Saturday's Fantasy Baseball Starting Pitcher Streamers: Is Clarke Schmidt Pitching His Way into Keeper Territory?

Baseball is about to be front and center in American sports. The Stanley Cup has been decided (and again, we kept the Cup from Canada!), and Sunday is the final game of the NBA Championship. Other than draft season, we are down to baseball among the major sports until Labor Day.

Focusing on the fantasy side, 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.

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Mitch Keller, Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Texas Rangers

Kumar Rocker, Texas Rangers @ Pittsburgh Pirates

We'll start with two pitchers facing each other who both have fantastic matchups. While the Rangers' pitching staff has held them up as the offense struggles mightily, the Pirates don't have the same luxury, not getting top-five levels out of anyone aside from Paul Skenes. The offenses are the real stars for our purpose, though, as both teams have bottom-five units.

Keller is right at average over his career in both walk and strikeout rate, though that latter number is down a bit this season. He's doing career-best work limiting walks, and it has helped him look like an average pitcher overall this season, with an ERA right around 4.00.

Rocker is only 40 innings into his big-league career, again right near average with both walks and strikeouts. He has been hit hard, giving up 52 hits and 30 runs (28 earned) in that time. A former college star who had a bit of a weird path to the majors, Rocker has big upside, but it might take a little time for him to hit that peak, especially at just 25 years old.

Keller is a mid-level streamer and Rocker a low-to mid-level streamer. Rocker has gotten hit and has less of a track record, but both pitchers have the right matchup for a possible big day.

Clarke Schmidt, New York Yankees vs. Baltimore Orioles

Each MLB team has played around 75 games; we're not even halfway through the season. That means a lot can still happen, like a team currently in last place making the jump to the top of their division. That seems unlikely in the AL East, though, where the Orioles keep struggling, sitting nine games below .500 and 10 behind the Yankees at the top of the division. Baltimore hits like a bottom-10 team.

Schmidt is owned in around half of leagues, but he's a must-start pitcher on Saturday. He is an above-average strikeout pitcher while sitting right around average with walks; Schmidt has only given up 48 hits, 22 runs, and six home runs in 62.2 innings this season. Schmidt is a player worth considering for a permanent roster spot, especially in deep leagues, though the schedule isn't terribly kind until the All-Star break (his probable matchups are against the Athletics, Blue Jays, Mariners, and Cubs, none of whom are worth targeting with streamers).

Schmidt is a high-level streamer here. Even though the matchups aren't great coming up, Schmidt is on the borderline of being worth starting even in some of those middling matchups. Get him in your lineup today then worry about what's next tomorrow.

Mitch Spence, Athletics vs. Cleveland Guardians

I wrote yesterday about how the A's current home park in Sacramento really hurts their pitchers' fantasy prospects. In fact, the Athletics have a worse park factor against pitchers than even the Rockies this year, according to Baseball Savant. That's a serious factor to consider, and probably something that will stop me from using most guys pitching in Sacramento.

Cleveland is still bad enough that I'll give them consideration here, especially since we don't have a lot of other great streaming options today. They don't hit for average and have slowed down after decent early power numbers, leaving them as a team we can target nearly every day.

Spence is good with walks but a little below average with strikeouts; that describes the bulk of the guys who end up on our streaming list most days. Spence is worth considering against the right teams, and Cleveland is one of those right teams.

Spence is a low-level streamer. His lower strikeouts and the offense-happy environment make this a low-floor game for Spence; he is only here because Cleveland has been that bad offensively in 2025.

Brandon Walter, Houston Astros @ Los Angeles Angels

The Angels are very boom-or-bust; they are in the top five in both home runs and strikeouts. It's been a lot more bust than boom this season, as LA ranks in the bottom 10 in runs, hits, doubles, walks, batting average, on-base percentage, and OPS. I like the idea of targeting this team often, even with the big slugging numbers.

Walter is another guy just beginning his career, owning only 40.2 innings. He has been OK in that time, allowing 19 earned runs with just eight walks and 35 strikeouts. Walter has been hit a little hard, giving up 47 hits, but he's been able to work out of trouble. It's hard to know what to expect from Walter after such little time; he was a good strikeout guy in the minors, so there's hope he can excel there.

Walter is a low- to mid-level streamer. The matchup is intriguing, even with the opposing power, and Walter has a little upside, but I can't give him a big recommendation until we see more.

Saturday's Streamer Rankings

1. Clarke Schmidt, NYY
2. Mitch Keller, PIT
3. Kumar Rocker, TEX
4. Brandon Walter, HOU
5. Mitch Spence, ATH