Starting Pitcher Streamer Rankings Fantasy Baseball – 3/30 & 3/31

Here are today’s daily SP Streamer rankings.

Every day of the 2023 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 10am – 12pm ET. If you have questions about 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. This includes “if I have them rostered, I’m starting them” pitchers.

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-not-elite pitcher or a weak lineup for a volatile arm. These pitchers have a 50% or greater chance of performing well in my view.

Questionable Start – Think of this tier as “I don’t want to start these pitchers in a vacuum, but you could do worse.” Streamers found in this tier are not pitchers I’m targeting and are only if you are in dire need of one. To play it safe with streaming, just start the Probably Start streamers.

Do Not Start – The reward is not worth the risk. Don’t do it. Seriously, these pitchers have a very slim chance of success or sometimes none at all.

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. Those in Yellow in the third tier and should be okay if you’re searching for something on a given day, but I don’t recommend streaming unless you’re in need. 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.

(Opener) – Outlines that a pitcher is being opened for that day & the pitcher listed will follow the opener.

As I do my rankings, I thought it would be helpful to showcase a table of how we’re ranking offenses:

I’m sure it’ll change through the year + there are differences to be made about teams vs. LHP or RHP, but it works as a general table that y’all should keep in mind.

Alright, let’s get to it.

 

This year, with our new daily fantasy baseball projections powered by PLV, I’ll be competing against PL Bot to pick the best streaming option each day.

To get access to PL Bot’s picks each day, sign up for PL Pro here.

 

Nick’s 2023 Streamer Record: 0-0

 

PL Bot’s 2023 Streamer Record: 0-0

 

 

Today’s Starting Pitcher Rankings

 

• Welcome back for another year! Please read the notes and don’t care too much about the rankings of the auto-start tiers – IT’S AUTO START.
• Seriously, if you want Shohei Ohtani above Corbin Burnes, by all means, go for it. Same with Hunter Greene higher for facing the Pirates or Shane Bieber lower against the Mariners. It’s all fine with me, you’re starting them anyway.

 

• The second tier contains Dylan Cease and Zac Gallen, two pitchers who were inside my “Aces of Dubs” but get tough matchups against the Astros and Dodgers. Given that the Probably Start tier is a heavy endorsement for a start, it doesn’t mean a whole lot, but I wanted to have the distinction that these two guys are riskier than the others.
• Marcus Stroman is also here, who is rostered in roughly 40% of leagues. He could be a sneaky play for some to snag a Win against the Brewers, though he does have to outperform Corbin Burnes to do so.

 

• In the third tier, Corey Kluber is our official first streamer of the season as he faces the Orioles. He’s looked relatively normal with his cutter and curveball this spring, even if his velocity is hovering 88/89 mph. The Orioles could come out swinging, though, and I wouldn’t play the streaming game right out of the gate with Kluber.
• There are two other options here with Eduardo Rodriguez against the Rays and Mitch Keller heading to Cincinnati. Erod could have a renaissance of a season after the despair of 2022, while Keller has been flexing a new approach in the spring. Both come with boatloads of risk, though, and we’d love to wait-and-see on both arms.

 

• We may see some surprises from the bottom tier of today’s games, but there’s no reason to put yourself in harm’s way on the first day of the season. I’m curious what we get from Kyle Muller and, yes, Patrick Corbin as both lefties have potential to earn strikeouts and avoid damage. Nick, that’s THE Patrick Corbin you’re talking about. I know, I know. I just get this feeling he’s actually returning to form this year. But don’t worry, there’s no reason to pick him up until we actually see some evidence of that.
• As for the rest, Miles Mikolas shouldn’t be chased with a rough outing against the Jays, Zack Greinke is sure to collect only a handful of strikeouts at most, Kyle Gibson’s new cutter did little to impress in the spring, and Germán Márquez is so far removed from his glistening 2018 campaign.

 

Tomorrow’s Starting Pitcher Rankings

 

• It’s a small five-game slate on Friday, with Robbie Ray and Cristian Javier leading the way. I trust Ray to throw more innings than Javier, while Ray has thrown harder this spring and Javier has shown a touch lower velocity. It’s a little safer and I hope to be so wrong as I swoon for Javier once again.
• The second tier features plenty of names I adore, including Jesús Luzardo and Lance Lynn. Unfortunately, they each get a top-tier offense and I can’t slot them in the top tier. Bummer.

 

• I would love 2023 to be the year of Dustin May’s proper breakout as he pitches a full season returning from TJS, but his spring wasn’t as smooth as can be. I’m still starting him against the Diamondbacks, but there’s a chance this doesn’t go the way we want it to.
• There are two streaming options for today in David Peterson and Nick Martinez, both of whom I’d roster for their starts on Friday. Peterson’s new slider mixed with a BSB approach could help him take full advantage of Miami’s offense, while Martinez has a premier Win chance facing Rockie Road – his spring has been stellar and I think he’s going to surprise many.

 

• There is a rare day when we don’t have a pitcher for the Questionable Start tier. I don’t compromise my ranks just to satisfy superficial needs, ya’ll.
• You could argue Merrill Kelly belongs in the third tier, but a date with the Dodgers brings nothing but fear for the first game of the season. The strikeout ceiling is low and the ratios you’re chasing are just not worth it.

 

• Otherwise, there’s Kyle Freeland and Hunter Gaddis. There are brief moments when Freeland soars but picking your spots is more difficult than finding the right time to cross a freeway. That makes no sense. Neither does starting Freeland.
• As for Gaddis, there maaaay be some promise as we progress through the season, but we have to wait for the man to make a few starts and showcase the receipts first. From what I’ve seen already, there isn’t enough in the repertoire for us to chase this – let alone being able to toss 90 pitches in a game.

 

Featured Image by Drew Wheeler (@drewisokay on Twitter)