Tuesday's Fantasy Baseball Pitching Streamers: Can Charlie Morton and Andrew Heaney Find Success in Good Matchups?
Five starting pitchers in action on Tuesday who are widely available in fantasy leagues and have good matchups.
Not every day is created equal. That includes weather, the sports schedule, and the fantasy options we have available, including streaming pitchers. Though we have a full slate on the MLB schedule today, I'm not as enthused about the pitchers on today's streaming list as I am some other days; it's just the way things work.
That doesn't mean we're totally bereft of options, though. Let's look at five starting pitchers in action on Tuesday 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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Andrew Heaney, Pittsburgh Pirates @ Milwaukee Brewers
Over his career, Heaney has been better than average with both walks and strikeouts and kept up that level as recently as last season. His Ks are down this year, but Heaney has still stayed around the middle as a pitcher. He has done well limiting hits (71 in 82.1 innings) and home runs (one every 7.5 innings, while his career rate is one homer allowed every 5.9 innings), keeping his runs down (ERA under 4.00).
The Brewers are more of a middling offensive team than truly bad. A poor stretch put them firmly on our target list, but good results over the past two weeks and great play the last week put them back closer to the middle than the bottom. Milwaukee is a team to only go after when we really need to, not every day.
Heaney is a low-level streamer. The matchup isn't totally in his favor, and Heaney has been just OK this season, especially seeing his strikeouts drop, which brings down his fantasy value a notch.
Eric Lauer, Toronto Blue Jays @ Cleveland Guardians
Cleveland is second in their division and above .500 (39-37) but has a run differential of minus-23. Every division's top three teams have a positive run differential aside from the AL Central and AL East, where the Blue Jays are minus-10 in third place. Luck is great, but Cleveland needs to improve on both sides of the ball if they want to really make noise in the playoffs, and it starts on offense. The team is in the bottom 10 in essentially every offensive box stat, marks that will sink the Guardians if they don't improve.
Lauer has made four starts and six relief appearances this season, combining for 35.1 innings, 22 hits, nine runs, 11 walks, and 36 strikeouts. The average walk numbers and above-average strikeouts match his career work, though he'll probably lose some Ks working more as a starter than a reliever. Lauer is a fine streamer, worth looking at in the best matchups (like this one).
Lauer is a mid-level streamer. His strikeouts have been positive, and though the Guardians don't strike out a ton, they also don't do much else and are a daily target for our fantasy purposes.
Charlie Morton, Baltimore Orioles vs. Texas Rangers
Morton started the season about as bad as could be, losing his first seven decisions (including five starts in a row) before picking up his first victory on May 26. He has been better since that date, including picking up four wins and going at least six innings in three of five starts. Maybe most importantly in those five starts, Morton struck out 34 batters while walking just eight.
The Rangers are one of the most moribund offensive teams around. I kept expecting them to improve given some of the names in the lineup, but this is now a funk that stretches back to 2024, when Texas finished the season in the bottom 10 in pretty much every offensive stat. This team continues to toil away, inviting fantasy owners to target them often.
Morton is a mid-level streamer. He has looked much better over the past month, including big-time strikeout work, and Morton now looks like he belongs in the rotation after initially looking cooked at 41 years old.
Ryne Nelson, Arizona Diamondbacks @ Chicago White Sox
Nelson is another guy who is good with walks but below average with strikeouts. He's a very average pitcher who has fantasy value in the right matchups. Nelson is on a bit of a heater, though he's been working as a reliever more than a starter, which will make things a little tougher moving forward. In his previous two outings (both starts), Nelson combined for 10.2 innings, one earned run, and seven strikeouts to three walks.
The White Sox are bad…just bad. Miguel Vargas never did anything in around 500 at-bats before this year, but he currently leads the White Sox in at-bats (278), doubles (20), and home runs (10). He could be a player the team holds onto with the hope he can be part of their next good team (he's only 25), but Chicago would probably do better to flip him for a few prospects before he comes crashing back to Earth. The Sox are in a no-win situation until they get more real talent.
Nelson is a mid-level streamer. He's a decent pitcher, and the matchup couldn't be much better, giving Nelson a nice outlook in this one.
Cal Quantrill, Miami Marlins @ San Francisco Giants
The Giants have bottom-10 offensive numbers nearly across the board over the full season. They acquired Rafael Devers close to a week ago, and I thought maybe that would help turn them into more of an average offensive team at least. The sample is small, but San Francisco still is in the bottom 10 in pretty much every offensive box stat in the past week since Devers joined the team.
Quantrill is decent with walks, but he is a below-average strikeout pitcher and gets hit fairly hard. He has only one season in which he didn't give up more hits than innings pitched (or close to it), and that was 2021, when half his appearances came out of the bullpen. Quantrill has settled in as a below-average pitcher who is OK in the right matchups.
Quantrill is a low-level streamer. The matchup is right to put him on the streaming radar, but Quantrill has been worse than average pretty much since after the COVID season.
Tuesday's Streamer Rankings
- Charlie Morton, BAL
- Ryne Nelson, ARI
- Eric Lauer, TOR
- Andrew Heaney, PIT
- Cal Quantrill, MIA
