The 16th edition of the Two Start Starters is a unique one, as the All-Star Break is next week. Some leagues will run a short week, while others add the following week to their matchups. Due to that, this edition is going to be a bit different.
Rather than rank pitchers making their starts next week, I’ll be highlighting nine pitchers rostered ~50% or less in Yahoo Leagues that I believe are worth considering for this long matchup series, or to stash for the rest of the season.
If you have any questions about any pitchers not listed below, please do not hesitate to reply to Nick’s tweet with the link to this article! I’m happy to share my thought process
Jack Flaherty is rostered in 54% of Yahoo leagues, and the season stat line — 4.60 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, GB% notably below his career average, K% below his career average, and a BB% 2 points higher than his career average — indicates this could be generous.
However, since his May 28th start, JFlare has pitched to a 2.45 ERA and 1.13 WHIP with elite 30.3% and 6.6% K and BB rates, respectively. The key to his success is his secondaries, as the fastball has a 55.7% HardHit% on the season. When the four-seamer isn’t getting hit, it has a 29.7% CSW (79th percentile), indicating it remains an effective pitch. These next two games against the Phillies and Cubs will be great litmus tests to determine if the previous stretch is what we can expect the rest of the season.
The multi-time STOW Joey Cantillo is rostered in only 51% of Yahoo leagues despite having a solid season: 3.66 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 96 IP over 19 starts, 23.5% K%, 11.5% BB%. Cantillo generates whiffs on his changeup (19.6% SwStr%) and curveball (16.5% SwStr%), and he’ll use the changeup to both LHH and RHH.
When he doesn’t have a feel for the strike zone with his secondaries, the walks can add up. He had 3 walks in his last start, in which he had a sub-60 % strike rate on both the changeup and curve, 5 walks two starts ago, where the fastball was zoned 52% of the time and both the changeup and curveball were zoned 35% or less.
A positive development is that his fastball has been closer to 93 mph in recent outings, about a tick higher than the 91.9 mph it’s averaged this season.
After his performance against the Yankees — 5.1 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 12 K — Ian Seymour is at least in the most likely tier going forward and is only rostered in 50% of Yahoo leagues. He has 20.3% K-BB% and is fully stretched out, throwing 94 pitches in that start against the Yankees, which is notable as the Rays have been extremely cautious with their starters’ pitch counts this season.
Seymore relies primarily on his changeup (31%) and sweeper (25%) while still using the four-seamer (24%) a notable amount. His sweeper is unique in that it has 8.7 inches of ride, making it an effective pitch against both RHH and LHH. All three pitches are legitimate weapons
The changeup has a 17.6% SwStr% and is chased 37.4% of the time, while his fastball is similar to Nestor Cortes‘ on the Yankees, making up for the lack of velocity with iVB. Despite averaging just 91.7 mph on his four-seam fastball, the pitch has a SwStr% of 13.7% thanks to its 17 inches of iVB.
Over his last four starts, Seymour has pitched 23 innings, allowing 7 ER (2.74 ERA) on 15 H and 2 BBs (0.74 WHIP), with 31 Ks.
The Red Sox have produced their third quality young lefty, as Jake Bennett has had a phenomenal start to his career, pitching to a 2.64 ERA with a 0.94 WHIP over 47.2 IP across 8 starts (just under 6 IP an outing). The southpaw has exceptional command (4.4% walk rate) and a strike rate over 65% on his three primary pitches (Four-seamer 34% usage, Sinker 28% usage, changeup 26% usage).
His last start was an efficient 81-pitch, 7-inning shutout in which he allowed just 5 base runners. Despite generating 8 whiffs over those 81 pitches and finishing with a 31% CSW%, he struck out just 4 hitters.
This lack of strikeouts has been a trend throughout his debut season so far; however, Bennett has had plenty of success getting hitters to expand the zone — 38.8% O-Swing%– and his 12.8% SwStr% indicates that strikeouts should be coming at a higher rate. He’s currently rostered in 47% of Yahoo leagues, and is someone I’m looking to add sooner rather than later.
Ryan Weathers‘ big issue is home runs. He’s rostered in 46% of Yahoo but has an exceptional 19.9% K-BB% and a 90th percentile 30.7% CSW%. He’s set a career high in innings, and while there were potentially some bullpen concerns, he should be a rotation mainstay for the foreseeable future as the Yankees SP depth is being tested due to injuries (Rodon/Fried/Schmidt/LaGrange), ineffectiveness from AAA options Elmer Rodríguez and Brendan Beck, and Will Warren’s struggles with LHH.
His issues with home runs aren’t a new problem, as he struggled with this in 2025 (1.64 HR/9 in 2025, 1.56 HR/9 in 2026), but this season his HR/FB% is 26.2%. In pitcher-friendly parks or against lighter-hitting teams, he’s someone I would always consider starting.
In three of his last four starts, he’s averaging a 15% SwStr% (SP average is just over 10%) without a notable increase in his BB%. Even with the home run issue and workload concerns, the swing and miss is tantalizing, especially when it comes with the above-average control, giving a higher ceiling than most pitchers rostered under 50%.
Another rookie rostered under 50% on Yahoo who is an intriguing candidate is Gage Jump of the Athletics, rostered in only 32% of Yahoo leagues.
Jump features good breaking pitches (114 Stuff+ on the Slider, 131 Stuff+ on the curveball per Fangraphs) as well as an above-average four-seam fastball (103 Stuff+) that gets zoned (98th percentile) and chased (71st percentile) at a high rate.
The high zone/chase rate is also apparent with his Slider (70th percentile Zone, 82nd percentile Chase), while his curveball is a chase pitch (92nd percentile in chase) and is primarily reserved for 2-strike counts along with his sweeper.
The last two starts haven’t been great for Jump, as he struggled getting the results on his fastball we’d expect, generating 1 whiff on 43 fastballs in his last start and 1 whiff on 45 fastballs in the prior one. However, the stuff is electric, and he should continue to improve as he gets more experience in the MLB.
Jared Jones is rostered in only 25% of Yahoo leagues, and while the pitch count is still a work in progress (he’s topped 80 pitches once this season), he finally got through the 5th inning for the first time in his last inning, pitching 6 perfect innings with 8 strikeouts. He generated 14 whiffs on just 77 pitches in that outing and has an elite 15.9% SwStr% (96th percentile) coupled with a strong 47.9% groundball rate (78th percentile).
As mentioned above, the Pirates are being cautious with their electric arm, and the pitch count is hovering in the 70s after missing all of 2025 with an injury. Despite the time off, the command has not been an issue. His 34.5% BadPitch% is right in line with his 32.3% in 2024 and is in the 70th percentile.
His fastball and slider are both up a tick or two, and the stuff is so good. The Pirates eventually have to let him throw more than 80 pitches as the Pirates are 5 games back of the final wildcard spot, and a three-headed monster of Jones, Paul Skenes, and Braxton Ashcraft would be formidable for any potential playoff opponent.
Brandon Sproat was a major piece in the Freddy Peralta trade, and he’s flashed the potential that makes him an intriguing arm. Rostered in only 25% of Yahoo leagues, Sproat has the stuff to rack up strikeouts (27 K’s in 19 IP over his last 4 starts). He can attack hitters with the growingly popular three-fastball approach, playing his sinker and cutter off a four-seamer that generated 5 whiffs on 33 pitches in his last outing.
Sproat also features a sweeper and curveball that should tunnel nicely off his fastball-heavy approach, giving him additional weapons to put away hitters. Sproat’s had his ups and downs this year, but he’s looked much better over the past month, and few teams are better at developing pitchers than the Brewers.
Christian Scott, rostered in 16% of Yahoo leagues, isn’t a bad option in deeper leagues. Scott has arguably been the Mets’ second-best starter this season from a fantasy (and real-life?) perspective thanks to an elite K rate (27.9%). Scott does have his warts — the 11.2% BB rate isn’t great, and expecting more than 5 innings in an outing is a stretch– but he’s pitched to a 3.17 ERA and 1.30 WHIP this season. The elite strikeout rate keeps the ceiling high, and the Mets’ starting pitching issues should keep him in the rotation for the rest of the season.
