Oh me oh my! Eduardo Rodriguez ended up pitching last night for my Red Sox, and he very well may have pitched his way into my heart. As a lefty, being able to reach back for 94, 95, and 96 with the fastball, then come with his plus changeup and solid average breaker, gave me reminders of watching a young Chris Sale. He’s legit, and he’s another example of prospect pitchers to watch. No one’s sure yet if he’s staying up, but if he does you almost have to grab him for his next start, even if the matchup isn’t in his favor. If he gets more starts like his one last night though, it won’t be long before he gets picked up by someone for good, if he hasn’t been already by the rabid Red Sox guy in your league. If it were me, I’d go get him, but I’m the rabid Red Sox fan, so there’s that. Now, on to the streaming pitchers for tomorrow!
Streaming Pitchers: 5/30/15
Shane Greene RHP DET (@ LAA)
Ok, so what happened to Shane Greene? After his short stint in the majors last year, he looked like a guy who was going to be able to get decent strikeout and ground ball rates with ok control. Well so far this year, it almost looks like he’s gone the opposite direction, posting an uninspiring strikeout rate of 15.8%, but showing good control with a walk rate of 6.3%. His ground ball rate has been ok (46.9%), so he’s coughed up a tiny .46 HR/9. If you look closely, though, you’ll notice that he has shown improved skills in his last few starts. Against Milwaukee at home, and at St. Louis and at Oakland, he’s had a 3.18 ERA, 7.41 K/9, and 2.12 BB/9, looking a little more like the pitcher we all hoped he could be. His ownership rate has dipped a bit as he’s now down to 35%, so if he’s available you might want to give him a shot against the Angels offense, which only hits at a wRC+ of 91 at home and 80 against righties.
Charlie Morton RHP PIT (@ SD)
The ground ball specialist has made himself a decent career as an innings eater for the Pirates. His style fits excellently with Pittsburgh’s plan to make hitters put the ball on the ground and let the defense do the work. Finally getting the chance to start after a couple rehab outings, he seems to be back to his old self and held the Marlins to two runs on eight hits with no walks. He only had three strikeouts on the game, and even though his K rates have gone up each year in the last few years, that’s still not a huge part of his game. You want him for the grounders, and he had the grounders, having 20 of the 24 balls in play go that way for an 83.3% rate. Now it won’t stay that way, but if he can keep it in the 50s or even low 60s, he’s shown he can be an effective streaming pitcher. He’ll be traveling to Petco on Saturday, and while that’s not quite PNC, it’s still a decent park to pitch in. The Padres are a great team to stream against too, despite their hot start to the year, as they’re hitting at a 95 wRC+ at home and an 89 wRC+ against righties. With the chance that his stuff keeps getting better to where you can see that 7 K/9 rate he ran with last year, he’ll be more than worth it to stream with.
Good luck and happy streaming!
