Well, how’s that for bad luck? Old Man Tim actually pitched fairly well yesterday, but got BABIP’d to death and had bad luck with the long ball, too, pitching 6.1 innings and allowing five runs on ten hits and one walk, striking out six. His ERA for the game was at 6.75, but his FIP (3.71) and xFIP (2.59) points to him pitching better that what his results suggest. If that wasn’t enough, Trevor May had an awful start, allowing five runs on six hits while registering only one out. Yikes! It’s just a bad day all around, but we just need to shake it off. You know it’s a bad day when I’m making Taylor Swift references, but that’s what it’s come to. Let’s move on to tomorrow’s streaming pitchers.
Streaming Pitchers: 6/28/2015
Jeff Locke LHP PIT (vs. ATL)
Jeff Locke keeps coming up in our report, and that’s mostly because he’s just a bit worse than a league average pitcher (108 FIP- and 106 xFIP-). He also gets to play half his games at PNC Park, one of the best parks in the league at suppressing home runs. So he’s just bad enough that most won’t own him, but he’s just good enough that, in the right matchup, he’s good to use for a day. This is one of those matchups. The Braves are hitting pretty poorly away from home, with an 89 wRC+ in those games. They also fare poorly against lefties, hitting a measly 72 wRC+ against them. Locke is set up to have a great game and I think you should definitely go get him for this one.
Steven Matz LHP NYM (vs. CIN)
This one isn’t so much about the matchup as it is about the pitcher involved. I believe, as I’ve stated before, that Steven Matz has the tools to be an above average pitcher and should be owned in all formats as soon as he comes up. I’m not the only one in the LWOS crew that’s been anxiously awaiting his arrival, as Mathew Brownstein wrote up about Matz earlier this month as well. His arrival is finally here, and if he’s still available on your waiver wire, then I would suggest you go get him now. The Reds don’t hit well away from home (84 wRC+) and though they can hit lefties a bit (104 wRC+) I still think that Matz has the tools to dispatch them fairly quickly and easily. It might be a bit bold to pitch him in his first start, but with his talent level I think it’s the right move. If he does well, you might want to hold on to him as your roster dictates, since it looks like he’s going to stay in the Mets’ six-man rotation plan.
Good luck and happy streaming!
