Fantasy Baseball Two-Start Pitchers: Week 21

This is a sad week for those of you who like to populate your starting pitching rosters with two-start options. The top tier has a respectable number of choices, with a few who are newcomers to the upper echelon, but the middle tier is sorely lacking in quality options. The bottom tier contains those pitchers who cannot be recommended for two starts, but if you peruse the list, you will see some pitchers who are likely to end up as streamers during Week 21, based on their match-up.

Please realize, I am working off the most recent rotation information available when the article is written, but circumstances do change due to weather conditions, injuries and the general craziness of managers. If a pitcher I have listed as having two starts ends up with one (or perhaps none) in the upcoming week, I apologize, but I only provide analysis, I do not set the lineups or rotations.

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

There are 10 pitchers with whom I feel comfortable plugging in for both their starts this week. The youngsters Taillon and Snell are new residents of the upper tier, but both seem to be comfortable on the mound in their rookie seasons. Snell offers more in the way of Ks, but also needs to get his control in order to be effective overall. Bailey has always been a pitcher that has flashed great ability, and he has looked solid (except for one blow up game against the Pirates) since he returned from Tommy John surgery. Time to buy in on him, once again.

There are only nine middle tier options, so I will break them into just two sub-tiers. The first tier opens with Garcia and ends with Gausman. Garcia struggles against better teams, and cleans up on the bottom-dwellers this season. The Mets are not pushovers, but I do like him for his second start against the A’s. Both his starts are at home, and he has been much better pitching in St. Louis this season. Do not expect a ton of Ks, but he should be good for decent non-counting stats. Lopez was a superb strikeout producer in the minors, and he has flashed that on occasion since joining the rotation, most recently when he struck out 11 Braves in his last trip to the mound. Facing Baltimore and fellow middle tier resident Gausman will be a good test of his ability to dominate, and he has a nice end of the week start against the Rockies away from Coors Field. Pineda gets to pitch away from Yankee Stadium for his first Week 21 start, and that makes him more useful, as he tends to give up the long ball at home. Be advised, though, that he has been pitching to contact more in his recent starts, so the strikeout numbers will suffer if that practice continues. His second start of the week at home against the Orioles could be a real test of his new pitching style, so be forewarned. Ventura is a frustrating pitcher to own at times, but he has been sharp lately, tossing three consecutive QS with 20 Ks over those 20 innings. He occasionally struggles with his control, and having to face Boston at Fenway Park is not exactly an ideal way to end the week, but the Royals have been playing better of late, so he makes the middle tier this scoring period. Gausman faces off against Reynaldo Lopez and the Nationals in his first start in Week 21, but then things get a bit better as he heads to New York to take on the Yankees and Michael Pineda. That is a lot of cross middle tier matchups to keep an eye on this week and can complicate your lineup management if you prefer not to start opposing SPs. I have no problem working both ends of a matchup, and like Gausman for both his starts. He has been striking out a batter per inning this season, and while he has not racked up the wins a lot of that has been bad luck, as he has pitched effectively for the most part.

The bottom sub-tier begins with Godley and winds up with Sanchez. Godley has shown good control on the mound, although the strikeouts are inconsistent. He held Boston to just one earned run, and then followed that up by notching a victory against the Mets where he only yielded two earned runs over 7.1 innings. He gets a pair of weaker opponents at home, which is good and bad, as his home/road splits favor road matchups. Keep an eye on Anderson’s status for the upcoming week, as he is recovering from a quad injury, and may be relegated to the bullpen instead of rejoining the rotation immediately. He is currently scheduled to start two games at Miller Park, where he has been effective this season. Coming off his injury, do not expect him to pitch deep into any of his starts initially, and thus do not expect any QS from him. Triggs is coming off a pair of nice starts, the most recent where he held the Rangers to just a single earned run over 5.2 innings. He did not walk a hitter over those two starts, amounting to 9.2 innings. Getting Cleveland at home in his first start is helpful, and his second start pits him against the headliner of this middle tier, Jaime Garcia, so you may not feel as comfortable starting him in that contest. Sanchez winds up this middle group, and he is a major question mark for me. He can look dominant, as he was against the Royals where he tossed seven one hit shutout innings, or he can blow up as when he gave up eight earned runs over four innings to the Rangers in his prior start. He has shown improvement over the horrible April and May he struggled through, and facing the Twins and Angels is not a daunting proposition, so long as his offense can put up some runs for him.

The bottom tier has a plethora of arms that are just not trustworthy this week, at least for two starts. There are a bunch of terrible matchups, but there are also those SPs who have an opportunity to provide value. Buchholz at Tampa Bay, Cashner at home against the Padres, and Bradley at home vs. the Reds all come to mind as potential streaming options. I might even use Bradley against Atlanta in his first home start, but I do not fully trust him to put up back-to-back good starts. The balance of this tier is risky, either because of recent performance by the pitcher himself, or due to the opponent or venue. Pick and choose carefully if you decide to delve into this group of two start pitchers.

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.