Two Start Pitchers for Week 21

For a change, Week 21 brings us a large selection of top-tier starting pitchers to employ in your fantasy lineups, and unsurprisingly, another huge group in the bottom tier. Unfortunately, this leaves a paltry nine options to consider in the middle tier, and some of those SPs are just streaming options for this scoring period. We did lose a couple of two-start options with the season ending Tommy John surgery for Joe Ross of the Nationals, as his departure from the scene moved both him and Edwin Jackson out of dual start status.

Please realize that these articles feature most recent rotation information available when the article is written, but that circumstances do change due to weather conditions, injuries and general craziness with managers. If a pitcher listed here as having two starts ends up with one (or perhaps none) in the upcoming week, my apologies but this article is meant to provide analysis, it is up to the manager to set the lineups or rotations.

Without further ado, here are this week’s two start pitchers:

There are a ton of great options for two-start eligibility this week, which is a nice change from the past couple of weeks. Wood and Cole face off on Tuesday, and if you need to choose between the two, go with the Dodger hurler, although Cole has been pitching well of late. Gray has been pitching better on the road recently, and thus gets promoted to the upper tier, despite having to pitch in KC and Atlanta this week. Lynn has a nice pair of home starts, and Lackey gets to face a couple of bottom tier teams, which makes him useful even with two road starts. Davies does have to take on the Dodgers in his second start, but he winds up the top tier due to his recent success on the hill.

Patrick Corbin leads off the middle group, and should be used for his home start against the Giants. You might want to consider fading him on the road against the Mets, however, although he is a good source of Ks, and has good control, making him the best of these nine SPs.

Charlie Morton, like Corbin, is another good source of strikeouts with a 9.98 K/9 rate over his 18 starts this season, but his control is suspect (3.52 BB/9 over 107.1 innings). He is an extreme ground ball pitcher (2.12 GB/FB rate in 2017), and is backed by the most potent offense in the majors, making him a good option and he gets to face the Nationals at home in Week 21.

Carlos Rodon has been lowering his ERA over his past five starts, which now sits at 4.00. His 1.39 WHIP is ugly, as is his 1-4 record. The lack of wins is due to his team’s weak offense, but he does have a couple of home starts this week and his home/road splits indicate that this is a better opportunity for him to be effective.

Jose Urena will not provide much in the way of missing bats, but he does possess a useful 3.61 ERA and 1.21 WHIP over the course of his 26 appearances in 2017 (20 starts, 124.2 innings total). He has a pair of very winnable matchups against Philly and San Diego this week.

Eduardo Rodriguez stumbled a bit in his most recent start against the Cards at home, but had looked impressive in the two previous starts where he allowed just two earned runs over 12.0 innings. He is an excellent source of strikeouts, posting a 9.87 K/9 over his 93.0 innings pitched this season, although his control needs work (3.39 BB/9). Consider starting him in his second trip to toe the rubber in Week 21 when he faces the Orioles at home, and avoid his first start this week against the Indians at Cleveland.

Dan Straily has a couple of good matchups, although he has been roughed up on the road this season, and thus the Philadelphia game might be one to avoid. He features good strikeout ability and control (7.93 K/9, 2.51 BB/9 over his 25 starts covering 139.2 innings) but he has given up a total of 20 homeruns (13 on the road), and thus the advice about not starting him against the Phillies.

Taijuan Walker has not been able to last more than six innings in each of his last four starts, making him less useful if your league values wins or quality starts (QS). He has pitched better away from his home park, but also gets the beatable Giants at Chase Field. He racks up good K numbers as evidenced by his 8.06 K/9 rate on the season, but his control is suspect, and has resulted in an inflated 1.31 WHIP.

Jameson Taillon is too inconsistent to trust game in and game out, yielding earned run totals of nine, eight, two, two and four over his past five games. The strikeouts are impressive (9.09 K/9 this season) but he needs to work on his control (2.97 BB/9 over his 18 starts that comprise 97.0 innings in 2017). His first start is against the Dodgers, so that is a game you may want to sit him on the bench, but go ahead and plug him in against the Reds on the road.

Speaking of inconsistent pitchers, Michael Foltynewicz has had one QS in his last four games, allowing 19 earned runs in three of those contests, and just one in his sole victory over that stretch. His K rate remains impressive at 8.57 K/9, so he remains useful with regard to that aspect of his performance as a SP. He does have two home starts this coming scoring period, and has been much better at SunTrust Park, but is still a risky option at this point of the season.

There are plenty of starting pitchers to avoid this week. As per usual, some do have matchups that are not terrible on their face, such as Garcia at home against the Mariners or Boyd taking on the White Sox on the road, but for the most part, you want to use these SPs only if you are desperate for some innings or Ks. Skaggs is risky, as he is currently on bereavement leave due to the death of his grandfather and may not return in time to make his two starts, and for that reason, ends up in the bottom tier.

Please note that the Fantasy Alarm Forums are now open for your use, to ask questions or provide your own commentary and wisdom. I enjoy responding to comments, or if you do not want to put your question out for public consumption, feel free to write me at ia@fantasyalarm.com for a more personal response to your specific issue. The more detail you can provide about your team and league, including settings (H2H vs roto, points or categories, weekly or daily moves, roster size, league size, etc.) the better my response will be suited to your individual situation. I am open to questions about issues apart from starting pitching, too, as I play fantasy sports as well as serve as an analyst. As ever, good luck and Godspeed in all your fantasy endeavors.