Thursday's Fantasy Baseball Pitching Streamers: Which Rookie has the Best Outlook?

It is the first day of the NFL Draft. There are baseball fans who don't care about football, and others don't really care about drafts, even if they are into the NFL, but a big portion of the MLB fanbase is going to be preoccupied with draft news for the weekend.

That gives those who are keeping up with fantasy baseball the chance to find someone under the radar who other owners aren't taking the time to uncover. That's what streaming is all about: finding the players most owners aren't paying attention to and trying to steal some good innings while those guys have the best matchups.

Let's look at six pitchers in action on Thursday who are widely available in fantasy leagues and have good matchups. Most stats are from MLB.com, as are the probable pitchers. The full streamer rankings are listed at the bottom.

Tyler Anderson, Los Angeles Angels vs. Pittsburgh Pirates

Anderson pitched well last year despite worse-than-average walk and strikeout rates, finishing with a 3.81 ERA in nearly 180 innings. I was skeptical of trusting him, even as he kept ending up on our streamer list, but Anderson had a solid season. It's much of the same story early in 2025: in 21.2 innings, Anderson struck out 21 hitters (good) but also walked 12 guys (bad). He has only allowed five runs.

The Pirates are one of our top targets. If you could pick up the starting pitcher against Pittsburgh every day, you'd have a high-level fantasy spot on your roster. The Pirates are in the bottom 10 in essentially every offensive category.

Anderson is a mid-level streamer. He's usually a little short on strikeouts, which caps his ceiling a bit, and I still don't fully trust Anderson, even with his positive performances. The matchup (along with his success), though, makes him worth considering.

Chase Dollander, Colorado Rockies @ Kansas City Royals

Dollander was the ninth overall pick in 2023 and made his MLB debut on April 6. He has big-time strikeout potential, which has shown so far: 18 Ks in 14.2 innings. He has also gotten hit extremely hard, giving up 19 hits, 15 runs (12 earned), and eight home runs (!!!). Two of those starts came at Coors Field, and the other was against the Padres, so I'm willing to bet that better times wait ahead.

Kansas City hasn't just been bad on offense: they've been among the worst hitting teams in baseball. They are tied with the Rockies for the fewest runs scored (and KC has played two more games than Colorado). They have also hit the fewest home runs and rank in the bottom five in hits, walks, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS. The Royals are a daily team to target.

Dollander is a low- to mid-level streamer. I usually wouldn't consider him after the horrendous start he's had, but the strikeout prowess is probably real, and the matchup/location are much nicer in this one. He's a risky player, but I'm intrigued.

J.T. Ginn, Athletics vs. Texas Rangers

Yesterday, I talked about several Rangers who are struggling, including Adolis Garcia and Marcus Semien. The real focus, though, belongs on Joc Pederson (who was also mentioned). Pederson snapped an 0-for-41 streak on Wednesday.

Ginn has 44 big-league innings to his name; he's been just a hair better than average with both strikeouts (42 total) and walks (13). He has given up a few more walks to start this season but also been much better with strikeouts (13 in 10 innings and a phenomenal K% over 30%).

Ginn is a mid-level streamer with some upside. His strikeout work this season gives him that extra bump, but it's such a small sample that's it's impossible to expect that big-time rate to continue. Ginn is a fine player to consider here with the good matchup.

Carmen Mlodzinski, Pittsburgh Pirates @ Los Angeles Angels

The only thing the Angels have going for them offensively is that they hit home runs. That's not nothing, as it can be the driving force behind a lot of wins, but there's no consistency with getting hits or getting on base, as the Angels are tied for the fewest walks drawn and just outside the top 10 in most batter strikeouts.

Mlodzinski has been listed as a low-level streamer a few times, but his performance has been ugly in 17 innings: 26 hits and 14 runs allowed with 14 strikeouts and eight walks. He was a hair better than average with strikeouts in 86.2 innings over 2023-24, but he has always walked too many batters.

Mlodzinski is a low-level streamer. While the matchup is nice, his performance hasn't been good enough to recommend him for a fantasy slot.

Chris Paddack, Minnesota Twins vs. Chicago White Sox

Shane Smith, Chicago White Sox @ Minnesota Twins

I said before their series started on Tuesday that Minnesota needed to beat up on the White Sox after getting swept by the Braves over the weekend. So far, so good, as the Twins have won the first two games of the series before the finale today. Minnesota is still performing poorly over the full season, ranking in the bottom 10 in most offensive stats. The White Sox may again have the worst offense in baseball: they rank last in hits, doubles, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS; they are in the bottom five in runs and home runs.

That means a pristine matchup for Paddack, who has had an uneven start to the season. His worst outing was actually his first one against these same White Sox, when he gave up nine runs in just 3.1 innings. Paddack has otherwise allowed seven runs in 14 innings, not great, but much better than that awful start. He's generally better than average with both walks and strikeouts, though Paddack has been on the wrong side of both marks in 2025.

Smith is in his debut season, having allowed seven runs in 22.1 innings with 15 strikeouts and eight walks. He has gone at least 5.2 innings in three of his four starts and hasn't allowed more than three runs in any outing. Smith did high-level strikeout work in the minors, so there's hope his numbers will improve there.

Paddack is a mid- to high-level streamer, and Smith is a low- to mid-level streamer. Paddack is a proven veteran who has had a rough start to the season; Smith is the exact opposite, a rookie who has started well. I'll trust the long-term numbers more, and Paddack has the better matchup in this one. They might both lean more toward the middle than the top/bottom.

Thursday's Streamer Rankings

1. Chris Paddack, MIN
2. J.T. Ginn, ATH
3. Tyler Anderson, LAA
4. Shane Smith, CWS
5. Chase Dollander, COL
6. Carmen Mlodzinski, PIT