2017 Fantasy Baseball SP Streamers: Week 12

Jimmy Nelson got roughed up in his last start, but has a chance at redemption Sunday against San Diego. C.C. Sabathia was lined up for two starts this week and was pitching really well in his first start, but unfortunately left with injury and is now on the DL. If you streamed him you at least got 4 solid innings out of him to lower your ERA and WHIP. If you chased a win with Kyle Freeland… You lost! But he can redeem himself Saturday against San Francisco. Be aware it’s at Coors Field though. Godley Gonna Godley (patent pending) and that’s what he did in his last start against Milwaukee on June 10th. Expect similar results if you’re streaming him Saturday June 17th against Philly.

The deeper league options were pretty bad for Week 11. Tyler Chatwood is back to normal and performing well on the road. In 6 innings of work against the Bucs he pitched collected 5 K’s, 1 walk, and gave up just 1 earned run. He didn’t pick up a win, but it was still a quality start. Jordan Montgomery wasn’t great in his last start but he still helped in your strikeout department as well as K:BB. And lastly Mike Foltynewicz was a cautious recommendation, and rightly so as he was rocked in his first start of Week 11. The options in deeper leagues weren’t great and he has a chance to finish the week strong for you on Sunday against Miami. The deeper league options are much better this upcoming week.

10-12 Team Leagues

Jacob Faria (TB): After seeing his ownership was still under 50% in most leagues this is the time to write him up because it’ll likely spike in the coming weeks. It’s a small sample size, but Faria seems like the real deal and if you can still scoop him up DO. IT. NOW. In 12.2 innings of work he’s given up just 2 earned runs on 9 hits and 3 walks while striking out 13 hitters. His 1.42 ERA is justified with his 1.79 FIP. Faria currently doesn’t have a matchup listed for Week 12, but considering the start he’s off to and the extensive injury to Matt Andriese he’ll likely face off in Week 12 at home against the Orioles. The Trop is a Top 10 pitcher-friendly ballpark on the year and the Orioles have lost 8 of their last 9 games. Teams are also struggling to figure out Faria even after they’ve gone through the order the first two times. Opposing hitters have a miss rate of 50% (ranks 3rd out of 48 qualified SP’s) when going through the order the third time against Faria. The young rookie is a safe streaming option in Week 12.

Brandon McCarthy (LAD): McCarthy actually gets two home starts next week against the Mets on June 20th and the Rockies on June 25th to wrap up your week. McCarthy’s been an exceptional pitcher at home:

He hasn’t even been a terrible pitcher on the road, but he’s just been that good at home. Even when he falls behind in the count he can still be counted on. Here’s what opponents are hitting when McCarthy is behind in the count since the start of 2016:

• AVG: .185
• SLG: .222
• OPS: .614

All those rank 1st out of 180 qualified starting pitchers. His two starts next week make him a very intriguing streaming option especially if you set your lineup at the beginning of the week. The second matchup is much tougher than the first, but the Rockies offense isn’t the same dominating force on the road compared to Coors.

Brad Peacock (HOU): You’ll quickly find that there are multiple Astros making this article for Week 12. Peacock makes the streamers list again this week considering his ownership is still under 50% across multiple fantasy baseball services. As of right now he’s only scheduled for 1 start in Week 12 and it comes Monday on the road in Oakland. The A’s have struck out the 4th-most in all of baseball and when you have a guy like Peacock who has incredible strikeout potential (58 K’s in 39 innings) this is a streaming matchup worth salivating over. However, with Peacock, you need to take the good with the bad. As many K’s as he racks up, he also tends to let too many men get on base via the walk. And he’s only gotten through 5 innings of work just once in 5 starts. But he’s only surrendered 1 home run in his 22+ innings as a starter and gave up none as a reliever. Despite the innings limit and walks fantasy owners saw his upside last week as a streamer and another similar showcase could be in the works this week. Unfortunately he may only get 1 start in Week 12 if Lance McCullers comes off the DL later in the week.

Mike Fiers (HOU): This is tough because Fiers is coming off three straight solid starts, but this guy has proven to get rocked in the past Fiers has recorded 20 K’s over his last 18.1 innings of work. Sure these three matchups have all come against the Angels at home and the Royals and Twins on the road. But his 2.10 FIP over those three starts indicates that he’s not the benefactor of fantastic defense of great luck. He hasn’t surrendered a home run in that three-game span after giving up 3.47 HR/9 in his first 9 starts. In instances like this it’s important to look at what a pitcher is doing differently. If he hasn’t changed his approach on the mound, then there’s a change it’s just luck. But look closely at the usage of his cutter and curveball.

In his first 9 starts he used his cutter 16.4% of the time and his curveball was used 16.9% of the time. Over the last 3 starts where he’s pitched well he’s dropped the usage of his cutter to 2.8% and upped the use of his curveball to 25.9%. Fiers isn’t known for great velocity with his fastball, which is unfortunate cause if it was effective it could be called a “Fiers-Ball” (pun intended, hence the quotes). But his fastball sits below 90 mph and his cutter isn’t far off so it’s not fooling hitters. His curveball has decent movement and is a great offspeed pitch to fool hitters. See how he does Friday against Boston, check out his pitch usage and give him consideration for Week 12 on the road against Oakland.

Update: Fiers was written up during his Friday start against Boston so that’s why there was no mention of that outing previously. But he pitched 7 strong innings recording 1 earned run on 5 hits, 2 walks, with 4 K’s. Again he only used his cutter 3.1% of the time against the Red Sox while his curveball use was up around 17.5%. He’s in a nice spot against Oakland and is still a recommendation for next week.

Desperation Play of the Week is… Seth Lugo (NYM): It’s really tough to get a feel for Lugo. In his last start at SunTrust Park, he held the Braves to 1 earned run over 7 innings while striking out 6. It was a great return from the DL, but he’s still coming off a partially torn UCL and he goes up against a vaunted Nationals lineup on June 17th so a rough start could make him more available for Week 12. Despite being a hitter-friendly environment at their new ballpark, the Braves have struggled offensively at home so Lugo benefitted from that factor. If he gets knocked around by Washington on Saturday, so be it, they have a loaded lineup. In Week 12 he faces off against a pretty stout Dodgers lineup in Dodger Stadium and it’s huge outfield. It’s not a great matchup, but his return from the DL was promising, but he’s the desperate streamer recommendation for next week.

Deeper League Options

Francis Martes (HOU): As of this writing Martes is only 4% owned in Yahoo! Leagues and he’s a fantastic streaming option in deeper leagues and shallower leagues as well. On June 14th against the in-state rivals from Arlinton, Martes pitched 5 innings, gave up 1 earned run, and struck out 7 against 2 walks. He’s in line to get another start in Week 12 with McCullers still sidelined with an injury as well as Dallas Keuchel. He’s scheduled for two road starts in (at OAK and at SEA). If you’re in a deeper league Martes is a great option if you set weekly lineups. There’s been a lot of talk about his minor league numbers and to be fair, those stats are terrible. But it could be simply that he was focusing on working on one pitch (probably his offspeed work) and the other team was keying in on that and so he was knocked around a bit. His changeup doesn’t have great velocity separation, but his fastball sits in the mid-90’s and he throws very hard. If he’s available he can be used if you don’t like some of the options above.

Buck Farmer (DET): Farmer’s had a very small sample size so far on the year. In 3 starts, 2 have been very good, but his last start was terrible, though it did come against Arizona. Still in just 15.1 innings he has 20 K’s, 3 walks, and he’s given up just 2 home runs, which came off the D'Backs. He gets a home start against Tampa Bay on Sunday, but faces the Padres in Petco Park late in Week 12. Petco is a Top 10 park for pitchers and the Padres are slashing just .232/.301/.388 at home in 2017. Opposing hitters have an OBP of just .111 when Farmer has two strikes in the count, so when he’s getting ahead in the count, the young pitching stud is not making any mistakes. He’s a very appealing streamer next week.

Jason Hammel (KC): Hammel hit a bit of a rough patch, but he’s bounced back nicely in his last two outings. In 13.1 innings of work he’s collected 8 K’s against 1 walk, while surrendering just 1 earned run in each start. He draws two home starts in Week 12 against Boston and Toronto. Boston’s offense is always a threat, but then against they did put up a goose egg against Ben Lively and the Phillies on Thursday night. Toronto’s offense isn’t struggling like they once were, but this start still comes in Kauffmann which is a Top 5 ballpark for pitchers. In a deeper league with weekly lineups you can utilize Hammel. He’s not the best option, but he’s a guy riding two straight quality starts and he’s pitching in a friendly environment twice next week.

Desperation Play of the Week is… Ben Lively (PHI): Lively has been pretty fortunate to have pitched 21 innings so far this season (each of his 3 starts he’s gone 7 innings), but he has only 5 strikeouts on the season. His ERA (3.00) and WHIP (1.33) are both okay, but if you need someone to eat up innings then he could be your guy. He faces the Diamondbacks on Sunday at home, but then faces the Diamondbacks in Week 12 on the road so this could be a nice test to see how he fares. If he can do well enough in the first start he could be considered for the road start next week in Chase Field, but it’s a very dangerous environment and there’s no word yet on when that rumored humidor will be installed.