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: 4-2
My pick yesterday: Nick Pivetta vs. PIT
PL Bot’s 2023 Streamer Record: 3-3
PL Bot’s Pick yesterday: José Suarez @ SEA
Today’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- Oh my look at all those aces! I know that the majority of you will disagree somewhere with the order of the top tier, but does it really matter? Start them all, yes even Aaron Nola in New York after his rough opening start. It’s Aaron Nola. He’s had a bad start in his life before.
- I originally had Pablo López ranked higher, but I may be overreacting to his initial start to the year with all of these highly-rated pitchers with better track records. Still, get amped for his upped velocity and new sweeper. This could be a phenomenal season.
- With the first tier jam-packed, the third tier is awfully small. Marcus Stroman is a clear play against the Reds, but there is a tinge of risk pitching inside Great American Small Park.
- David Peterson wasn’t at his best against the Marlins and the Brewers make for a bit more of a challenge, but I imagine Peterson will make the right adjustments to get his slider located gloveside and be the man we know he should be.
- The streaming pick of the day is labeled in green despite the name being Corey Kluber. Was it a good first start? Absolutely not! But he gets the Pirates instead of the hot Orioles offense and could cruise to a Win without damage. It’s borderline, but I’m going for it.
I debated if I wanted to have anyone in the third tier here, and it’s possible the first option doesn’t even start. Tyler Wells had to pitch on Monday after Kyle Bradish exited early, and it’s possible Kyle Gibson pitches on Tuesday, with Austin Voth or another arm going Wednesday. Either way, I’m not too encouraged by Gibson against Texas, but it’s possible he has his best slider and changeup to make it worthwhile.
- I was encouraged by Eduardo Rodriguez’s first start of the season against the Rays and if he faced an easier opponent, he’d be in the second tier. But it’s the Astros and we all emit a deep sigh of sadness.
- Two more options squeezed into the third tier – Kyle Muller and Miles Mikolas. The former wasn’t at his best on opening day, but Muller may have his better secondaries against the Guardians and make this worthwhile. Mikolas has a tough challenge against Atlanta, but the powerful Cardinals bats may have his back for a Win.
- In the bottom tier, Mitch Keller isn’t doing enough with his arsenal for me to risk a potential blowup against the Red Sox.
- Hunter Gaddis is…okay, but after watching Zach Plesac get demolished by the Athletics, I think it’s best just to sit this one out.
- The final options inspire little excitement. Zack Greinke is a tough play in general with low strikeout and Win rates and a date with the Jays makes it a clear avoid. Chris Flexen is stepping in for Robbie Ray and I wouldn’t anticipate a ton of pitches out of the gate, let alone his middling repertoire against a dangerous Angels lineup.
- We know to skip Patrick Corbin – obviously – but some may remember Bryce Elder having some good stretches last year. He’s struggled through the spring, though, and you don’t want to chance it against the Cardinals right now.
- Update: Today marks the MLB debut of Grayson Rodriguez against the Rangers. My rule is to bench MLB debuts – jitters are weird, pitch counts are often limited, and there’s general haze as to what their current ability is – and Grayson isn’t an exception, especially with his shaky spring and poor MiLB start last week.
Tomorrow’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- It’s a short slate for Thursday but we still have some fun plays with Spencer Strider, Kevin Gausman, Lance Lynn, and Zack Wheeler at the top of the ranks. Surely Gausman’s WHIP will fall and Wheeler’s command issues will be remedied…right?
- Nick Lodolo and Dustin May sit at the bottom of the ranks as young arms who we’re starting if we have them. Lodolo earned a career-high 22 whiffs in his first outing and gets a Phillies team that’s susceptible to the big breaker. As for May, I want to see a little more in the whiff department before getting properly excited, though he’s certainly worth the start against the Diamondbacks.
- It wasn’t a pristine premier for Blake Snell, but he walked away with nine strikeouts and confidence in his heater. As long as the breakers aren’t bounced as frequently, he should survive against a strong Atlanta squad.
- Chris Sale could not have had a worse season debut as we’re still waiting for that dominant start for us to get hyped again. The thing is, Sale didn’t pitch nearly as poor as the line suggests and the Tigers are as exploitable as any offense out there. I’m going for it.
- Our streaming pick of the day is Tylor Megill against the Marlins. His slider was great and while the fastball velocity dipped a bit, he should be good enough to produce against the lowly Miami thump.
- The third tier kicks off with Megill’s opponent Edward Cabrera. I’m still waiting for Cabrera to get his fastball command in order, though I’m not as scared of the Mets crew these days. There’s enough in the tank to make this well worth the gamble.
- I’m excited to watch Alex Wood’s first start of the season, but how long will he go? And is this another season of the White Sox punishing southpaws? I’m leaning start but it’s not clear-cut.
- Clarke Schmidt and Spencer Turnbull close out the tier and while Schmidt is a step above Turnbull, both are shifty options. Schmidt wasn’t polished against the Giants and will have to recover quickly to hold off the exciting Orioles squad, while Turnbull got his jitters out of the way in his TJS return last week. The four-seamer/slider combo could take down the Red Sox if he executes on Thursday.
- In the bottom tier, I know Kyle Freeland, Merrill Kelly, and Jordan Lyles all came out on top in their first starts, but they have terrible floors and don’t have a great situation ahead. I have to also mention Freeland’s sub-90 mph heater and pitching in Coors (even against the Nationals).
- I wish Josiah Gray was pitching in a different situation as I’m waiting for that one outing to display his new approach with cutters/sliders first and four-seamers second. The potential is there, just not here.
Featured Image by Drew Wheeler (@drewisokay on Twitter)