Top 5 Two-Start Starting Pitcher Streamers for Week 11

June 7, 2014

Richie Smith analyzes the top 5 two-start sleeper starting pitchers to stream off the waiver wire heading into week 11 of fantasy baseball and the MLB season.

This weekly piece focuses on the best two-start pitchers and streamers for the following 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. 

I’ll give you a mix of starting pitcher options near or below 50% ownership in Yahoo! leagues, some ideal for shallow leagues, some ideal for deep leagues. These arms are worth looking at if you’re investigating two-start options for the following week, or even just looking for a quick streamer or two for one start. 

All ownership percentages from Yahoo!

Mike Leake, CIN- 46% owned

Projected starts: Tuesday vs. LAD, Sunday @MIL

Leake is coming off his worst start of the year this past Thursday, giving up five runs on eight hits to the Giants. But prior to that, he was cruising right along with an excellent season, throwing six consecutive quality starts, despite going just 1-2 over that span. His earned runs output over those six games were two, two, one, zero, two and three.

Even after Thursday’s outing, he still boasts a 3.29 ERA and 1.11 WHIP. It’s actually fairly remarkable that Leake is less than 50% owned given his numbers. I would bet he bounces back next week, when he faces the Dodgers and the Brewers, both in the top 10 (or bottom 10, depending on how you look at it) in ERA-against at 3.46. L.A. has yet to find its stride this season, and after a hot start, Milwaukee has cooled off a bit.  I think Leake is a good two-start option for Week 11, and that Thursday’s awful start will prove to be more of an outlier.

Ryan Vogelsong, SF – 31% owned

Projected starts: Monday vs. WAS, Sunday vs. COL

The Giants collectively have put together a great first two months of the season, and Vogelsong has been one of their better starters. He’s 4-2 with a 3.39 ERA and has gone at least six innings in every start since his April 21st outing at Colorado. Over that span, he has given up no more than one earned run five times, and two earned runs in one other start.

He’s also been striking out his fair share of batters, totaling 60 K in 69 innings. Additionally, the Giants are scoring loads of runs, and are comfortably in the top 10 in the league in that category.  In sum, Vogelsong has been really solid, and probably deserves a better ownership number than 31%. Next week, Vogelsong will have two home starts against an average Nationals offense (their runs-per-game of 4.16 is exactly the league average), and a Rockies offense without Carlos Gonzalez, so the righty is a decent two-start play for week 11.

Josh Collmenter, ARI – 9% owned

Projected starts: Monday vs. HOU, Saturday @ LAD

Collmenter has been a little up and down for the first two months. Two starts ago, he hurled a complete-game, three-hit shutout against the Reds, and followed it up with a clunker, allowing four runs and five hits in just five innings (the start was at Colorado, however). He doesn’t strike out a ton of hitters, but he doesn’t walk guys either, as he has yet to walk more than two hitters in any start this year. And a 3.63 ERA with a 1.16 WHIP is certainly nothing to scoff at. Next week, he’ll get a favorable start against the Astros-- only three teams score fewer runs per game than Houston-- and the Dodgers with their remarkably just-above-league-average 4.21 runs per game. If you’re in need of a two-start option that’s off the radar, Collmenter might be your guy.

Miguel Gonzalez, BAL – 6% owned *

Projected starts: TBD vs. BOS, TBD vs. TOR

Gonzalez gets an asterisk by his name because he has been scratched a couple of times recently due to “discomfort on his right side.” He’s expected to throw this weekend to see if he can make his starts next week, so his status is definitely something to monitor before you make a move to grab him. But thinking optimistically, Gonzalez has been unbelievably consistent this year, not allowing more than three earned runs in any start. He also has not allowed more than seven hits in any start. When you look his overall numbers, they don't quite jump off the page at you, but at 6% ownership, he’s available in all but the deepest of leagues and can provide some decent value next week. Again, make sure he’s healthy.

John Danks, CWS - 3% owned

Projected starts: Tuesday vs. DET, Sunday vs. KC

At 3% ownership, you would think that a player should only be considered in 20-team leagues or something crazy like that. But Danks has been really good lately, and aside from a couple bad starts, he’s been that way most of the season. Two horrid starts of seven and eight earned runs have ballooned his ERA much higher than it otherwise would be.  Five out of Danks’s last six starts have been quality starts. His last three have been especially great: 22 innings pitched, three earned runs, 13 hits, and 13 strikeouts against just four walks. You might as well ride the hot hand until he cools off. Next week, Danks gets two home starts against scuffling divisional teams.