April 5 Fantasy Baseball Starting Pitcher Streamers: Robbie Ray, Taj Bradley, Reese Olson, AJ Smith-Shawver and Marcus Stroman
Five starting pitchers in action on Saturday who have good matchups and are widely available in fantasy leagues.
It's Final Four Saturday, which isn't usually a day conducive to big baseball ratings. More than half the baseball games start before the basketball gets underway, though, so there's time to set your fantasy lineup before zoning out on the world.
Let's look at five starting pitchers in action on Saturday who have good matchups and are widely available in fantasy leagues. Most stats are from MLB.com, as are the probable pitchers.
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Taj Bradley, Tampa Bay Rays @ Texas Rangers
Bradley is owned in over 60% of leagues, a number that might keep climbing. He has a well above-average strikeout rate in 248.2 innings with a walk rate right at average. In his first start, Bradley struck out seven with no walks while giving up two runs in six innings.
The Rangers seem like a team that should hit better, but the numbers don't match the names. Catcher Jonah Heim is the only player with at least 10 at-bats who is hitting over .250, and no one has more than two home runs. Texas is worth targeting regularly until we see them raise their level of play.
Bradley is a mid- to high-level streamer here. The matchup combined with his own strong K work gives him a nice ceiling.
Reese Olson, Detroit Tigers vs. Chicago White Sox
In over 200 innings between 2023-24, Olson was better than average with both walks and strikeouts and had an ERA under 4.00. His first start this year wasn't great: 4.2 innings, four hits, four runs, and two walks, though he did strike out five. That was against the Dodgers; things will be easier this time around.
The White Sox were the worst team in the league last season. They've been closer to average through the first week of this year, but Chicago is almost surely going to regress back to more of what they were in 2024. Matchups against the Angels and Twins to start off probably helped with their improved numbers.
Olson is a mid-level streamer in this one with a little upside. His strikeout work gives him a nice outlook, and the White Sox are likely to offer one of the best matchups in the league over the full season.
Robbie Ray, San Francisco Giants vs. Seattle Mariners
Ray is owned in more leagues than most of the guys who end up here, but he's still available enough to make it worth checking your free agent market before this start against the Mariners. Seattle is one of our prime targets, most importantly striking out as much as any team over the past few years.
Ray's previous two seasons were essentially eliminated by injuries, but he was pitching like a star before that, particularly striking out close to 30% of the batters he faced (compared to the league average near 22%). He's a worthy player on which to take a chance.
Ray is a high-level streamer. He might not find his top level ever again, but Ray has the matchup in this one to have a vintage day.
AJ Smith-Shawver, Atlanta Braves vs. Miami Marlins
The Braves seem to always churn out successful young pitchers, one of the biggest parts of their extended run of success. Smith-Shawver is a rookie who had less than 30 innings to his name entering the season. He was a high-level strikeout guy in the minors, though he walked way too many guys and needs to find his control.
Miami is a team to find success against, though, as they were among the worst in 2024. They started 2025 a little better, but this is another group like the White Sox who are likely to regress back toward the bottom of the league soon.
Smith-Shawver is a mid-level streamer. His strikeout work gives him a high ceiling, but the lack of control has a chance to sink him in any given start, so there is a low floor to worry about also.
Marcus Stroman, New York Yankees @ Pittsburgh Pirates
The thought before the season was that Stroman would be on a different team than the Yankees, but that hasn't come to fruition, and he's in the starting rotation with an important role eating innings. Stroman has been an average pitcher the past two seasons and started 2025 with a rough outing (4.2 innings, five hits, three runs, three strikeouts).
Pittsburgh is a weak offensive team, both in terms of not scoring many runs and literally in the fact that they don't hit for power. The Pirates are in the bottom 10 in doubles, home runs, slugging percentage, and OPS; they were in the bottom 10 in each of those categories in 2024 also.
Stroman is a low- to mid-level streamer. He's not the pitcher he was several years ago, but he still has thrown well enough to be on the streaming radar, and the matchup makes him somewhat intriguing.
Saturday's Streamer Rankings
- Robbie Ray, SF
- Taj Bradley, TB
- Reese Olson, DET
- AJ Smith-Shawver, ATL
- Marcus Stroman, NYY
