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RotoBaller Richie Smith breaks down the top five starting pitching streamers from your waiver wire for week 6 of fantasy baseball action.
Starting Pitcher Streamers for Week 6
This will be a season-long, weekly piece on under-the-radar, two-start pitchers whom you should consider picking up for the following week of play. I'll give you a mix of starting pitcher options, some ideal for shallow leagues, some ideal for deep leagues. This post will always be published well enough in advance of next week to give you ample time to prepare for the coming week. The names that will appear on this list will not be your obvious, must-start guys who are likely already owned. It does you no good for me to tell you to start Kershaw, Jose or Greinke. Instead, I’ll look at starting pitchers who are less than ~50% owned in Yahoo! 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!
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Nathan Eovaldi - MIA, 37% Owned
Projected starts: Monday vs. NYM, Saturday @SD. At this point, I think Eovaldi is becoming a must-own guy. After hurling seven innings and giving up just one, measly run in a win against the Braves on Wednesday night, he’s lowered his season ERA to 2.58 and has a very good K/9 of just under 9.00. He is pounding the strike zone with the highest zone rate in the majors, and his ridiculous fastball and 2-seamer make it tough to get hits against him. It’s fairly safe to say that Eovaldi is being overshadowed by Jose Fernandez’s greatness, which is fine as far as you’re concerned because that means your fellow league-mates probably are not paying attention to how good Eovaldi has been. If he is on your waiver wire, go pick him up now, as he has two plus match-ups heading into week 6, getting the Mets at home, and then heading out to San Diego to face the lowly Padres. He’s a must-play, two-start option next week. In fact, he's becoming a must own option in all leagues.
Henderson Alvarez- MIA, 8% Owned
Projected starts: Tuesday vs. NYM, Sunday @SD. I guess I am all in on the Marlins this upcoming week, which is a scary proposition. But like Eovaldi, Alvarez has also been pretty good so far this season. After a little bit of a rocky start, he’s only given up 5 ER total his last three starts, including a complete game, two-hit shutout against the Mariners a couple weeks ago. He’s certainly not a must-own guy yet, and you never really know what kind of run support the Marlins offense will provide (although they are improving), but he’s becoming a pretty good streaming option, especially during weeks where he will get two cracks at below-averages offenses.
Charlie Morton- PIT, 7% Owned
Projected starts: Monday vs SF, Sunday vs. STL. With all of the rainouts occurring on the East Coast this week, it has pushed Morton’s start back twice, and he ended up throwing Thursday against the Orioles with a mediocre outing. This means that he’s become a decent two-start pitcher for week 6, getting two home starts against averages offenses, at best. Morton’s career ERA is nearly a run-and-a-half lower at home than on the road, so even though he is coming off a sub-par performance against the Reds and O's, neither the Giants nor the Cardinals have really found a rhythm offensively yet, and so I think Morton could find some success at home in week 6.
Zach McAllister - CLE, 19% Owned
Projected starts: Tuesday vs. MIN, Sunday @TB. McAllister has been a bit up and down so far in 2014. His last two starts have been shaky, including getting hit hard Wednesday night against the Angels, but prior to those starts, he threw three straight quality outings. And to be fair, his start on Wednesday was on three-days’ rest, something he had never done before in his career. His overall numbers are good though (3.14 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, and 23 K in just under 29 innings). Believe it or not, Minnesota currently leads the league in runs scored at about 5.5 per game, but only two teams strikeout more than them, and they are just around average for hits per game. So that, plus a match-up against Tampa Bay, gives McAllister two chances to rack up some strikeouts and potentially wins in week 6.
Robbie Erlin- SD, 3% Owned
Projected starts: Tuesday vs. KC, Sunday vs. MIA. In deeper leagues, Erlin is definitely worth a look. First of all, any pitcher who gets two starts in Petco Park in a given week is probably worth consideration. Aside from his first start of the season, where he went six innings, allowing one run in a winning effort, Erlin has not been particularly good this season. He is usually more of a control guy than a power guy, but he’s actually struck out his fair share of hitters so far (20 in just under 23 innings). It’s easy to understand not wanting to roll with Erlin after getting shelled at Washington last week, but rebounded with a decent start (6.2 IP, 5:1 K:BB, 1 ER) at San Francisco wednesday night. His two home starts give some reason to believe he’ll have a bit of a bounce back week.
