As expected, the first week of the season has been difficult to get a read on. That’s always been the case. It’s such a crapshoot during week one. But it’s not necessarily starting pitchers that are hard to read. Plenty of positional players like Gary Sanchez, Jose Ramirez, Manny Machado, and pretty much all of the Cubs have gotten off to a sluggish start (Side note: Machado had a phenomenal game Friday night). Things will level out and regression to the mean always happens. There is plenty of season left so lets dive right in to week two.
Ten-Team Leagues
Patrick Corbin (ARI) – If Corbin is still available in your league he needs to be owned. His ownership is climbing so the time to grab him is now. He’s 81% owned in Yahoo! and 73% owned in ESPN so get him while you can! In two starts (13 innings) he has 20 strikeouts to two walks with a fantastic 17.8% swinging strike rate. It’s a small sample size, but he pitched against the Dodgers and Rockies in Chase Field. Those are some formidable lineups, and perhaps Corbin is a beneficiary of the humidor effect. His next two starts are projected to come against the Giants who have scored one run or fewer in four of their six games this season. That’s pretty damn tempting.
Tyler Chatwood (CHC) – Chatwood could be a regular in this year’s SP Streamers piece (as he was in 2017). He was pretty good in his last start against the Reds and gets to face the Pirates in his first start this week and then the Braves in his second start. That matchup against the Braves is somewhat concerning because Atlanta’s offense is on fire to start the year. The Cubs offense is off to a pretty bad start, but they’ll come around and possibly get Chatwood some run support next week. Fantasy baseball is a marathon, not a sprint.
Sean Manaea (OAK) – In a season where most pitchers have had a short leash to begin the year, we haven’t seen many guys go super deep into games. And yet Sean Manaea of all people leads the league in innings pitched with 15.2 innings of work over his first two starts. He doesn’t have the most explosive stuff considering his fastball is usually 90-92 mph and he only induced eight swinging strikes in his last start. But he’s an efficient southpaw and he gets the Dodgers next week and they have struggled against left-handed pitching.
12-Team Leagues
Jakob Junis (KC) – If you set weekly lineups Junis is a nice two-start option in your 12-team league. He may even be available in deeper leagues. He’s 33% owned in Yahoo! leagues and only 17.9% owned in ESPN leagues. So he’s widely available and could be there in deeper formats. In his first start of the year he went seven innings with six strikeouts and a walk. He threw just 87 pitches, but had 12 swinging strikes. In addition to that he also had 19 first pitch strikes to 25 batters. He was on point in his first start. Now he did play Detroit and they project to be pretty awful this year, but he draws the Mariners and Angels next week and those are still pretty decent matchups.
Tyler Skaggs (LAA) – Skaggs, like Junis, is a two-start pitcher next week with the Rangers and Royals on deck. Skaggs does have an injury history the Angels are certainly keeping in mind so he didn’t go five innings in his last start, but he went 6.1 innings deep in his first start. He has ten strikeouts in eleven innings of work while inducing a decent 13.4% strikeout rate. He’s an okay two-start streaming option next week while being ranked just behind Junis. Still a good option though!
Kevin Gausman (BAL) – Gausman is notorious for burning fantasy owners that stream him or straight up own him for that matter. He appeared in this piece numerous times in 2017 and was hit or miss. And to be honest he’s been okay so far. He got roughed up in his first start, but bounced back against the Yankees for five innings of work giving up two earned runs. The velocity is down a bit on his fastball, but it’s early. He’s still clocking in around 93mph. He draws the Blue Jays in his next start at home. Hopefully he can go a little deeper into the game as he’s logged just nine innings of work between his two starts. Baltimore should be expecting more from him.
Tanner Roark (WSH) – Roark is a fringy 12-team guy. He’s 42.5% owned in ESPN leagues, but 67% owned in Yahoo! leagues so if he’s available in your league give him a shot next week against the Mets. He looked great in his first start of the year against the Braves. He lasted seven innings of one-run ball while striking out six batters. He certainly lost some value heading into this season as he lost his relief pitcher eligibility coming off a sub-par 2017 season. He’s off to a great start though and should be considered next week against the Mets.
Deeper Leagues
Mike Foltynewicz (ATL) – Fantasy owners have to really love the strikeout potential with this guy. Folty fared very well against the Nationals earlier this week and gets a rematch against them on Tuesday. So far this season he has 15 strikeouts in 10.1 innings of work. While the velocity has been there he’s only inducing an 8.6% swinging strike rate so don’t be surprised if he has some outings where he doesn’t strike as many guys out. But the Nats have some heavy hitters in their lineup so the strikeouts are abundant with that group. It’ll also be his first start on the road in 2018 so tread carefully because he did have a 5.46 ERA away from Sun Trust Park in 2017.
Nick Pivetta (PHI) – Pivetta had a fantastic start in his last appearance on Thursday. Now it did come against the Marlins, but he still struck out nine batters in 5.2 innings of work. He induced 15 swinging strikes and only gave up four hits. Pivetta gets a pretty decent matchup next week against Cincinnati. The Reds have scored just 18 runs over their first six games and the matchup comes at home. So far Citizens Bank Park has proven to cater to pitchers early in the season so this is a ripe matchup for Pivetta.
Yonny Chirinos (TB) – This is currently more of a gut feeling than anything. Yonny Chirinos has made one relief appearance (four innings of work) with one start (five innings of work). All nine innings of work have been against the Red Sox and he’s surrendered just four hits, one walk, and collected seven strikeouts. He did hit two batters, but he didn’t surrender any runs. Currently the Rays are rolling out a bizarre four-man rotation, but Chirinos did get a spot start as the unofficial fifth man and there’s plenty of reason to believe he could get another start. If he does get another start it would be Wednesday against the White Sox. It’s not a guarantee yet so keep an eye on this guy, but he’s off to a pretty impressive start.
Joey Lucchesi (SD) – Lucchesi draws two starts next week and while you may want to avoid the first start, he is very much in play for the second start. Tuesday he’ll pitch in Coors Field while next Sunday he’ll get the Giants at home. But if you need some motivation to throw him out there for the Rockies matchup just know that in his last start (against Colorado) he worked five innings, collected seven strikeouts and gave up just one hit. No runs were allowed while he was in, but he did also have three walks. He may not go deep into the start, and has a measly 10.7% strikeout in his two starts so far, but this is a guy worth considering in deeper leagues.