one of your pitching streamers for the week ahead.
Trevor Williams (SP – WAS)
Next Start: Monday 5/13 at CWS
Trevor Williams makes his next start (as of writing) against the struggling White Sox. Williams has a 3-0 record with a 2.27 ERA.
Williams has just a 6.2 K/9 rate and a 3.4 BB/9 rate this season, both worse than his career norms. He has a .278 BABIP, lower than normal, but has done well at limiting line drives and pulled balls. Williams has induced a 48% GB rate, which would be top-15 if he qualified. He has also upped his LOB% to 78% this season. His nasty changeup has played a major role in his success this season. Just take a look:
Trevor Williams, Nasty 82mph Changeup…and Sword. ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/xIRCemW3Hy
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 7, 2024
Similar to Assad, Williams has had great luck with home runs. In fact, he has yet to allow one, so regression will be on the way. Still, the White Sox struggle so much, and fantasy managers should not worry about this matchup. Also in Williams’ favor is that Chicago is awful against LHP.
Fantasy managers should feel comfortable making Williams one of their pitching streamers for the week ahead.
Mitchell Parker (SP – WAS)
Next Start: Tuesday 5/14 at CWS
Mitchell Parker is a bit of an off-the-radar name pitching for the middling Nationals. In his rookie campaign, he is 2-1 with a 2.53 ERA and a 19:4 K:BB ratio.
Parker has an 8.0 K/9 rate for the Nationals but had a double-digit K/9 rate all throughout the minors. And while he had a high walk rate in the minors, he has limited walks to under two per nine innings in the majors.
A major reason for his strikeout success is thanks to his curveball:
https://x.com/PitchingNinja/status/1788358826443305238
It has 22% whiff and putaway rates. And though his splitter has been hit to the tune of a .375 batting average against, it carries a 45% whiff rate and a 36% putaway rate.
Parker has a 74% LOB rate, a 46% GB rate, and a .302 BABIP, which should keep him from regressing too far. He is another pitcher who has yet to allow a homer, so his xFIP and SIERA both predict his ERA to drop over time.
Fortunately for Parker and those who roster him, the White Sox have performed poorly against LHP. He should be able to stave off regression for another start, and is worth an add as one of your pitching streamers for the week ahead.
Bryan Woo (SP – SEA)
Next Start: Wednesday 5/15 vs KC
Bryan Woo made his season debut last night and was pulled a bit early as a precautionary measure after a long fourth inning by the Mariners’ offense.
In his rehab outings, Woo looked very sharp. He has a 13.0 K/9 rate in 11.1 innings. He did not allow a walk or a home run in those starts, inducing a 50% GB rate.
Woo has typically been a high-strikeout pitcher throughout his minor league tenure. That translated to a 9.5 K/9 rate in his 18-start rookie campaign last season. Woo has been susceptible to walks over his career, so the absence of walks in his rehab games is noteworthy.
The young hurler had three pitches with whiff rates of 30% or better last season – his fastball, slider, and sweeper. His best putaway pitch was his fastball. He will have to find a better way to utilize those breaking and offspeed pitches to get batters out this season.
Kansas City batters have among the lowest strikeout rates in baseball this season collectively, but Woo has the stuff to pick up plenty of strikeouts. The Royals’ biggest weakness is their groundball rate, which is among the 10 worst in the league. Woo has shown he can induce grounders, so that may be how he attacks the Royals in this matchup.
Either way, this looks to be a solid start for Woo, and he should be one of the top pitching streamers added for the week ahead and beyond.
Backup Plan Streamers for Week 7
- CIN Frankie Montas at SF – Sunday 5/12
- PHI Cristopher Sanchez at NYM – Monday 5/14
- DET Reese Olson vs MIA – Tuesday 5/14
- CWS Erick Fedde vs WAS – Tuesday 5/14
- CLE Triston McKenzie vis MIN – Friday 5/17
Desperation Streamers for Week 7
- OAK Ross Stripling at SEA – Sunday 5/12
- KC Michael Wacha at SEA – Tuesday 5/14
- STL Kyle Gibson vs BOS – Friday 5/17