Monday's Fantasy Baseball Streamers: Are the High Strikeout Rates of Will Warren and Gavin Williams Enough?
Four starting pitchers in action on Monday who are widely available in fantasy leagues and have good matchups.
Welcome to another week of the MLB season. We will get into May before the end of the week, meaning summer is just around the corner. School is entering the home stretch, and the weather is starting to allow for outdoor activities. Those in cold-weather states are about to get a reprieve from a long, long winter.
As we prepare for the calendar to flip, let's look at four starting pitchers in action on Monday 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.
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Griffin Canning, New York Mets @ Washington Nationals
Canning has been right around average with both walks and strikeouts in his career (534 innings), though his numbers this year are both a little higher than average. In five starts in 2025, he has gone at least five innings four times and allowed more than two runs just once. He has gotten hit a little (25 hits in 26 innings), but Canning has kept runs off the board, partly by allowing just two home runs.
The Nationals are much closer to average than they are to a bottom offensive team. Where many of our targets fall in the bottom 10 in most categories, Washington is more like 15-20th, right near the middle. Part of our targeting of them today is because of the short schedule.
Canning is a low-level streamer. He's pretty average, and he'll probably start giving up more runs given his rates. The matchup is much more middling than good, so you can find a better use for your innings this early in the season.
JP Sears, Athletics @ Texas Rangers
Sears is a little worse than average with strikeouts, but he also is good at limiting walks. He has lasted at least six innings in three of his five starts, and he also struck out at least five batters in three of five starts. Sears is a fine pitcher to consider for fantasy in the right matchups.
The Rangers have still scored the fewest runs in the league, a distinction they have held for much of the past week. They are tied for 12th in home runs, so it might seem weird that they are so far down, but Texas has drawn the second-fewest walks and has the fifth-least hits; there's no one on base when they are hitting homers. They are also in the bottom 11 in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS.
Sears is a low- to mid-level streamer. He's fine, and the matchup is good, but there's a bit of a ceiling on Sears because he doesn't strike out a ton of guys.
Will Warren, New York Yankees @ Baltimore Orioles
The Orioles are a bit of a surprise target here. Part of it is the light schedule, but Baltimore also ranks in or right near the bottom 10 in runs, hits, doubles, walks, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS. A team that has been an offensive juggernaut the past few years is a below-average group right now.
Warren has 43.1 innings to his name over the past two seasons, holding a really good strikeout rate but also walking too many guys. He has also been hit hard, allowing 49 hits and 38 runs (37 earned) in those limited innings. There's some intrigue with Warren, but he hasn't shown great results.
Warren is a low-level streamer with some upside. The matchup is only tentatively good, as it wouldn't be a surprise to see Baltimore go on a tear back into the top 10. I like the strikeouts, but Warren has otherwise not impressed.
Gavin Williams, Cleveland Guardians vs. Minnesota Twins
Minnesota did themselves a big favor by winning five out of six games last week against the White Sox and Angels. The Twins are trying to fight toward being average offensively. They rank between 18th and 24th in runs, hits, walks, and all four slash categories. They are right near the top of the bottom-10 teams.
Williams is better than average with strikeouts, but he also walks too many guys. He owns a career ERA right around 4.00 and has given up less than one hit per inning, so Williams has numbers in his favor, especially if he can bring in his control just a little bit.
Williams is a mid-level streamer with a little upside. The Twins are more of a good than a great matchup, especially as they strike out less than average, and Williams can put himself in tough spots with walks sometimes.
Monday's Streamer Rankings
- Gavin Williams, CLE
- JP Sears, ATH
- Will Warren, NYY
- Griffin Canning, NYM
