Starting Pitcher Streamer Rankings – 05/20 and 05/21

Every day of the 2022 baseball season, I’ll be watching today’s and tomorrow’s scheduled starting pitchers and ranking their games for your fantasy baseball streams.

There’s a lot in there and you can hang out with me on Twitch.tv/pitcherlist to talk about specific ranks because I do them every weekday morning from 9-11am ET. If you have any questions about these ranks, please ask them during the morning Twitch AMA. These are my office hours as I generally do not respond to comments on the site.

There are four levels in these rankings with 12 teams in the lead:

Automatic start – Just do it. Don’t think too much about it, the man begins.

Probably start – I will probably start these weapons, although I recognize that there is more risk than we would like. Either it’s a tough game for a good pitcher or a weak lineup for a volatile arm.

Doubtful start – There are situations where I would take the risk, either with a strong enough advantage on the ability side, or a bad offense that a caster could take advantage of.

Do not start – The reward is not worth the risk. Don’t.

Obviously there will be circumstances where pitchers would have to move between teams for your specific situation and these new levels should act as a little more help than last year’s straight table.

Please keep in mind that streaming is far from a perfect game. In fact, if they work more than half the time, I would consider that a success. These rankings and streamer picks are going to be vastly different from the actual results throughout the year, so please have some sympathy ahead of the scathing comments and tweets. I’m only trying to help!

Be sure to read the notes if you’re wondering why I favor some pitchers over others – I won’t go to everyone and hopefully answer any questions you have.

There is a second table for tomorrow start pitcher clashes as well, helping everyone get a jump on their nighttime pick-ups. Please note that these matches are subject to change, however, and there will be be times when I have the wrong pitcher. Thank you for your future understanding.

Finally, there are my streaming picks of the day, and please keep in mind that I have to choose a streamer every day. Those highlighted in Green are second level and I would ride with them anywhere. The most common are those of Yellow in the third tier and should be decent if you are looking for Something on a given day. Finally, these are Red are the ones I really don’t want to start (they’re labeled as “Don’t Start”, after all) but have no other choice. Don’t stream these guys until you’re really desperate. A streaming pick is defined as “registered in 20% or fewer leagues”, which really highlights the fact that I would be happy if more than 50% of them worked. I could do the whole sub 30/40% list, but that’s no fun. You can use the leaderboards to figure out who those picks would be instead.

(Opening) – Indicates that a pitcher is open for that day and the indicated pitcher will follow the opener.

While I’m doing my ranking, I thought it would be helpful to present a chart of how we rank offences. Dave Swan makes a incredible job of showcasing future SP matchups every 2-3 weeks in this article, and I’ve chosen to use his offensive ranks to share with you all here:

I’m sure that will change over the course of the year + there are differences between teams versus LHP or RHP, but it’s a great overall picture that you should all keep in mind.

Alright, let’s go.

Broadcast record in 2022: 27-15

Ranking of today’s starting pitchers

• It’s a weird upper tier on Friday because there’s no clear play #1. I’m incredibly excited about At Robbie Ray’s recent start (despite the 5 ER) as it featured 94+ mph speed and great north-south control on the radiators and sliders…but this is the Sawx and it’s unclear if these improvements will stick.
• That means Tarik Skubal is rewarded for his incredible start to 2022 with first place against the Guardians. You have this Tarik.

• Some may want it to be Nestor Cortes Jr. and while I understand he demolished the White Sox last time out, I won’t ignore their ability to hit southpaws. Here’s to being wrong about this one.
• It’s hard not to feel encouraged by by Eric Lauer beginning of the year and even his last start where he was sitting at 94.5 mph on his radiator, or by Charlie Morton most recent outing where he looked like the ace of old. Run them both and expect continued success.

• At the second level, I understand if some feel Julio Urias is a bit high against the Phillies. Although the radiator isn’t as hot as previous seasons, he still locates well and the curveball is a plus offering he will continue to earn his CSW marks with. I have no hesitation here.
• Like Urías, Sean Manee and Trevor Rogers are solid weapons with dubious matches. I believe the odds are in your favor to let them fly, with the potential to pull back even if the ratios aren’t perfect.

• We have a pair of Toby arm in the second level with excellent clashes. Adam Wainwright is an obvious game against the Pirates, while Hyun Jin Ryu makes his second IL start and gets a comfortable date with the Reds.
• Then there’s our streaming pick of the day, Hunt Silseth. He packs a punch with a 95+ mph heater and smell separator that saw him cruise through six frames in his debut against Oakland last week. He gets them a second time and I don’t see why it couldn’t be more of the same. I would take it for this start.

• The backup streamer is Jacob Junis as he leads the third level. The Padres have struggled a lot against right-handers this year, while Junis has always been at five with the Giants defense behind him, with the best slider I’ve seen from him in a long time. It’s a solid game for the weekend.
• After giving up seven points to the Nationals, Christian Javier isn’t as much of a lock as you’d want it to be against a Rangers team that recently swept the Angels. It could absolutely work, I’m just not as confident as I would like.

• At the bottom of the tier are a quartet of terrible matches that could go either way. Paul Blackburn and Martin Perez are each on one Vargas rule and could win despite their opponents. Carlos Carrasco is forced to endure Coors, and Luis Castillo gets the Jays in his third outing of the season. I wonder if Castillo’s ability to get rid of rust can tip the scales in his favor.
• Here is also Kyle Hendricks, which seems like a great play against the Sneks, but is understandably a cherry bomb for his command has often faltered this season.

• At the lower level, you could do worse than Humberto Castellanos against the Cubs because he’s been decent against weak opponents over the past month.
• Ranger Suarez still doesn’t have his change despite his recent success and a date with the Dodgers looks like an impending disaster.

• I am delighted to find out what we see from Daniel Lynch – will he keep progressing with his high heat and smell slider or will the dangerous Twins bats ruin his day?
• And finally, Aaron Civale has tinkered with its arsenal to offer more cutters and curveballs. I think the approach works long term and we could see it start when he takes on the lowly Tigers on Friday.

• Besides, it’s awful Colorado weather today meaning Carlos Carrasco and German Marquez could see their match postponed today. It could become a doubleheader on Saturday.

Ranking of tomorrow’s starting pitchers

• Watch this big next tier for Saturday, hopefully with plenty of arms to guide you to an H2H victory. Despite the Padres’ better performance against left-handed pitchers and Rodón’s explosion last weekend, I’m still leading with him as the No. 1 game. Its velocity is still intact and its health given, it’s a Top 5 SP in fantasy.
• He’s a bit of a cherry bomb, but Frankie Montas settled last weekend against the Angels for fan twelve in six innings. He can do it again.

• At the bottom of the floor, Aaron Nola and Luis Severino were tough decisions to place in the upper tier. I love Nola and although he survived against the Dodgers’ last start, this is another dice roll I’m not looking forward to.
• As for Luis Severino, I believe in his circuit breakers to come to life and the White Sox are poor against right-handers. You should be fine here.

• The second tier is short, though you might be able to snag both for a weekend stream. Michael Lorenzen showed the ability to go over 6 frames this year and gets a comfortable game against the Athletics. Sign me up.
• You can also find today’s streaming pick here in Alex Faedo, whose slider has returned a Swinging Strike rate of 27% this year. I’d let him roll with him against the modest Guardians roster (and maybe a second time next week).

• On the third floor, Garret Whitlock is a solid game against the Mariners. I wanted to see him perform at a high level for a little longer before I confidently pitch him + the Mariners are a dangerous formation. Still, I can see more than most placing it in their lineups.
• Kyle Bradish is armed with a fantastic slider and a fastball which I’m afraid has a bit too much cut action (reminds me of Corbin Burnes fastball 2019). It’s a bit of a draw with a matchup against the Rays, though dangling his eleven-out game before our eyes is awfully enticing.

• don’t neglect Madison Bumgarner as a streaming option against the Cubs – it’s a Toby with a decent match. That’s what they do.
• I’m happy to watch by Matthieu Liberatore MLB debut Saturday night and while I normally say avoid debuts, it’s the Pirates. I’m ok with picking it up and letting it roll and taking it from there.

• How ready are you to ride by Jose Quintana Vargas rule? What about justin steel‘s high puff night last time? These are tough calls and I’m leaning on the bench here, but I can understand some will want to take a chance.
• There is also Jon Gray as he takes on the mighty Astros. The results weren’t great, but he just exhibited the best slider we’ve seen from him in ages, resulting in over 50% CSW and 11 puffs overnight from the sweeper. That could propel him to another 8+ batting game.

• At the lower level there are a lot of decent weapons with terrible clashes, leading with Chris Flexen. He is a Toby that just hit a wall and the Red Sox feel a little too risky for my blood.
• There is intrigue in Mitch White, but he’s not stretched as a starter and I imagine it’s a bullpen game for the Dodgers.

Featured image by Drew Wheeler (@drewisokay on Twitter)