Saturday Fantasy Baseball Streaming Pitchers: Can Jose Berrios Find His Old Form Against Mariners?
Five starting pitchers in action on Saturday who are widely available in fantasy leagues and have good matchups.
The NBA Playoffs start in earnest today, and the NFL Draft is less than a week away. Welcome to obscurity for the MLB season, as baseball will take a backseat for a while with over five months left in the regular season.
Fantasy baseball won't stop, though, so let's look at five starting pitchers in action on Saturday who are widely available in fantasy leagues and have good matchups. Most stats are from MLB.com, as are the probable starters. The full streamer rankings are listed at the bottom.
Jose Berrios, Toronto Blue Jays vs. Seattle Mariners
Berrios is owned in more leagues than the other guys here; he's available in less than 50%. He's a former star who has faded a bit but still has big upside in small spurts. Berrios has been a little better than average with both walks and strikeouts in his career, though his K work has been inconsistent since 2022.
The Mariners are more of a middling matchup than a great one. Berrios might not be listed here every day (both because of his availability and the matchup), but we are a little light on streamers, so his inclusion makes up the numbers. He's a decent bet because of his upside, and Seattle is just outside the top 10 in most batter strikeouts.
Berrios is a mid-level streamer with upside. He won't consistently be a star again, but there's still a little bit of juice there in the right matchups. This could be one of those times.
Ben Lively, Cleveland Guardians @ Pittsburgh Pirates
Lively is a below-average strikeout guy who does OK with walks. He fits into a very, very big group of pitchers who are average to a little below average and eat up innings. That's a valuable guy to have on your real-life roster, but it's not a player who is a fantasy asset.
The Pirates are the team to face if you want to find value, though. Pittsburgh is in the bottom 10 in essentially every offensive box stat, and their batters are tied for the second-most strikeouts.
Lively is a low- to mid-level streamer. The matchup is right to put him here, but he has a defined ceiling.
Casey Mize, Detroit Tigers vs. Kansas City Royals
Kansas City is another team in the bottom 10 across the board. Their lack of power might be the biggest problem, as the Royals are last in home runs and 29th in both slugging percentage and OPS.
Mize started with two really good outings, combining for 11.2 innings with just one run allowed, 12 strikeouts, and six walks. His most recent start against the Twins, another one of our targets, didn't go so well: four runs allowed in 5.2 innings, including two home runs. He's generally good with walks but below average with Ks.
Mize is a mid-level streamer. The matchup is a good one, and he has had some success, but his usual lack of strikeouts caps his value a bit.
Simeon Woods Richardson, Minnesota Twins @ Atlanta Braves
Woods Richardson finds his way onto this list often; that's one of the perks of playing in the AL Central (his three starts were against the White Sox, Royals, and Tigers). He is just a hair worse than average with both walks and strikeouts over 158 innings.
The Braves are a surprise target early in the season, but they are in the bottom 10 in most categories, just like our other targets here. Atlanta does hit for power (tied for ninth with 23 homers), but they have also struck out the seventh most.
Woods Richardson is a mid-level streamer. The Braves could improve at any moment without much warning; they have a lot of talent. Woods Richardson is a middling pitcher with a decent matchup.
Brandon Young, Baltimore Orioles vs. Cincinnati Reds
Young signed with Baltimore as an undrafted free agent after the shortened COVID draft of 2020, and injuries have limited his time on the field since then. He has done high-level strikeout work in the minors, though, and earned his way to the big leagues, where he will be making his debut on Saturday.
Cincinnati might be closer to the middle than the basement, but they are in the bottom 10 in all four slash categories and wouldn't be mistaken for a great offense. There are fun and intriguing players, most notably Elly De La Cruz, but the Reds lack all-around impact and are a little vulnerable.
Young is a low- to mid-level streamer. His strikeout upside is real, but it's hard to project a guy in his first start. With the matchup more middling than great, I'd stay away from Young in this one until he proves himself.
Saturday's Streamer Rankings
- Jose Berrios, TOR
- Casey Mize, DET
- Simeon Woods Richardson, MIN
- Ben Lively, CLE
- Brandon Young, BAL
