Folks, I am going to openly admit and accept the proverbial egg on my face. Nick Pivetta certainly burned me good this past week. I did advise that his matchups were crappy and he most certainly was not up to the task. I was sitting at the bar Friday night watching his triumphant/disastrous (however you wanna look at it) one inning of work against the Nationals thinking to myself “Well this pick isn’t gonna look good on a resume.” And sure enough he was an atrocity. I’ll be better. Or I’ll try to be. Lets take a look at next week. You’re going to see that I love Braves pitchers for the upcoming days. Let’s go!
10-Team Leagues
Jon Gray (COL) – This is more of a waiver wire grab right now. As of Friday morning Gray’s ownership started to climb back up to 70% so don’t expect him to appear in this piece again. But people were too quick to give up on this guy. For two straight years he showcased a 95+ mph fastball, been a nice source of strikeouts, and oddly enough has pitched better at Coors Field than on the road. And he got off to a pretty rough start early on in April. However, he has bounced back nicely. Over his last two starts (13 innings of work) Gray has collected 17 strikeouts, walked two batters, and allowed just one earned run. Next week Gray gets two starts at home against the Angels and Brewers. Both those lineups have potential to go off, but in a weekly lineup league where you can find Gray on waivers he’s worth a stream if you need starting pitching. It’s possible he gets roughed up in either or both starts, but since 2016 he’s shown that he can be trusted pitching at Coors Field.
Walker Buehler (LAD) – Buehler kinda sorta threw a no-hitter on Friday night. He just needed some assistance from the bullpen, but the highly-touted rookie looked great. In his last two starts in the big leagues he has two wins and 19 strikeouts in 16 innings of work. Initially it seemed like Buehler would be needed just for a spot start to begin the year, but with Hyun-Jin Ryu ’s injury a spot in the rotation opened up for the 23-year-old righty. Don’t expect Buehler to stick in the rotation the whole year. The Dodgers are notorious for being very cautious with their starting pitchers and they have depth at the position that allows them to do so. Additionally they’ll likely want to monitor Buehler’s innings. After all he didn’t even log 100 innings of work across all levels last season so he’s likely breaking new ground this year if/when he reaches that mark. Buehler gets a home start against Cincinnati next Thursday and should most definitely be started.
Mike Foltynewicz (ATL) – Readers of this piece know that I have a bit of a soft spot for this guy. He throws so damn hard and could be one of the best pitchers in baseball in my opinion. However, his inability to consistently locate pitches will hurt him because he touts a 4.14 BB/9 so far this year. To be fair to Folty, prior to Friday’s start he hadn’t given up more than two earned runs in any start. But he was averaging a walk every other inning and his 3.86 FIP compared to his 2.53 ERA suggested he was due for some regression. And sure enough Friday night he was roughed up by the Giants. But I’m rolling out Folty if I can get him next week. Why? Because he gets a road start against the Marlins. He draws one of the worst offenses in baseball in one of the best pitcher’s parks in the league. After his start next Thursday you can probably afford to drop him, but you should definitely grab him if he’s out there.
12-Team Leagues
Nick Kingham (PIT) – I really debated putting Kingham in this piece. I’m not sold on his potential to last long term this season, but in the immediate future I suppose he’s useful. In two starts he holds a 2.92 ERA and a 0.65 WHIP. The latter stat will most certainly regress, but I do like that he’s given up just one walk so far this year to go with 16 strikeouts. Next week he gets to throw against the Giants. San Francisco’s offense has been heating up recently, but the matchup comes in PNC Park in Pittsburgh and that’s been one of the better parks for suppressing power this season. This isn’t a glowing recommendation because I feel his ownership is too high at 48% on Yahoo! and 42% on ESPN, but he’s in play next week. And if he does well you should consider hanging on to him because he’ll likely pitch against the Padres the following week.
Mike Soroka and Sean Newcomb (ATL) – Ma-Ma-Ma-Miiiiiiiike Soroka! This kid’s ownership is sky rocketing, but he should still be available in 12-team formats. He looked great in his first start twirling six innings of one-run work giving up six hits, no walks, and adding five strikeouts. He has a tough test against the surging Giants to wrap up week five, but next week, like Foltynewicz, Soroka will draw the Marlins down in South Florida. It’s a pretty tasty matchup so you should try and grab him today because he’s going to be a hot commodity coming off waivers. I also added Newcomb in this section as well. I didn’t want to have three separate sections dedicated to pitchers from the same team drawing similar, albeit favorable, matchups in week six. The nice part about Newcomb is that he gets the Rays on Tuesday and then the Marlins the following Sunday. So he’s due for two fantastic road matchups. The surprising thing is Newcomb’s ownership is less than Soroka’s and he has 42 strikeouts in 34.2 innings of work. Newcomb is the better draw for next week because he does get two starts. Like I said, I love Braves pitchers next week. Newcomb’s the best option so if you want to prioritize one of them I’d recommend grabbing him over Soroka and Folty.
Jacob Faria (TB) – This suggestion obviously comes with more trepidation, but given his more recent starts and his matchup next week Faria is worth mentioning. Lets dive in, shall we? Faria has two starts this year where he’s given up four earned runs or more. But he also has four starts where he’s surrendered one earned run or less. In two of his last three starts he’s gone at least six innings, but again he also has three starts earlier this season where he couldn’t complete five innings of work. All in all, he’s done better lately. Over his last three outings (18.1 innings of work) Faria has 17 strikeouts to five walks, but he’s pitching deeper into games. He carries a 4.60 ERA on the season and it seems justified given his 4.30 FIP. He had a rough spring training and an even worse start to the year. Reports came about saying he was feeling pretty cocky and arrogant heading into this year and he certainly got a reality check. The good news is he draws the Orioles next week who have truly struggled offensively as a team. They’re slashing just .225/.292/.371 and they’re just 4-18 in their last 22 games. Plus the start comes in Camden Yards which hasn’t been a big run producing ballpark so far this year, but that could largely be due to Baltimore’s offensive woes.
Deeper League Options
Kyle Gibson (MIN) – Gibson has really flown under the radar the last couple weeks. He’s been pretty good over his last three starts where he’s thrown 17.1 innings of work and he’s struck out 23 batters. He even struck out ten Yankees in that span. The walks are still concerning, but he’s been very serviceable this year and it’s surprising that he’s under 20% owned. I get that he’s not as sexy as a top notch rookie that fantasy owners dream of landing off the waiver wire, but Gibson is one of the more reliable arms available in deeper leagues. Next week he does get a tricky road start against the Angels so the potential for disaster is there, but slim pickings are what you get for playing in a deeper league.
Ian Kennedy (KC) – Kennedy, like Faria, gets to square off against Baltimore next week and while he’s not wowing fantasy owners, he’s been okay to start the season. He’s prone to getting roughed up considering he has two starts this year where he gave up four earned runs in each, but he also has five outings where he gave up two earned runs or less. The struggle with Kennedy is that he won’t get much offensive support from the Royals considering they average less than four runs per game, but Kennedy does have four quality starts under his belt. He can be used against Baltimore in week six.
Matt Boyd (DET) – I’m going to be completely transparent here, I’m not thrilled about Boyd in week six, but the other options aren’t great. I thought about suggesting Trevor Cahill as a deeper league option, but he draws the Yankees in the Bronx next week and you shouldn’t even think about streaming him for that one. So we’ll go with Matthew Boyd and to be honest if he does well against the Royals on Sunday I’ll feel pretty good about his matchup next week. Boyd will face the Mariners next week at home and Seattle has a very solid lineup. For all the fanfare that Boston and New York get, the M’s have a pretty underrated offense out in the Pacific Northwest. So there is some concern because they do hit well on the road and they’re pretty good against southpaws. If he does well on Sunday then maybe he carries the momentum into the start against Seattle. If you aren’t feeling too good about it then go grab Gibson or Kennedy.