Every day of the 2022 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 9am – 12am ET. If you have questions to 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.
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 pitcher or a weak lineup for a volatile arm.
Questionable Start – There are situations where I’d take the chance, either with strong enough upside on the ability side, or a poor offense that a pitcher could take advantage of.
Do Not Start – The reward is not worth the risk. Don’t do it.
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. The most common are those in Yellow in the third tier and should be decent if you’re searching for something on a given day. 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.
As I do my rankings, I thought it would be helpful to showcase a table of how we’re ranking offenses. Dave Swan does an incredible job of showcasing future SP matchups every 2-3 weeks in this article, and I’ve elected to use his offense ranks to share with all of you here:
I’m sure it’ll change through the year + there are differences to be made about teams vs. LHP or RHP, but it’s a great general table that y’all should keep in mind.
Alright, let’s get to it.
2022 Streamer Record: 12-7
Today’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- Plenty of great start-and-forget players on Tuesday. For example, even against a tough Red Sox lineup, Kevin Gausman has proven himself in the early weeks of the season and shouldn’t come with hesitation.
- Logan Gilbert is an interesting one here as he faces the Rays. His box scores have been great so far, though I do have a touch of concern about the lack of development from his slider and changeup. Let’s hope they improve here against Tampa Bay.
- It’s a small second tier with Eduardo Rodriguez leading the way. He hasn’t soared this season as we’ve wanted him to and the Twins could help him get back on track – just don’t allow a longball to Byron Buxton, okay?
- The streaming pick of the day goes to Zach Eflin as he hosts Rockie Road in Philly. We know the kind of pitcher Eflin is, making for an opportunity for a solid day at the park for those only looking at the small sample of ERA.
- In the third tier, Tony Gonsolin sits atop the pack as he faces the Diamondbacks. He finally earned whiffs on the slider last time out, but failed to earn consistent strikes with it (sub 60% rate) as its consistency is still an issue. This start should go his way, but I have to acknowledge how he’s not quite the man we want him to be yet.
- I’ve had an adoration for Josiah Gray since his debut last year and I’ve seen firsthand his volatility start-to-start. Things have fallen his way thus far and it could continue against Miami, just be aware of the low floor as well.
- In the final tier, I can see many leaning on Mitch Keller for a two-start week, especially as he faces the struggling Brewers on Tuesday. Despite the cold lineup, Keller has showcased himself as a Cherry Bomb at best, with his secondaries severely lagging behind. There’s too much risk for me to stick him in my lineups.
- Another popular option has been Josh Fleming after three starts of a near 12 K/9 and 67% groundball rate…across fewer than eleven frames as he’s failed to go four innings for the Rays thus far. I’m not buying it.
- Someone to keep an eye on is Chris Paddack as his four-seamer was as good as I’ve seen in a long time during his last start. It’s too risky to buy into one outing from a guy like Paddack, but who knows, maybe the fastball has been fixed and can carry him in future outings.
Tomorrow’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- Not the largest top tier on Wednesday and per usual, you should feel awfully comfortable with everyone listed here. Shohei Ohtani should be a fun one given his heavy reliance on sliders against the Astros and I’d love to see it repeated against the oddly strong Cleveland offense.
- It hasn’t been a smooth start to the season for Charlie Morton and despite going against the hot Cubs crew, I think it’s in your best interest to trust a rebound. You don’t want to miss the game when Morton kicks it back into gear.
- In the second tier, Jordan Montgomery should be a safe play against the Orioles, regardless of his sub 20% strikeout rate this season.
- The Dodgers are a tough team to face, but Zac Gallen is working the edges well with his heater and his secondaries are showing new life. I’d still roll him out there.
- It may be the last start we see from MacKenzie Gore for a while and despite heading into the hitting paradise that is Great American Ballpark, the Reds are struggling so much that I’d feel fine starting Gore here.
- Give Ranger Suárez some time, he’ll come around proper and Rockie Road (yes, it’s still a thing despite the strong opening weeks from the Colorado offense) should help him get back on track.
- In the third tier, Steven Matz leads the way as I heavily considered him in the second tier with the St. Louis defense behind him. He doesn’t present the most overwhelming stuff, though, and the Mets could make it a bit more difficult than we’d like to see.
- We’re all excited to see Cristian Javier make his first proper start for the Astros this year, though it comes against the Rangers with a pitch count that shouldn’t eclipse 70 pitches after sitting in the mid-50s in his last two appearances. This may be the start you bench him before he gets a true opportunity for Houston.
- In the final tier, Glenn Otto is turning heads but he’ll likely toss around 80 pitches and he gets a tough draw against the Astros. I’d play it safe for one more outing and go from there.
- Michael Pineda found a way to go five frames last time out and I wouldn’t rely on him to consistently produce for fantasy teams, especially when the slider isn’t what it used to be.
- Jakob Junis did an interesting thing last time he started – he tossed fewer than 20% fastballs, leaning on sliders and changeups instead. It could work against the lowly Athletics, but we all recognize the horrid floor that could show itself instead.
- I can see many trusting Paul Blackburn as a Toby but the Giants offense often finds a way to disrupt opposing starting pitchers. I don’t think he does quite enough on the hill to justify the start in standard situations.
Featured Image by Drew Wheeler (@drewisokay on Twitter)
No blurb about Ashby as the streaming pick of the day on Wednesday?
What he said.