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Richie Smith breaks down the Top 5 two-start pitching streaming sleepers for week 12 of fantasy baseball. These MLB starting pitchers are great waiver wire pickups.
Week 12 Lineup Tools: Two Start Streaming Options
This weekly piece focuses on the best two-start pitchers and streamer waiver wire pickups for the upcoming week of fantasy baseball. These under-the-radar, two-start pitchers can be sleepers off the waiver wire depending on your league format, including NL-Only and AL-Only formats, and you can consider adding them to your head-to-head and daily-league lineups. These pitchers are near or below 50% ownership in Yahoo! leagues, some ideal for shallow leagues, some ideal for deep leagues.
Phil Hughes, MIN - 58%
Projected starts: Tuesday @BOS, Sunday vs. CWS
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Phil Hughes is coming off one of his best outings of the season, going seven scoreless innings and striking out nine in a win against the Jays. Aside from a sub-par start against Houston last week, Hughes has been excellent this year, and boasts an incredible 70/8 K/BB ratio in over 82 innings pitched.
Hughes should probably be universally owned at this point, but given his 58% ownership, there’s a decent chance he is still sitting on your league’s waiver wire. Next week, Hughes faces Boston and Chicago. In his last start against the Red Sox back in May, Hughes went six strong innings, only allowing one run and five hits, while striking out eight in a no-decision effort. And while the White Sox offense has been good, the way Hughes is pitching, he deserves to be rolled out there every time he takes the bump right now.
Jon Niese, NYM - 38%
Projected starts: Tuesday @STL, Sunday @MIA
I feel like Jon Niese ends up in this article almost every week, yet all he does is continue to throw quality start after quality start. Of course, Niese was not going to keep up his amazing start to the season, but he has still been pretty good over the last month or so. His last two starts, while earning no-decisions in both, have been relatively strong, totaling 15 innings, four ER, 13 hits and only two walks.
His season ERA is still a very good 2.68, along with a respectable 1.15 WHIP. However, at only 38% owned, most owners are still somewhat skeptical. But in a two-start week against two struggling offenses, St. Louis and Atlanta (both bottom five in runs scored this year), Niese is definitely worth, or at the very least, a pick up off your waiver wire and quite possibly a more permanent spot on your roster.
Roenis Elias, SEA - 23%
Projected starts: Tuesday vs SD, Sunday @KC
A combination of this guy flying somewhat under-the-radar, and two-starts against the worst offense and tenth-worst offense in the league, San Diego and Kansas City respectively, makes Roenis Elias almost a must-start two-start option for next week. Elias’s issue has been consistency. His last four starts prove as a prime example of this.
Mixed in with his complete-game, eight-strikeout shutout is a 6.1 inning, 5 ER, and eight hit performance. Nevertheless, five wins and 70 strikeouts across just over 80 innings pitched are pretty good numbers. Elias does not have overpowering stuff, but he does a lot of things well, which makes him effective. He should be a solid two-start stream next week.
Tom Koehler, MIA - 21%
Projected starts: Monday vs. CHC, Saturday vs. NYM
Tom Koehler’s numbers are kind of middle-of-the-road: 3.68 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, and 56 K in just under 80 innings. He certainly doesn’t strike anyone as a must-start guy week in and week out. But in deeper leagues, he can be an option you turn to for next week so you can squeeze two starts out of him.
His last time out, he pitched better than his final number indicated, as he was cruising along into the sixth inning but then gave up a handful of runs while trying to get through the sixth. The Marlins are also scoring runs this year, and so it has taken some of the pressure off of their pitching staff to always throw gems to keep them in ballgames. Koehler gets to face two of the lighter-hitting offenses in the league next week, so if you’re in need of some inning-eaters next week, Koehler can provide some mixed-league value.
Marcus Stroman, TOR - 19%
Projected starts: Tuesday @NYY, Sunday @CIN
Marcus Stroman’s second stint at the big league level is going much better than his first. Since being recalled, the highly-touted prospect has thrown three straight quality starts. Over that span, he is 2-1 and has only given up five ER in 18 innings while holding an impressive 17/2 K/BB ratio.
It seems as though Stroman has settled into the big leagues and his initial nerves that were fairly apparent after his first call up have dissipated. And it appears that Stroman is here to stay, and that is good news for fantasy owners who may be looking for a little mid-season spark to their pitching staff.
At under 20% ownership, he is definitely worth a look not just for next week, but possibly beyond. The matchup next week against the Yankees doesn’t really worry me, as this isn’t your dad’s Yankees team, and the Reds have the second lowest runs output per game, only ahead of the Padres.
