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: 7-3
My pick yesterday: Bailey Falter vs. CIN
PL Bot’s 2023 Streamer Record: 3-7
PL Bot’s Pick yesterday: Eric Lauer vs. STL
Today’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- Why does it always feel like Sunday has the toughest choices? Just a few studs in the top tier, with Drew Rasmussen getting the only smooth matchup against the Athletics.
- I’m putting Nestor Cortes ahead of George Kirby with Camden becoming a pitcher’s park and Kirby not flexing a legit secondary pitch in his season debut.
- In the second tier, Jon Gray slides above Reid Detmers as the Cubs in Wrigley are far easier to deal with than the mighty Toronto offense.
- The streaming pick of the day is Anthony DeSclafani as he’ll likely toss 80 pitches against a poor Royals crew. He’s the clear-cut option over the entire third tier.
- Oh, that third tier. I sat for a while sifting through this and landed on the current ranking – I imagine you have plenty of differences here and ultimately, go with your gut. Don’t forget, I generally don’t like these starts as they are in the third tier.
- It starts with Tyler Mahle in a tough matchup against the Astros. I’m leaning start, but it’s not certain the velocity is locked at 94 mph and the Astros can punish Mahle quickly.
- The same question of velocity is there with Taijuan Walker and he was roughed up by the Yankees earlier this week. Graham Ashcraft is on the other side and it’s a dangerous start as I wait for Ashcraft to properly wield his velocity and unlock his potential.
- I want to believe Jameson Taillon’s first start of the year was a fluke and that we’ll see more breakers in his second outing of the year…but he does have to take on the hot Rangers lineup and I’d love to wait and see, if possible.
- We saw three elements of Kris Bubic come through last time out – new velocity, whiffs, and better changeup command – and the Giants seem like the perfect opportunity for a stream, but we’ve also seen Bubic fluctuate between starts in the past.
- Carlos Carrasco and Michael Kopech seem to be obvious starts against the Marlins and Pirates, respectively, but they have me terrified with their drops in velocity and overall ineffectiveness.
- I’d be more into Hunter Brown, Dylan Dodd, Matthew Boyd, and Seth Lugo, but their schedules do them no favors. I imagine a few of them can overcome the challenge, but good luck guessing which ones.
- I still have a soft spot for Michael Grove, who could steal a Win against the Diamondbacks, especially if he gets his four-seamer elevated. His breakers are good enough to soar at the bottom of the zone.
- At the bottom of the tier, do we want to bank on Yusei Kikuchi or James Kaprielian having their command? I didn’t think so.
- Tyler Wells is pitching in his lovely home park and has shown the ability to survive 5/6 frames, but the low ceiling makes this a start we’re not targeting against the Yankees.
- The bottom tier has some interesting starts like Kutter Crawford against the lowly Tigers or Ryne Nelson and his strong fastball (and even Johan Oviedo if his fastball command is decent!), but the risk is too great.
- If you’re in dire need of a Quality Start, Zach Plesac may go six against the Mariners…even if he destroyed many teams last week with his outing against the Athletics.
- Update: The Reds pushed back Graham Ashcraft a day with Connor Overton going in his place. We don’t want to touch Overton here.
Tomorrow’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- It’s ace day on Monday and the only real arms of contention here when I shout start your studs are Max Scherzer (it’s too early to change direction), Logan Webb (it’s the Dodgers but you start Webb anyway), and Zac Gallen (slow start and slight velocity dip, it’s the Brewers).
- I’m also a touch concerned about Shane Bieber with his 90.3 mph heater last time out and we’ll see how he progresses against the Yankees, likely with 50%+ sliders once again.
- In the second tier, Kenta Maeda looked fantastic against the Marlins and should carry it over against the White Sox, hopefully with a better splitter as well.
- Andrew Heaney gave us nightmares after his first outing, but a start against the Royals and, you know, small sample, should get him back on track.
- The streaming pick of the day is Kyle Gibson and I’ve elected to slot him into the second tier with a matchup against the Athletics. If you have Gibson rostered, these are the starts you’re holding onto him for.
- Flirting with the second tier is José Suarez as he faces the Nationals. He didn’t perform well against the Mariners, but the Nationals’ offense with their fair amount of left-handed batters makes this a considerable start for Suarez.
- The only two others I remotely like to start on Monday are Domingo Germán and Bryce Elder. Germán’s curveball could carry him through a start against the Guardians while Elder was strong in his season debut and has a relatively good matchup hosting the Reds.
- Some may want to throw Graham Ashcraft out there with reckless abandon, I’m personally skeptical he’s figured out his arsenal by now and Atlanta can punish in a heartbeat.
- The bottom half of the tier is all kinds of rickety. Nick Pivetta is a decent play for strikeouts but not ratios, Wade Miley had a lovely first start but Arizona is heating up as an offense, Steven Matz pitched better than the line in his first outing and could survive Coors, and Zach Greinke is…Zach Greinke.
- I wonder if JP Sears can perform in Camden with his new slider. He didn’t get away with his fastball in his first outing and that could change in his second outing.
- I don’t expect great things from Matt Strahm in his second chance in the rotation – expect around 70 pitches or so – but hey, it’s the Marlins. Maybe it works?
- There’s still hope for Roansy Contreras and Drew Smyly, but it’s too risky at the moment (Roansy survived against the Astros, but I don’t trust the stuff right now). Let’s sit these out and see how this works out.
Featured Image by Drew Wheeler (@drewisokay on Twitter)