Saturday's Fantasy Baseball Pitching Streamers: Zack Littell, Michael Soroka, and More

We're into the weekend: time to rejoice! In the world of fantasy baseball, let's look at six 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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Paul Blackburn, New York Mets @ Pittsburgh Pirates

Blackburn is OK with walks, but he is a well below-average strikeout pitcher, especially this year (in a very small sample of less than 20 innings). He also gets hit fairly hard, not able to prevent hits or runs very well. For a team with World Series aspirations, the Mets surely have to be able to do better than Blackburn, either from a guy in the minors or a modest trade.

Pittsburgh is bad. Really bad. They're 15.5 games back of the Cubs for the NL Central lead and 10.5 games back of the next closest team in the division, the Reds. The offense is the major part of the problem: they rank in the bottom 10 offensively but have an average (or better) pitching staff that could be part of Pittsburgh's next winning team.

Blackburn is a low-level streamer. Even against one of the worst teams in the league, I can't recommend him as a streamer. It wouldn't necessarily be a shock if he had a decent outing, but I'm not counting on it; you can do better.

Kyle Hendricks, Los Angeles Angels vs. Washington Nationals

Michael Soroka, Washington Nationals @ Los Angeles Angels

Let's get to a face-off of two pitchers matching up against each other and facing weak offensive teams, my favorite part of this article. The Nationals and Angels both harbor bottom-10 offensive units who are likely to finish the season that way, tanking their playoff hopes (the Angels are near .500, but it's more likely they fall below that level in the second half rather than rise above it.

Hendricks used to be a Cy-Young contender with the Cubs, but he has fallen off greatly with age. I thought he would retire after 2024, having played his whole career in Chicago, but he came back with the Angels and has frankly looked bad. He's good with walks but far below average with strikeouts and has an ERA near 5.00.

Soroka is average with walks but is also an above-average strikeout pitcher, especially this season. Injuries played a major part in the early part of his career, missing multiple seasons recovering, but Soroka has looked decent when he has been on the field, mostly working as a starter but also doing some bullpen work.

Hendricks is a low-level streamer and Soroka a low- to mid-level streamer. The former just isn't formidable enough to trust anymore, while the latter doesn't have the track record but is also better right now than Hendricks is.

Zack Littell, Tampa Bay Rays @ Baltimore Orioles

Baseball is a game of days. When teams play six or seven games per week, there's always going to be good/bad performances that make a team look much better or worse than they actually are. Baltimore is a bottom-10 offensive squad, but they went nuts yesterday, scoring 22 runs as they trampled the Rays. That performance likely won't carry over, but it shows how random things can be day to day.

Littell is owned in about 35% of leagues, a better number than most of our streamers who end up here. He is always good with walks and has otherwise been OK with strikeouts, but that K number is way down from his career rate, and he's giving up more home runs than usual.

Littell is a mid-level streamer. He's generally decent in most areas and has found success, and the matchup is a good one (aside from yesterday's onslaught).

Miles Mikolas, St. Louis Cardinals @ Cleveland Guardians

Cleveland is one of the most surprisingly bad offensive teams this season, coming off several straight years of above-average play to produce at a bottom-10 level this year in most offensive box stats. There's not really any place the Guardians truly excel, making them an excellent target.

Mikolas is very good with walks but also well below average with strikeouts, mitigating his fantastic walk rate just a bit. He has been especially bad with Ks in 2025, currently holding his worst mark in any season with at least 60 innings. He is an OK pitcher but has just two seasons with an ERA under 4.15.

Mikolas is a low- to mid-level streamer. His K work will hold him down from a fantasy perspective, but he's also worth consideration against the worst offensive teams.

Quinn Priester, Milwaukee Brewers vs. Colorado Rockies

Priester is another guy with a very low strikeout rate, and unlike Mikolas, he doesn't make up for it with a great walk rate, instead sitting right at average. He has been decent with run prevention this season, holding an ERA below 4.00, but Priester doesn't have a great profile for our fantasy purposes.

Colorado is the worst team in the league. I don't really have a lot else to say to further my point. They rank near the bottom of pretty much every offensive box stat and have struck out more than any other team, pushing toward 10 Ks per game.

Priester is a low-to mid-level streamer. The matchup is pristine, but his lower strikeout numbers lower his ceiling, making him just an OK fantasy player in this one.

Saturday's Streamer Rankings

1. Zack Littell, TB
2. Michael Soroka, WSH
3. Miles Mikolas, STL
4. Quinn Priester, MIL
5. Kyle Hendricks, LAA
6. Paul Blackburn, NYM