Thursday's Fantasy Baseball Starting Pitcher Streamers: Clayton Kershaw, Hayden Birdsong and More

I get plenty wrong when making predictions; everyone does. The people on ESPN and other networks telling you what's going to happen? They are wrong as much as they are right. That's the nature of sports: it's “why they play the games.” That's why I am always happy when I'm right, especially in a big way.

Yesterday's right call was Milwaukee rookie Jacob Misiorowski, who was making just his third career start. A former second-round pick out of a Missouri junior college, Misiorowski doesn't have the pedigree of his opponent on Wednesday, Paul Skenes, but he has the look of a starting pitcher (listed at 6'7”, 200 pounds) and excelled in the minor leagues.

My next advice? Go pick up Misiorowski right now if he's available because this will be your last chance. He struck out eight batters in five innings while giving up two hits and no runs, his third strong start in three tries. After beating Skenes, it's safe to say that many more people know Misiorowski's name today, and his legend is likely to only continue growing.

Let's try to find our next big-ticket streamer and look at four starting 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.

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Hayden Birdsong, San Francisco Giants vs. Miami Marlins

Janson Junk, Miami Marlins @ San Francisco Giants

As I like to do, we'll start with a game in which two pitchers are facing off and both have good matchups. The Giants are a true target team, ranking in the bottom 10 in many stats and showing the type of struggles that shouldn't scare opposing pitchers or fantasy owners. Miami is a little better, pushing closer to average but still sitting in the bottom 10 (or very close to it) in runs, home runs, walks, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS.

Birdsong walks too many guys (though he's been better this season), but he is an above-average strikeout pitcher, racking up 143 in 124 2/3 innings. He started the year in the bullpen but has had a spot in the rotation over the past month-plus, showing some good work but also inconsistency in that time.

Junk: what a name for a pitcher. Even though he has pitched in the big leagues every year from 2021-25, he only has 67 2/3 career innings because his most appearances in any season was six, which he will pass in 2025 with this outing. He has been very good with walks but a little worse than average with strikeouts in eight starts and 13 relief appearances.

Birdsong is a mid-level streamer and Junk a low-level streamer. Though the latter has the better matchup, the former looks like the much better pitcher and the guy I'd rather count on. With a short schedule today (just nine games), I really like Birdsong's outlook, though he still doesn't reach the highest level.

Shane Baz, Tampa Bay Rays @ Kansas City Royals

Baz is owned in less than half of leagues, but he's creeping toward that number. His career walk and strikeout rates are both right around average (a few too many walks this year), but Baz has also been getting hit harder than previously in his career, most noticeably giving up 14 home runs in 82 2/3 innings. That rate of one every 5.9 innings is markedly worse than his rate before this season (one home run every 7 1/3 innings).

Kansas City hits the ball OK, but they are completely without power. The Royals have hit the second-fewest home runs and rank in the bottom five in both slugging percentage and OPS. They also have drawn the fewest walks by a wide margin, keeping them in the bottom five in on-base percentage even as they are close to the middle in batting average. It has all added up to a bottom-two ranking in runs scored, leaving KC as an unimposing offensive unit.

Baz is a low- to mid-level streamer. Picking up his strikeouts would bump him up a notch, but the Royals also don't strike out, and Baz has looked more like a decent pitcher than a frontline starter this year.

Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers @ Colorado Rockies

Kershaw topped out at five innings pitched during his first four starts (after beginning the year on the IL), twice giving up five runs and once going only two innings because of rain. In his three most recent starts after that stretch, Kershaw picked up the win in all three games and combined for 17 innings, three runs allowed, 16 strikeouts, and just three walks. He won't be an ace again, but Kershaw has looked like a very feasible fantasy pitcher in the right situations.

Colorado continues their run as the worst team in the majors this season, still below 20 wins while everyone else has at least 32 aside from the White Sox (26). When you're measuring yourself by saying, “Oh yeah? Well, the White Sox aren't that far ahead of us,” it means that your team is in for a lot of losing, probably over an extended period. Maybe they'll be competing for a wild card by 2030? I'm not holding my breath.

Kershaw is a low- to mid-level streamer. His strikeouts were below average last season and are again this year, and it's tough to expect big things out of the aged pitcher. The matchup is fantastic, but Kershaw gets knocked down half a notch because the game is taking place at Coors Field.

Thursday's Streamer Rankings

1. Hayden Birdsong, SF
2. Clayton Kershaw, LAD
3. Shane Baz, TB
4. Janson Junk, MIA