Saturday's Fantasy Baseball Pitching Streamers: Max Scherzer, Jack Leiter and More
Five starting pitching in action on Saturday who have good matchups and are widely available in fantasy leagues.
I taught math for six years after college, and the Fourth of July always stood out as the mid-point of our summer break; everything was downhill after the holiday. That outlook changes based on where you live and what you do, but it's a sad thought for those dreading the end of summer or having to return to school/work/the real world.
Moving to fantasy baseball, 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 a listed at the bottom.
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Jonathan Cannon, Chicago White Sox @ Colorado Rockies
German Marquez, Colorado Rockies vs. Chicago White Sox
Chicago and Colorado are the only teams without 30 wins; they have 29 and 20, respectively. Every other team has at least 37 victories. These teams are in the bottom five in essentially every major offensive box stat, only showing even the slightest competence in rare places. In yesterday's game, they combined for just five runs, despite playing at Coors Field.
Cannon has 191 big-league innings under his belt, all coming last year and this year. He has been good with walks, but Cannon is over four percentage points worse than average with strikeouts. He wasn't a good strikeout pitcher in the minors either, so we probably can't expect much improvement there, which caps his fantasy value.
Over his career, Marquez has been average or better with both walks and strikeouts. His K work has been down since 2022, a time in which he lost essentially two full seasons to injury. His strikeout rate is especially low in 2025, sitting at 15.9% versus league average around 22%.
Cannon and Marquez are both low- to mid-level streamers. They get a little bump because of great matchups, but they also lose that advantage because of the location at Coors Field. I'd rather stay away from both guys in fantasy today.
Stephen Kolek, San Diego Padres vs. Texas Rangers
Jack Leiter, Texas Rangers @ San Diego Padres
Our other bad-offense matchup didn't disappoint yesterday, as the Padres won 3-2 in 10 innings. These weak offensive teams did as we expected, scoring just four runs in the nine regulation innings. Both starters in that game, Kumar Rocker and Randy Vasquez, were listed here as streamers yesterday. Though neither guy did great, they both lasted five-plus innings and gave up exactly two runs, an OK day.
Kolek made 42 relief appearances last season, his debut in the big leagues. This year, he has worked exclusively as a starter, making 11 starts and already surpassing last year's inning total (62 2/3 to 46 2/3). He has been better than average with walks and worse than average with strikeouts in his short time while also giving up 116 hits in those 109 1/3 innings. That's not a great profile, especially with so much time coming in relief, meaning Kolek still needs to improve to get to an average level.
Leiter has more pedigree than Kolek, who was an 11th-round pick. Leiter was the second overall pick in 2021 and has a major-league father; he was pegged for greatness. It hasn't been a great first 107 innings, as Leiter is well worse than average with walks, strikeouts, and run prevention (5.80 ERA). I expect improvement, but right now, Leiter can't be treated like an ace, just a rookie.
Kolek and Leiter are both low- to mid-level streamers. Kolek has the better matchup, but Leiter has the higher ceiling, leaving both with a chance to have a decent day but hard to predict great success.
Max Scherzer, Toronto Blue Jays vs. Los Angeles Angels
Our lone single entry today is Scherzer, who has missed pretty much the whole season with injury and left his previous start with a tight forearm; he is back to take his spot in the rotation this time around. He has thrown just 13 innings but has 12 strikeouts and three walks, a solid ratio. We can't expect Scherzer to pitch the way he did in his prime, but there's still a little something there that he can find on the right days with the right matchups.
The Angels have three players within the top 23 (tied) in home runs, each with at least 17. Zach Neto and Mike Trout each have 13 homers despite missing over 10 games apiece with injury. Four other hitters have more than five home runs. The power in LA is real. They also have just four players hitting above .230, emblematic of what this team does offensively. Eight Angels hitters have at least 50 strikeouts, showing why they are second in the league in that category.
Scherzer is a mid-level streamer. I'll give him a little extra boost today as our best streamer due to the excellent matchup and his good strikeout work in his very limited time.
Saturday's Streamer Rankings
- Max Scherzer, TOR
- Jack Leiter, TEX
- Stephen Kolek, SD
- Jonathan Cannon, CWS
- German Marquez, COL
