Chris Landers goes over their top pitchers to stream in fantasy baseball for this week.
The starting pitching picture has been topsy-turvy all season long, with injuries and this new run-happy environment turning plenty of top draft picks into drags on your fantasy baseball roster. Everyone loves swinging a big trade to plug holes, but sometimes you just need a player who will give you a solid week of production — which is where our weekly pitcher streaming recommendations come in. Here are three guys we recommend targeting on the waiver wire.
Pitchers to stream
Yusei Kikuchi, Toronto Blue Jays — Kikuchi has struggled recently amid difficult matchups against the Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays, but he’s proven that he can find success against weaker offenses — and it doesn’t get weaker against left-handed pitching this year than the Milwaukee Brewers. Milwaukee rank dead-last by a mile in team OPS against southpaws, putting Kikuchi — who’s holding lefties to a .222 average so far this year — in a great spot. He even gets a second start later in the week against an up-and-down New York Mets team, which you can take or leave depending on how things go.
Ryne Nelson, Arizona Diamondbacks — Nelson has been great in his last two outings, holding the Oakland Athletics and Philadelphia Phillies to just one run on four hits over 11.1 innings. He gets a dream start on Monday at home against a Colorado Rockies team that ranks 27th in team OPS away from Coors Field — and who will be starting rookie Karl Kauffmann, more or less guaranteeing Nelson a win if he can navigate at least five innings. You’ll probably want to let Nelson go ahead of his start against the Atlanta Braves next weekend, but it’s worth noting that Atlanta’s bats have been quiet of late.
Rich Hill, Pittsburgh Pirates — I’m not quite sure how the 43-year-old is doing it, but the results speak for themselves, with six starts of two or fewer earned runs so far this season. The San Francisco Giants aren’t scaring anyone at the dish lately, especially against lefties, and the contact-oriented Hill should thrive at pitcher-friendly Oracle Park.