August 2 Fantasy Baseball Starting Pitcher Streamers: Yusei Kikuchi, Spencer Schwellenbach, Tyler Phillips and More

After a day off for many teams yesterday, we’re back to a full slate heading into the first weekend of August. The end of the season is just over eight weeks away, and with player movement finished (aside from waivers), it’s the true home stretch.

The NFL preseason is going to heat up football talk, so it’s easy to lose focus on baseball until the last week and into the playoffs. Young players will be called up and/or given more chances to play, meaning the fantasy waiver wire might offer a league-winning pickup over the next few weeks. It's worth keeping an eye on your baseball team, even as fantasy football starts creeping up.

Let’s look at Friday’s probable starters (according to MLB.com) who are widely available in fantasy leagues and have good matchups, creating streaming value. Most stats and rankings are from MLB. The full streamer rankings are listed at the bottom.

Paul Blackburn, New York Mets @ Los Angeles Angels

Blackburn was acquired at the trade deadline from Oakland. He missed a few months with a foot injury but returned for one start on July 26. Coincidentally, that start was against these same Angels, and though he picked up the win, Blackburn allowed four runs in five innings.

The Angels are a bottom-10 offense over the full season, and they have been just a little below average since the All-Star break. Mike Trout’s rehab assignment was shut down after he experienced a setback, and it was discovered yesterday that he has a torn meniscus and will miss the last two months. No reinforcement is coming for this Angels lineup.

Blackburn is a low-level streamer. His strikeout work is below average, and he is likely to have a short start after recently returning from injury.

Yusei Kikuchi, Houston Astros vs. Tampa Bay Rays

Another deadline mover, Kikuchi came from the Blue Jays to join the playoff race with the Astros. I’m willing to chalk up his poor record (4-9) and ERA (4.75) to the dumpster fire in Toronto this season; Kikuchi has a 6% walk rate (league average is 8%) and 26% strikeout rate (21-22% is average), excelling in both facets. His career rates are a hair worse but still better than average.

The Rays have had a middling offense since the break, and things are likely to get worse. They traded multiple players before the deadline, shedding a lot of veteran talent and adding a lot of prospects in the process. Good for Tampa’s future; bad for 2024. This lineup is bottom-10 over the full season.

Kikuchi is a mid- to high-level streamer. It’s surely hard to move to a new city and team then go out and pitch, so I’ll temper expectations a little bit, but Kikuchi has performed well enough to succeed in Houston.

Tyler Phillips, Philadelphia Phillies @ Seattle Mariners

Phillips has thrown just 25 big-league innings (all this season), and they have gone well: five runs allowed, 19 strikeouts and two walks. His last start was a complete game shutout over the Guardians. Phillips’ emergence could be huge for the Phillies in the playoffs.

Seattle made a few moves to improve its putrid offense, most notably adding Randy Arozarena and Justin Turner. It will take time to see how those moves improve the team, but they couldn’t make it much worse. Like the previous two teams listed, Seattle is a bad offense who has been OK over the past two weeks.

Phillips is a mid- to high-level streamer. The matchup is very nice, and Phillips has pitched well in his short time.

Spencer Schwellenbach, Atlanta Braves vs. Miami Marlins

I haven’t done this in a while, so let’s circle back to a Miami favorite: How many Marlins have more hits than Luis Arraez did for the team this season? Arraez was traded to the Padres on May 4; he hasn’t played for Miami in three months. Only eight players have more hits for the Marlins than Arraez did (41). Just five guys have scored more runs (22). There’s not much to like for this franchise.

Schwellenbach is a rookie who debuted on May 29 and has thrown 57.2 innings. The results have been very average (4.06 ERA, 1.06 WHIP), but Schwellenbach has both a strikeout rate and walk rate several percentage points better than the league average. It’s a small sample, but things have been positive.

Schwellenbach is another mid- to high-level streamer. He’s had more than five strikeouts in six of 10 starts, and the matchup couldn’t be much better.

Randy Vasquez, San Diego Padres vs. Colorado Rockies

I sound like a broken record on this road trip for the Rockies, but they go from a top 10 offense at home to a bottom 10 unit away from Coors Field. The trade deadline was quiet for Colorado, so I guess things will stay…the same.

That’s good news for Vasquez, who has shown flashes for the Padres but is well below average striking batters out. He was a little better with Ks in the minor leagues, so maybe there’s more to come, but Vasquez hasn’t shown any strikeout success in the majors. His one start against the Rockies earlier this year was at Coors Field, and Vasquez gave up four runs in 2.2 innings with two strikeouts and two walks.

Vasquez is a low-level streamer. His ceiling is severely limited by his strikeout rate (under 15%), and he hasn’t shown consistent positive results.

Friday’s Streamer Rankings

1. Yusei Kikuchi, HOU
2. Spencer Schwellenbach, ATL
3. Tyler Phillips, PHI
4. Randy Vasquez, SD
5. Paul Blackburn, NYM