My favorite player of all time is still Pedro Martinez. One of the greatest pitchers of all time, he accumulated 85.4 WAR over 18 seasons, good for 15th overall. His 67 ERA- and 67 FIP- are both the best marks of all time. It was because of Pedro and his plethora of pitches that I got into pitching. I’d suggest looking for any articles and interviews in which he was a part, but this is one of my favorites. His diminuitive frame would never suggest he was a power pitcher, and yet he was, though he was also one of the smartest pitchers around. Now, several younger, shorter pitchers with a live arm (i.e. Yordano Ventura, Marcus Stroman) are compared to Martinez, though I doubt they’ll ever reach his prominence. Now, on to the streaming pitchers for July 9th!
Streaming Pitchers: 7/9/2015
Jeff Locke LHP PIT (vs. STL)
There usually aren’t many options on a Thursday, but a Pirates pitcher at home is usually a good way to go. We’ve talked about Jeff Locke a couple times on these pages, but I want to dig into something interesting with him. I’ve said over and over that if he can keep his walks down while keeping his ground ball rate up, he’s going to be a worthwhile pitcher to use, especially in streaming pitchers. Well, over the last month or so, he’s done just that. Since June 12th, Locke has 6.52 K/9, 2.48 BB/9, and a ground ball rate of 57.1%. His 1.55/2.77/3.44 ERA/FIP/xFIP line has been outstanding over that period of time. He’s been a pitcher that’s not only been worth streaming, but worth keeping on your roster in all but the shallowest of leagues over that timespan. He’s going to hope to keep that magic going at home against the Cardinals. Despite their gaudy offensive reputation, the Cards are only hitting at a 96 wRC+ on the road and a surprisingly low 87 wRC+ against righties. This is a perfect storm for streaming, since not only will very few turn to any pitcher against the Cardinals, but even fewer would probably suggest that Locke could fair well against the Redbirds. He’s a sneaky play that’s actually worth the risk.
