Fantasy Baseball Starting Pitchers Report (Week 4): Waiver Wire Pickups, Streamers, Injury Updates & More
Nick Tre. Smith/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images. Pictured: Danny Duffy.
Jacob deGrom has been sensational and is the best pitcher in baseball. At what point is 10 strikeouts an outing going to feel like a disappointment?
If you don't have deGrom on your fantasy team, we're here for you.
Each week this season I will be looking at the week ahead for pitchers. Waiver options, streamers, pitchers making two starts, injury updates and more can be found within.
Waiver Wire/Streamers
Trevor Rogers, Miami Marlins — Yahoo: 76%, ESPN: 70%
Rogers walks one batter every other inning on average, and that is the worst thing I can say about his 2021 start. Regression will come for his 29.5% ground-ball rate, but the 23-year old figured out how to be a power lefty without being easy to hit in the offseason. He gets two starts this week against offenses that are better against southpaws than righties — Milwaukee and Washington. Two strong starts will go a long way.
JT Brubaker, Pittsburgh Pirates — Yahoo: 54%, ESPN: 47%
Brubaker led the column last week, and he saw his ownership jump approximately 600%. He had another strong start in a loss to Minnesota and should be rostered everywhere.
Danny Duffy, Kansas City Royals — Yahoo: 55%, ESPN: 51%
It has been a minute since Duffy pitched well enough to draw my attention on waivers. I mention him more as a cautionary add because his advanced numbers are #NotGood. A 0.50 ERA is unsustainable, but his Expected ERA (xERA) is 4.33 and his xFIP number is 4.04. He is a career fly-ball pitcher and has allowed 6% less home runs per fly ball than his career average. Duffy is more of a streamer/spot start.
Jon Gray, Colorado Rockies — Yahoo: 28%, ESPN: 32%
Jon Gray has not been fantasy relevant since 2019 and is making a strong case to win me over on a bad team. He has already matched his WAR from last season in half the starts and has returned to striking out batter like he had in his previous successes. He continues to lean on his fastball and slider, but he added 0.5 mph to his changeup after introducing it in 2020. Little things like that give pitchers edges and I personally hope his success sticks.
Kohei Arihara, Texas Rangers — Yahoo: 12%, ESPN: 14%
I may have preemptively dropped him in one league after he struck out two batters in his first two starts. Eleven K’s later, and I am here to remind you to not get too itchy of a trigger finger, especially with a pitcher that you have never seen.
Alex Wood, San Francisco Giants — Yahoo: 25%, ESPN: 18%
I love him landing in San Francisco. He had a late start to 2021 but has been excellent in two starts, striking out batters at a higher rate than at any point in his nine-year career. It may be the magic of playing for the Giants, or we expect regression and know his home starts are favorable for your fantasy team.
Huascar Ynoa, Atlanta Braves — Yahoo: 43%, ESPN: 32%
It felt like yesterday that Huascar Ynoa was a fill-in starter for a doubleheader against Miami. He is now nearly a must-own arm on one of the better teams in the National League. I do not know if the home run issues get better, but I really like that his xFIP is lower than his ERA. His xERA and Hard Hit Percentage will make or break his role in fantasy going forward.
Injuries
Miles Mikolas is still a few weeks away from being a realistic option in the Cardinals' rotation. St. Louis will be moving to a six-man rotation for the next few weeks as they play 17 games in 17 days.
Carlos Carrasco has a return date of mid-May as long as he stays on track. In the same report, Noah Syndergaard threw one inning in a scrimmage on Saturday. "Thor" hopes to return from Tommy John surgery around mid-June.
Jake Odorizzi left his start on Saturday with forearm tightness. He was signed by Houston after a rash of injuries befell the Astros rotation during spring training.
Braves lefty Drew Smyly was activated from the 10-day IL on Saturday and was scheduled to start before their game against Arizona was postponed due to weather.
The Brewers placed left-hander Brett Anderson on the 10-day IL after being removed from his Friday outing against the Cubs.
The Padres are hoping Dinelson Lamet will be able to return on May 2, the first day he can come off the injured list. He left his season debut on Wednesday with forearm soreness but went through his normal routine following the premature exit.
Padres starter Adrian Morejon will undergo Tommy John surgery. If all goes well, he could pitch towards the end of the 2022 season.
Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo does not expect Stephen Strasburg’s shoulder inflammation to be a long-term issue.
Pirates Opening Day starter Chad Kuhl was placed on the 10-day injured list with right shoulder soreness.
Athletics right-hander Mike Fiers is due to return from the injured list after suffering a lumbar strain. It is unknown who he will replace in the A’s rotation if anyone.
The Marlins have no timetable for Sixto Sanchez as he continues to recover from inflammation in his throwing shoulder.
Two-Start Pitchers
This is a projected list. Starts subject to change and not all starters have been named.
- Trevor Rogers (MIA) – at MIL, at WSH
- Brad Keller (KC) – at DET, at MIN
- Spencer Turnbull (DET) – vs KC, at NYY
- Jose Berrios (MIN) – at CLE, vs KC
- Zach Plesac (CLE) – vs MIN, at CHW
- Charlie Morton and Ian Anderson (ATL) – vs CHC, at TOR
- Corbin Burnes and Adrian Houser (MIL) – vs MIA, vs LAD
- Zack Wheeler (PHI) – at STL, vs NYM
- Adam Wainwright and Carlos Martinez (STL) – vs NYM, at PIT
- Shohei Ohtani (LAA) – at TEX, at SEA (monitor news to see if Ohtani gets extra rest)
- Tyler Mahle (CIN) – at LAD, vs CHC
- Garrett Richards (BOS) – at NYM, at TEX
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