Monday's Fantasy Baseball Starting Pitcher Streamers: Slade Cecconi, Carson Whisenhunt and More
Five starting pitchers in action on Monday who have good matchups and are widely available in fantasy leagues.
Monday: the beginning of another week. Are you ready for it? I'm sure not! Time doesn't stop, though, so we will keep powering through, both in life and in the world of fantasy baseball.
Let's look at five starting pitchers in action on Monday 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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Bradley Blalock, Colorado Rockies @ Cleveland Guardians
Slade Cecconi, Cleveland Guardians vs. Colorado Rockies
The Rockies are in the middle of a six-game road trip, offering us a chance at the best fantasy matchup for pitchers away from the hitter-friendly confines of Coors Field. They are a bottom offensive team despite half their games coming in Denver, and best of all, Rockies hitters have struck out the second most of any team while drawing the second-fewest walks. Cleveland isn't as bad as Colorado (no one is), but they still rank in the bottom 10 in almost every offensive box stat, including dead last in base hits and batting average.
Blalock has only 57 2/3 innings to his name, all over the past two seasons, and the raw numbers are ugly. His walk rate is worse than average, and his strikeout rate is about half of the league average, a horrendous 10.7%. To top it off, he has been hit hard, giving up 76 base hits and holding a 7.18 ERA.
Cecconi has become one of my favorite streaming pitchers. Cleveland has a recent history of improving pitchers' performance when they arrive, and Cecconi is continuing that trend since coming over from Arizona this offseason. His walk rate is still good, and his strikeout rate has risen to about an average rate. He is also allowing fewer than one hit per inning and has an ERA under 4.00 for the first time in his three seasons.
Blalock is a low-level streamer and Cecconi a mid-to-high-level streamer. Blalock is a no; just no. Cecconi gets a bump from the fantastic matchup along with his own solid work.
Mitch Keller, Pittsburgh Pirates @ San Francisco Giants
Carson Whisenhunt, San Francisco Giants vs. Pittsburgh Pirates
Here's another matchup of bottom-10 offensive teams. The Pirates are a bottom-feeding team, both by their record and their offensive performance. It's a shame that they are wasting some pretty good pitching performances. San Francisco has a top-10 pitching staff themselves, but the offense is threatening to drag them down below a playoff level. San Fran is currently two games above .500 and three games back in the wild card. They made a big move for Rafael Devers earlier in the season, but the Giants need more reinforcements before Thursday's trade deadline if they want to solidify their standing as a playoff contender.
Keller is owned in about half of fantasy leagues, more than most of our streamers but still with enough availability to merit a spot here. His career work is around average with both walks and strikeouts. His 2025 numbers are lower in each, but Keller is still finding success, allowing just 115 hits in 125 innings with a 3.53 ERA.
Whisenhunt is making his MLB debut in this one at 24 years old. His numbers in the minors are just OK, but Whisenhunt did do some decent strikeout work, giving him a little upside. It's impossible to know what to expect from a guy making his first start in the big leagues, but the matchup puts Whisenhunt on the streaming radar.
Keller and Whisenhunt are both low-to-mid-level streamers. Keller's lower strikeout rate this season brings him down just a little bit, and Whisenhunt just doesn't have any track record, and the fact that he didn't dominate the minor leagues makes it tough to project big things in his debut.
Jack Kochanowicz, Los Angeles Angels vs. Texas Rangers
Kochanowicz isn't getting it done. His walk rate is several percentage points worse than average, and his strikeout rate is far worse than average. He's not making up for it by being hard to hit, either, having allowed 106 hits and 62 earned runs (5.94 ERA) in 94 innings. He was only a little better in 65 1/3 innings last season, leaving Kochanowicz as a guy that we can't really trust in fantasy baseball.
The Rangers have come out of the All-Star break on absolute fire, winning eight of nine games and moving into a tie for the last wild card spot with their division rivals in Seattle. They recently swept the A's and Braves, and while those are two losing teams, that's what good teams do is beat the dregs of the league. They also took two of three from the Tigers right out of the break. Even during this barrage, Texas has only been average offensively, riding a top-five pitching staff more than anything.
Kochanowicz is a low-level streamer. I'm not sure I would put him in my lineup against any team, even the lowly Rockies. Kochanowicz needs to show us something positive before I start seriously considering him.
Monday's Streamer Rankings
- Slade Cecconi, CLE
- Mitch Keller, PIT
- Carson Whisenhunt, SF
- Jack Kochanowicz, LAA
- Bradley Blalock, COL
