RADIO
With the beginning of the season out of the way, we are back to a normal schedule this week. Most leagues will have run from March 30 to April 9 for week one, but some will have had two weeks, so we're calling this week three. There are a ton of aces with two starts this week and plenty of options to stream as well.
For those new to this recurring column, each week this fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups column will identify starting pitchers expected to make two starts in the upcoming week and can be considered as fantasy baseball streamers ahead of the Sunday night waiver wire runs for leagues with weekly transactions.
There are 41 pitchers currently scheduled to make two starts during this period. We will be looking at pitchers who are less than 50% owned in Yahoo leagues. Listed will be those who are rostered over 50%, those who are best available under 50%, and risky options under 50%. There are other two-start pitchers available, but they should be avoided.
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Two-Start Pitchers - Over 50% Rostered
- Gerrit Cole - New York Yankees: @ CLE, vs. MIN
Dylan Cease - Chicago White Sox: vs. @ MIN vs. BAL - Shane McClanahan - Tampa Bay Rays: vs. BOS, @ TOR
- Corbin Burnes - Milwaukee Brewers: @ ARI, @ SD
- Alek Manoah - Toronto Blue Jays: vs. DET, vs. TB
- Aaron Nola - Philadelphia Phillies: vs. MIA, vs. CIN
- Spencer Strider - Atlanta Braves: vs. CIN, @ KC
- Framber Valdez - Houston Astros: @ PIT, vs. TEX
- Logan Webb - San Francisco Giants: vs. LAD, @ DET
- Shane Bieber - Cleveland Guardians: vs. NYY, @ WSH
- Sandy Alcantara - Miami Marlins: @ PHI, vs. ARI
- Max Scherzer - New York Mets: vs. SD, @ OAK
- Luis Castillo - Seattle Mariners: @ CHC, vs. COL
- Julio Urias - Los Angeles Dodgers: @ SF, vs. CHC
- Pablo Lopez - Minnesota Twins: vs. CHW, @ NYY
- Zac Gallen - Arizona Diamondbacks: vs. MIL, @ MIA
- Miles Mikolas - St. Louis Cardinals: @ COL, vs. PIT
- Andrew Heaney - Texas Rangers: vs. KC, @ HOU
Best Available Two-Start Pitcher Streamers
German Marquez, Colorado Rockies- 27% Rostered
Scheduled Starts: vs. STL, @ SEA
A couple of tough matchups, but Marquez is one of the most talented two-start streamers this week. His strikeout numbers are good at home, a little over one an inning in his career, but his ERA is inflated pitching at Coors Field. While he strikes out fewer batters on the road, he has a career 3.78 ERA and 1.17 WHIP. Marquez's fastball is still clocking in at 95.8 MPH this season, but hitters have a .438 batting average against it.
Roansy Contreras, Pittsburgh Pirates - 25% Rostered
Scheduled Starts: vs. HOU, @ STL
It's just one game, but Contreras seemed to have a different approach in his first start compared to last season. In 2022, he threw his fastball 48.6% of the time. During his first start, he threw his slider 48.7% of the time. Batters hit .163 against his slider last season and nobody collected a hit off it in Contreras' first start. He has two tough matchups and only collected two strikeouts in his first start, but if the pitch selection wasn't just a one-game outlier, Contreras can continue his solid start to the season.
Corey Kluber, Boston Red Sox - 15% Rostered
Scheduled Starts: @ TB, vs. LAA
At 36 years old, Kluber has his best days behind him, but he's still capable of solid outings. Last season he was in the 99th percentile in BB% and 96th percentile in chase rate. He had a tough Opening Day versus Baltimore but pitched better against the Pirates, where he allowed four base runners in five innings. He gave up one run and struck out two over 5 innings, and doesn't have the most difficult matchups this week.
Nick Pivetta, Boston Red Sox- 11% Rostered
Scheduled Starts: @ TB, vs. LAA
Pivetta, like Kluber, held Pittsburgh to one earned run over 5 innings but surrendered two unearned runs in his start. Pivetta threw the most pitches of his career last season. He also got hit the hardest of his career. His fastball is about league-average velocity-wise and so was his strikeout percentage last season. He threw 87 pitches in his first start, so he should be able to eat some innings with a little better luck this week.
Bryce Elder, Atlanta Braves - 5% Rostered
Scheduled Starts: vs. CIN, @ KC
Elder doesn't throw hard or strike out a lot of guys, but he was good at limiting hard contact last season. He has two enticing matchups and is pitching for a red-hot offense to start the season. He struck out six batters over six innings in his first start, but strikeouts aren't his best asset. He didn't give up a run at St. Louis, a hot offense, and surrendered five base runners.
Jose Suarez, Los Angeles Angels - 3% Rostered
Scheduled Starts: vs. WSH, @ BOS
Washington has one of the worst offenses to start the year, while Boston has one of the best. Suarez isn't a household name but has been a solid pitcher for the Angels over the last two seasons. He had a 3.75 ERA in 2021 and a 3.96 ERA last season. He struggled at Seattle in his first game, and this is a dart throw, but it's one that can pay off.
Risky Two-Start Streamer Picks
Kenta Maeda, 46% Rostered
Zack Greinke, 15% Rostered
Mitch Keller, 13% Rostered
Steven Matz, 9% Rostered
Kyle Gibson, 9% Rostered
Kyle Muller, 5% Rostered
Matt Manning, 2% Rostered
Drew Smyly, 2% Rostered
Getting back to a regular schedule, we've looked at most of the 41 pitchers who will start two games this week. There are others not listed, and you should try to avoid them as much as you can. Hopefully, this helps you get a better understanding of what moves to make for the upcoming week. Good luck fantasy baseball friends.
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