Wednesday Fantasy Baseball Pitching Streamers: Will Tanner Houck get Back into Good Graces of Fantasy Owners?
Five starting pitchers in action on Wednesday who are widely available in fantasy leagues and have good matchups.
It's time to look at five starting pitchers in action on Wednesday 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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Jonathan Cannon, Chicago White Sox @ Kansas City Royals
Cannon has been several percentage points worse than average with both walks and strikeouts to start the season. He was better with walks last year (his first), but Cannon is a lower-level strikeout guy and probably won't get a sudden burst in that area.
We usually talk about team stats here, but we're switching it up today (mostly) and focusing on certain players who are excelling or failing. The next decade of Royals baseball is built around Bobby Witt Jr. Witt is tied for the league lead in doubles (14) and tied for fifth in stolen bases (11). Infielder Maikel Garcia is also playing well (.315 average, 13 extra-base hits), but not enough other Royals are holding up their end, leaving KC as a bottom-10 offense.
Cannon is a low-level streamer. The matchup puts him here, but his own performance has been middling or worse. The lack of strikeouts caps his ceiling.
Tanner Houck, Boston Red Sox vs. Texas Rangers
Houck was a hot name in fantasy last year and during draft season, but his poor performance has hurt his fantasy stock: Houck is only owned in about 40% of leagues. He is a little better than average with both walks and strikeouts in his career; Houck is likely to pitch better moving forward (though his matchups have been fairly easy).
Texas second baseman Marcus Semien is one of the most disappointing players through the first portion of the season. He's batting .190 with just two home runs and one double. Worst of all, Semien has the most at-bats for the Rangers. I called Semien a must-draft player before the season; whoops.
Houck is a mid- to high-level streamer. The matchup is a good one, and Houck has a better level of performance in his recent past. He is a decent bet to bounce back and maybe even require a permanent roster spot eventually.
Quinn Priester, Milwaukee Brewers vs. Houston Astros
Houston has a few guys putting together decent performances, but no one is really standing out. Jose Altuve leads the team in at-bats (not a surprise), but he's hitting just .254 with 29 strikeouts and 10 walks. Outfielder Jake Meyers is doing well, hitting .299 with seven stolen bases and eight extra-base hits in just 97 at-bats. The Astros have been a bottom-10 offense early in the season.
Priester is several percentage points worse than average with walks in 123 career innings. What's worse is his strikeout rate, which sits at 15.7% (versus the league average around 22%). He also gets hit pretty hard, having given up 139 hits in that time.
Priester is a low-level streamer. No matter how good the matchup, his performance hasn't been nearly good enough to earn a spot in your lineup.
Michael Wacha, Kansas City Royals vs. Chicago White Sox
Wacha is right around average with both walks and strikeouts in his career. His K numbers are down a little bit to start the season, but he has been very consistent the past few years and is likely to improve a little. Wacha has also been very good preventing runs, as his last season with an ERA over 3.35 was 2021 (he's at 3.52 this year).
Andrew Vaughn was the third overall pick in 2019 by the White Sox. Teams don't draft first basemen in the top 10 very often because they don't offer a lot of positional value and can only usually make limited defensive and base-running impacts. That means the first baseman in question must hit like a perennial All-Star to justify his draft spot. Vaughn has the most at-bats for Chicago this year (133): he's hitting .188 with eight extra-base hits, seven walks, and 32 strikeouts. Ugh.
Wacha is a mid- to high-level streamer. He leans toward the lower end of that designation because his strikeouts are down a little, but if he finds that magic again, he will sit toward the higher side.
Simeon Woods Richardson, Minnesota Twins vs. Baltimore Orioles
Woods Richardson is a friend of the column. He has been here as often as any other pitcher over the past two seasons, regularly matching up against some of the worst offenses in baseball. He is right around average in walk rate, strikeout rate, and ERA in his career. Woods Richardson is a very average pitcher; that can be a valuable player.
Baltimore might be the most disappointing team in the league right now. Atlanta has moved up to about .500, and the dregs of the league are mostly the White Sox, Rockies, and other teams expected to be bad. The Orioles are 13-21, six games back in the division and better than only the White Sox in the American League. The Orioles are in the bottom 10 in runs, hits, doubles, walks, batting average, on-base percentage, and OPS. They are just outside the top 10 in most batter strikeouts.
Woods Richardson is a mid-level streamer. His strikeout numbers have been up a little bit to start the season, and he has been good enough otherwise to merit consideration.
Wednesday's Streamer Rankings
- Tanner Houck, BOS
- Michael Wacha, KC
- Simeon Woods Richardson, MIN
- Jonathan Cannon, CWS
- Quinn Priester, MIL
