Well, it wasn’t a good day yesterday for our two heroes, Charlie Morton and Tsuyoshi Wada. Both had control issues along with bad luck to create some really bad results. You want the results, sure, but it’s all about the process. Finding the matchups that will help you the most is the goal and using home/road and lefty/righty splits are the best ways to find the hidden matchups that are available to use on the waiver wire. Of course, if you have good pitching available on your waiver wire, never hesitate to use that as well. It’s all about the options you have available and using the matchups to your advantage. You’re going to run into bad luck, but that’s the same with all starters, whether their aces, mixed-league relevant, or waiver wire fodder.
Streaming Pitchers: 6/7/15
Kyle Hendricks RHP CHC (@ WSH)
OK, remember what I said before about the Jesse Chavez Fan Club? Forget that. Instead, let’s make it the Kyle Hendricks Fan Club. As I said the last time I wrote about him, Hendricks is a better pitcher than I first thought. Sure, his last start didn’t seem to go well on the surface, with four earned runs off of seven hits and two walks. But a lot of those hits were bad luck hits, and he didn’t get to strand many runners, revealed in poor luck metrics (.389 BABIP and 55.6 LOB%). His strikeouts have been good and only getting better, and he’s shown improved control as well. If he can keep up his improved skills, he should have a good start, as he has a decent matchup against Washington at home, where they only have a 95 wRC+. Give him a go, and you might want to hold on to him if you like what you see.
Mike Pelfrey RHP MIN (vs MIL)
If we wanted to use only safe streaming pitchers, Mike Pelfrey may not be the best option. He only strikes out 11.0% of the batters he faces, and his stuff is not overpowering by any means. He has been good so far this year, at least as far as results go, with a 2.59 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP. But he has been lucky too, with a BABIP of .272 this year and a left on base percentage of 80.5%. If he can keep that luck going, he can probably enjoy some similar success in this matchup with the Brewers. Remember, we’re going to like playing against the Brewers, since they’ve been terrible on offense. They’ve only hit a 70 wRC+ on the road and an 81 wRC+ against righties. Let’s hope he keeps up his good luck.
Good luck and happy streaming!