Field of Streams 2021: Week 7
We are back once again in an attempt to help fantasy baseball managers out with their starting pitching needs. Whether you have a staff riddled with injuries, guys that are underperforming, or a cruel combination of the two, here are a few pitchers that may be able to help you out in the meantime.
Last week’s selections performed well enough, with Robbie Ray posting the best performance of the group. He tossed a quality start with 3 ER over 6 IP, but the real highlight was the 10:0 K:BB he posted in that outing. Dylan Cease failed to record a quality start in his two appearances but still put up decent numbers (10 2/3 IP, 3 ER, 10 K), and both Jon Gray and Adbert Alzolay made one start instead of their originally scheduled two but each gave strong starts as well, which we will get into later on.
As was the case last year, any game that I reference here is subject to change should individual players or full teams end up missing games due to the COVID protocols. Sometimes we have little to no heads up on any of these schedule adjustments, and games — especially later in the weekdays after this series posts — may not play out as they were originally expected to at the time of this writing. Two-Start Adds may turn into Single Game Streamers if one of their games gets postponed or pushed back in the week and SGS picks may not actually have that selected game happen, so be sure to check on player and team news daily to make sure you put yourself in the best possible position.
NOTE: I will typically try to stay around the 50% owned mark for my selections, but may reach up to guys owned in around 65% of leagues as well depending on different matchup factors. Owned percentages will read (ESPN, Yahoo), and all percentages and stats are current prior to Sunday’s games unless stated otherwise.
Without further ado, here are my streaming picks for Week 6 of the 2021 season.
Two-Start Adds
Jon Gray — COL (53.1%, 47%) at SD, vs ARI
Gray got his second start of last week pushed back a day, which makes him a candidate for this section a second week in a row. His first start will come against the same Padres team that he just faced in his last outing, but that should be no issue for the Rockies righty. In that game he finished one out shy of recording a quality start en route to allowing just 1 ER on 3 H over 5 2/3 IP.
As for his second scheduled start of the week against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Gray should have a strong opportunity for yet another quality start on the season. The D-backs have been in a bit of a downswing over the last two weeks with a .237/.308/.376 slash line over their last 13 games entereing play on Sunday. Gray has also been excellent at home this year with a 2.00 ERA (8 ER in 36 IP), 1.000 WHIP, and a 9.5 K/9 rate in six starts.
Look for Gray to post two more strong starts this week and give a nice boost to your fantasy squad.
Adbert Alzolay — CHC (15.9%, 22%) vs WAS, at STL
Alzolay makes his second consecutive appearance in this series and, as was the case for Jon Gray above, it is thanks in part to his second scheduled start of last week getting pushed back. The one start that he did make last week was a quality one as he allowed 3 ER and posted a 6:0 K:BB in 6 IP against Cleveland.
His first start of this week will be an interesting one, as the Washington Nationals have been hitting the ball well this year (.254/.323/.397 team slash line) but have had difficulty stringing things together to score runs (3.97 runs per game, tied-6th worst in MLB). Alzolay has shown that he is able to limit any damage when he does let guys on base, so he has a good chance to come out of this with another quality start.
The second team he is scheduled to face is the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cards have slowed down in their offensive production recently as they have a .207/.306/.374 slash line and just 3 RPG over the last six games entering Sunday. Alzolay also has had success against the Cardinals in his career as he owns a 2.35 ERA (2 ER in 7 2/3 IP) and 11.7 K/9 in two outings against them. Granted that is a small sample size, but that bit of success plus St. Louis’s struggles at the plate bode well for the young right-hander.
Honorable Mentions: One under-the-radar guy to keep an eye on is southpaw Yusei Kikuchi (34.9%, 41%), who has earned a quality start in each of his last three outings. In that stretch he has a 2.66 ERA, 0.787 WHIP, and a .169/.213./310 slash line against, and he has a pair of decent matchups against the Tigers and Padres…Jose Urquidy (64.1%, 64%) also has a pair of decent matchups against a pair of division rivals in the A’s and Rangers, but with his higher owned percentages it may be a bit more difficult to pick him up.
Single Game Streamers
Luis Patino — TB (7.9%, 14%) at BAL on 5/18
Patino has slowly but surely been stretched out over his last couple of outings, and he could very well act more as a starter than an extended opener in his next outing against the Baltimore Orioles. So far on the season he owns a 1.54 ERA in 11 2/3 IP with an excellent 0.686 WHIP, 4.6 H/9, and a great 6.50 K/BB rate (with a 10.0 K/9 and 1.5 BB/9). The only downside is that his 3.89 FIP does indicate that a regression to the mean is due at some point, but until that happens I have no problem riding the Patino wave and taking what we can get from him.
Jake Arrieta — CHC (38.0%, 35%) vs WAS on 5/19
Arrieta came back from a brief IL stint on Friday and picked up right where he left off by earning a quality start against the Tigers (6 IP, 2 ER). He is not one to record a ton of strikeouts anymore, but he has shown an ability to work out of danger more often than not as he has allowed 3 ER or fewer in all but one of his seven starts this season. As I mentioned above when talking about his teammate, Adbert Alzolay, the Nationals have had trouble putting runs across the board this season despite their decent hitting rates, and with run prevention being one of his strengths thus far this matchup appears to play into Arrieta’s hands.
Cole Irvin — OAK (44.7%, 50%) vs HOU on 5/20
Irvin has been the best pitcher on Oakland’s staff recently with a 3.02 ERA, 1.070 WHIP, 4.88 K/BB rate, and a quality start in each of his last four outings. Over those last four games he owns a 2.36 ERA in 26 2/3 IP, 0.900 WHIP, and a .198/.238/.354 slash line against. While he did allow 4 ER in each of his two prior outings against Houston this year, he has been able to keep the bats of Jose Altuve (.167 AVG, 1-for-6), Alex Bregman (0-for-3), and Yuli Gurriel (0-for-3) quiet. Irvin’s improvements over the season and his prior success against three of the better bats in Houston’s lineup could equate to a strong start for the southpaw.
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