Fantasy Baseball Two-Start Pitchers/Streaming Starters Week 19: Gerrit Cole Takes The Mound Twice On The Road

August is upon us, the MLB trade deadline having come and gone, and certain fates have become more intriguing with the movement that recently took place in baseball. Your potential fantasy baseball pitching decisions have become more interesting, and for the most part, the moves that teams made to bolster their pitching staffs will trickle down to aid your fantasy efforts if you were fortunate enough to own those pitchers that are now in better situations. As ever, there are a boatload of two-start arms to avoid in the bottom tier; that situation has not been altered. There are a nice group of single start streaming options to consider throughout this Week 19 scoring period, too. After you have had a chance to peruse the starting pitching options available this week, make certain to investigate the rest of the excellent content on the Fantasy Alarm site to aid you in all your fantasy sports endeavors. The Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire and MLB Streaks & Trends articles were published on Saturday. And if you’re preparing for your fantasy football drafts, be sure to check out the updated Ultimate Fantasy Football Cheat Sheet. Without further ado, here are this week’s two start pitchers…

There are but eight top tier options to plug and play in Week 19, and three of them are newcomers to the rarefied upper group of arms that have dual start status this scoring period: Rodriguez, Bibee and Lugo. All three of those hurlers have earned their slots based on recent success tossing the pill past opposing hitters. These are the two-start pitchers you want to slip into your fantasy rotations as August begins and the dog days of summer arrive.

Kutter Crawford has been a solid contributor to the Boston rotation, putting up a useful 3.57 ERA and 1.13 WHIP since mid-June, racking up Ks at close to a whiff per frame (8.9 K/9 over those 45.1 IP). Even though his home/road splits on the season favor him pitching away from Fenway Park, this week has a pair of good matchups in store with the Royals and Tigers coming for visits.

Speaking of the Tigers, Eduardo Rodriguez opted to stick in Detroit at the trade deadline, and has performed like an ace for them, with a superb 2.96 ERA and 1.05 WHIP over his 94.1 IP on the season. He is striking out better than a batter per inning (9.2 K/9) and is demonstrating good control as well, with a 2.1 BB/9 rate on the year. Getting the Twins at home is favorable, and he faces his tougher matchup with a robust road record to bolster his chances at success in Fenway.  

Alex Cobb is providing a fine ERA for his owners: 3.05 after his last no-decision against the visiting Diamondbacks, but he is handing out too many hits to keep his other ratio in line, with an inflated 1.32 WHIP. His walk rate is good at 2.3 BB/9 over his 112.0 IP this year, and he is exceptional at generating groundballs from opposing hitters at a 57.3% rate. His tougher matchup this coming week is at home when the Rangers come to visit at the end of the scoring period, and he has been a much better arm when toeing the rubber at home.

Kodai Senga came within one out of picking up his fourth quality start (QS) in his last five appearances. He continues to rack up excellent K numbers, but the lack of control is a concern: 11.1 K/9, but 4.5 BB/9 through his 20 starts. He has been consistently better when climbing the hill at Citi Field, and that is where he gets to take the ball in both his Week 19 starts.

Brandon Williamson stumbled in his most recent time atop the hill, allowing five earned tallies although he did collect seven Ks over his abbreviated 4.1 IP. His last three July starts saw him come within one out of three consecutive QS, and he will need to pick things up to keep his rotation spot, as a couple of Reds are due to come off the IL, namely Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo in August.  He gets to face the traveling Marlins at home, a positive against a sub-.500 road team, and then takes on the Pirates to wind up the week, not necessarily a daunting task. It is his good matchups that land him the final slot in the middle tier.

There certainly are a wealth of bottom tier arms to avoid this week. As is frequently advised, these SPs, despite the allure of two starts, are best avoided if you value your ratio stats. While some counting stats could be garnered, the potential damage to your fantasy totals makes these arms too volatile to be trusted. If you want to pick up one or two for a streaming start, look to venue and opponent when making such a decision.

Potential Streaming Options for Week 19

There is no promise that each game day will provide a streaming option. First of all, the pitcher must be available in at least 50% of leagues to be a viable candidate to snag off the wire. Then, the pitchers discussed above are not included as they have a different sort of value, even though some might be available as free agents in your league. Plus, some days the matchups and/or venues just do not figure as positive enough factors to favor plugging the arm into your rotation, even for one start. That all being said, here are this week’s best streaming candidates:

Patrick Sandoval, Los Angeles Angels vs San Francisco Giants

Sandoval has given up two or fewer runs over his last four outings, rolling up a 2.42 ERA and 1.12 WHIP over those 22.1 IP, and racking up 19 Ks. He also handed out a whopping 13 free passes during that span, which have not actively come back to bite him…yet. 

Cole Ragans, Kansas City Royals @ Boston Red Sox

In two recent starts, the second-year southpaw has yielded just a single run, and has a 11:3 K/BB ratio over those 11.0 IP. He has to take his game on the road in this contest, where he has struggled this season. He does offer good K potential, but that will be tempered by the opponent in this contest, as the Red Sox are not a free-swinging bunch (bottom third in baseball).

Clarke Schmidt, New York Yankees @ Chicago White Sox

Over his last 69.2 IP, a span covering 13 starts and one relief appearance, Schmidt has been incredibly steady: 3.23 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, six victories. The K rate is above average (8.5 K/9 over his 109.2 IP), and he demonstrates good control with a 2.5 BB/9 rate. He has a good matchup to offset his less than stellar road results this year.

Brady Singer, Kansas City Royals @ Boston Red Sox

The 27-year-old righty has collected a pair of QS in his last three appearances for the Royals, and continues to work on putting his ratio stats into respectable ranges. He is merely an average K producer and this opponent, as noted earlier, is not a great option to improve on those counting stats. His recent success on the hill presents him as a decent streaming option here, however.

Jameson Taillon, Chicago Cubs @ New York Mets

The veteran righthander just evened his win-loss record, collecting his fourth victory in his last five outings while holding the Reds to two earned runs over 5.0 IP. His ratios are still inflated: 5.36 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, which make him available for streaming purposes in most leagues despite the recent success he has enjoyed while toeing the rubber.

Mike Clevinger, Chicago White Sox vs New York Yankees

The veteran righty took a loss in his most recent trip to the hill, giving up four earned tallies to the Guardians, but in the previous six starts, he was a shining star ratio-wise: 2.23 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, although just 23 Ks over those 32.1 IP. Here he has a home start, and his results have been much better when he is not pitching from a foreign mound.

Brandon Pfaadt, Arizona Diamondbacks vs Los Angeles Dodgers

This does not project as a stellar matchup, but he is at home, and has been excelling since his recall to the big leagues. His last three starts have seen him post a 3.38 ERA and stellar 0.86 WHIP, with a 16:2 K/BB ratio achieved over those 18.2 IP. 

Zack Littell, Tampa Bay Rays vs St. Louis Cardinals

The righty has stretched out his arm, having gone 11.0 IP over his last two trips to the hill, becoming more than an opener for the Rays. He has a good matchup here with the Cardinals visiting the Rays. He is the best streaming option on a day when the selection is limited.

Johan Oviedo, Pittsburgh Pirates vs Cincinnati Reds

The 25-year-old has stacked together a pair of victories, and is seemingly back on track to be a productive SP. He has a home game in this contest, playing into his stronger side of the home/road split scenario this season. He is a good K producer with an 8.0 K/9 rate over his 124.1 IP in 2023. His peripheral metrics are a mixed bag as to continuing a win streak but the opponent should be good to fuel his strikeout numbers.

Cristopher Sanchez, Philadelphia Phillies vs Minnesota Twins

The young southpaw has yet to be credited with a victory in 2023, despite pitching well: 2.66 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 41:8 K/BB over his 47.1 IP this season. Although his road results are superb, his home stat line is palatable and the Twins are a sub-.500 road team.

Steven Matz, St. Louis Cardinals @ Kansas City Royals

The veteran lefty is coming off a superior month of July, posting a 2.17 ERA and 0.93 WHIP over the six contests in which he toed the rubber in the seventh month. He also collected a K per frame over those 29.0 IP and demonstrated superb control, handing out just six walks over that span of contests. Here he has a great matchup with which to continue his hot streak.

Luis Medina, Oakland Athletics @ Washington Nationals

The rookie righty is toiling away for the worst team in the AL, a team that seems destined to rack up 100 losses this season, so despite his relative success on the bump, it is normally difficult to recommend his services as a streaming option. This contest, however, he takes on another struggling squad, one who is significantly under .500 at home. The bad news is that despite averaging a K per inning, the Nationals are ranked 29^th of the teams in all of baseball at swinging and missing. Still, given Medina’s recent success while tossing the ball toward the plate, and his opponent’s lack of winning ways in 2023, he is worthy of your streaming consideration.

Jesse Scholtens, Chicago White Sox vs Milwaukee Brewers

The rookie righty has been effective overall this season, either as a starter (limited to just three starts so far this season) or in relief. He holds an attractive 3.07 ERA and 1.23 WHIP as his fantasy ratios, although you should look elsewhere for significant K production, as he is below average at getting hitters to consistently swing and miss (5.9 K/9). He is the second-best streaming option on Saturday.

Chase Silseth, Los Angeles Angels @ Houston Astros

There is the possibility that the 23-year-old may find himself back at Triple-A by the time this game rolls around, which will likely depend on Griffin Canning’s ability to recover from his calf issue. As he has been charged with just a pair of earned tallies over his recent 10.1 IP, where he accumulated 14 Ks, if he is called upon to start, he provides an attractive streaming possibility of a day when streamers are traditionally rare.

Feel free also to send any starting pitching or other fantasy baseball questions to ia@fantasyalarm.com for a private 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 the response will be suited to your individual situation. As ever, good luck and Godspeed in all your fantasy endeavors.