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: 9-3
My pick yesterday: Kyle Gibson vs. OAK
PL Bot’s 2023 Streamer Record: 5-7
PL Bot’s Pick yesterday: Matt Strahm vs. CIN
Today’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- So. Many. Aces. I’m not going to bother nit-picking here, start them all. Yes, even Corbin Burnes after his rough start to the year.
- The second tier carries Grayson Rodriguez and Lance Lynn, each hoping to take a step forward from their previous outings. Grayson has a lovely matchup possibly deserving of the top tier, while I’m trusting Lynn to not be the guy we saw in his last start. He’s much better than that, y’all.
- The Questionable Start tier isn’t a whole lot of fun. I’m fine starting Merrill Kelly against the Brewers and Hayden Wesneski should be better as he faces the Mariners.
- Our streaming pick of the day can be found here with Chris Flexen against the Cubs. Yeah, it’s not a fun one and I’m not chasing it, but I have to choose someone. Flexen is stretched out to 90 pitches and Wrigley isn’t a terrible place to pitch.
- Kyle Wright is returning from the IL in what could be considered a Still ILL scenario. Considering it’s more of a “hey, we just wanted to delay your season a little longer”, I’m more accepting of starting him against a middling Reds offense on the road
- It’s similar for Garrett Whitlock, but he’s enduring the hot Rays offense and I’m going to play that Still ILL safe in the bottom tier.
- There’s some hope that the heavy breaking ball approach of Josiah Gray will come through against the Angels, while Kyle Muller has a solid breaker and a decent fastball that may be enough inside Camden Yards. I’d play it safe in the majority of situations for both, though.
- In the bottom tier, I’m not a fan of Jordan Lyles, Mitch Keller, or Hunter Gaddis, but I recognize the possibility of each surviving 5/6 frames despite their volatility and tough opponents.
- After witnessing a lack of slider whiffs and overall command from David Peterson, I have little interest in spinning the wheel against the Padres.
- The rest of the ranks are straightforward. Alex Wood isn’t looking great and gets the Dodgers, Miles Mikolas is in Coors, Kyle Freeland has done well but gets in the Cardinals also in Coors, and Ryan Weathers‘ changeup isn’t enough for me to trust him against the Mets.
Tomorrow’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- The top tier is easy as always and given the poor lineups facing our top four options, Brandon Woodruff has to take the short stick and land at the #5 spot. I know, such a rough life.
- Logan Gilbert and Nathan Eovaldi are definitively below the premier options but are still clear starts against the Cubs and Royals.
- I want to put Hunter Greene in the top tier, but I recognize his volatility + the Atlanta lineup isn’t fun to deal with. Still very much worth the start in the majority of leagues, of course.
- Sonny Gray is coming off a fantastic outing and is a clear play, though we all recognize his tendency to be a Cherry Bomb throughout his career.
- He hasn’t gotten into a full groove yet and I expect Chris Sale to improve as the season goes on, making him a Top 10 play for Wednesday’s games.
- José Urquidy and Marcus Stroman are casual plays on Wednesday, while Lucas Giolito and Blake Snell are a bit more contentious. I trust Giolito’s blowup to be more of a one time thing, while Snell is likely to figure out getting strikes with his breakers to make his strikeouts worth the gamble.
- The Questionable Start tier leads with our streaming pick of the day in Dean Kremer hosting the Athletics. Win potential? Check. Poor lineup? Check. Decent enough stuff to not hurt ratios? Check. Good park to pitch in? Check. I’m gonna stop with the checks now, but you get the point. Only 2% rostered…
- MacKenzie Gore is also a considerable option against the Angels as he’s done well despite tough opponents early in the season. I question if Gore has actually mastered his arsenal yet, but his heaters have performed well and his breakers are coming together. This could be a major outing for the southpaw.
- I question how many pitches the Diamondbacks will let Drey Jameson toss against the Brewers, but this should be a generally favorable start…right?
- Zach Eflin doesn’t thrill me against the Red Sox, but I understand letting him fly and figuring it out later.
- I don’t love the matchups for Alex Cobb and Tylor Megill, making this a case where I’d rather play it safe instead of risking a disaster on the ratios.
- With the way Edward Cabrera can’t find strikes, it’s not in your best interest to start the man against a Philadelphia offense that put up 15 runs on Monday.
- I’ve lost interest in Clarke Schmidt as his new slider isn’t doing enough to carry his pedestrian arsenal. The ceiling isn’t high enough here.
- Griffin Canning is getting the start for the Angels and while he did fan 10 in his last rehab start, it was in Single-A. But the Nationals are a Single-A team! Stop that. It’s too risky to start Canning here.
- I have to wonder if Brad Keller actually figured something out this off-season and he can become Rad Keller for most of 2023, but we’re going to watch this one from afar as wise people do.
- The rest is far too dangerous to pursue. Eduardo Rodriguez against the Jays makes me uncomfortable just staring at it, Rich Hill is over the…hump, Ken Waldichuk’s command is shaky and it’s Jack Flaherty vs. José Ureña inside Coors. Yeah.
Featured Image by Drew Wheeler (@drewisokay on Twitter)