Hello to all! If you read my first article on this site and you’re still reading this one too, then God bless you, you kind soul. Apparently, the baseball gods conspired to make certain my first three public picks in fantasy baseball streaming be as miserable and terrible as pitchers can generally be. I looked at Frias allowing 8 runs in his first two innings, and I thought to myself, “Well, it was a nice writing gig while it lasted.” I still hold out hope for Frias to be a good major league pitcher, for all the reasons I listed in that article. But I think he’s going to need some good secondary stuff, and soon, or else people are going to be sitting on that wonderful fastball of his, and then things like Saturday will happen all over again.
Anyway, let’s look ahead to Tuesday. There’s only two streaming pitchers that I like tomorrow.
STREAMING PITCHERS: 5/26/15
Clay Buchholz, RHP, Boston Red Sox (@MIN)
Oh, Clay Buchholz. Whether you’re a Red Sox fan like me, or you were once an owner in his fantasy shares, there’s few players that are more frustrating. Sometimes he has seasons like 2013. Then sometimes he has seasons like 2014. And then there’s this year. Just look at his game log this year. Some monstrously good starts. A couple clunkers, too. And some of that might be victim to the luck monster. But if I showed you a pitcher that had a 9.85 K/9, 2.55 BB/9, and a 49% GB rate, then said he’s available in somewhere near 60% of leagues, you’d be all over him. Not just for streaming either, but to own for the rest of the year. Well, that’s what you’d have in Clay. So why the bad ERA? It’s all in the luck metrics. He has a .340 BABIP allowed this year (career .288, league average .293), and he’s only stranded 64% of baserunners at the end of an inning (career 71.4%, league average 72.4%). The Twins are an interesting matchup, too. It seems like a really good matchup, until you look at how well they’ve done at home (113 wRC+). Even still, if you believe his luck metrics will balance out back to normal, then you might want to give Clay a shot. Not just to stream, but to own.
Alex Colome, RHP, Tampa Bay Rays (vs SEA)
Colome is an interesting guy because he’s got some decent stuff with a little bit of strikeout potential. He’s got a decent strikeout rate at 18.6%, but the thing driving his solid 3.49 xFIP is his walk rate of 2.9%. That’s not a typo. He’s faced 102 batters this season so far, and he’s walked just three. I’m not so convinced he can keep this up, as he’s routinely posted walk rates north of 10% in the minors, but the Rays have a way of getting the most out of their pitching staff, and this might just be more of the same. He’s going to get a solid matchup for him here against the Mariners, who have been struggling this year. An 89 wRC+ on the road and a 93 wRC+ against righties means this is just the matchup Colome needs to continue his run.
Good luck and happy streaming!
Main Photo
