Friday's Fantasy Baseball Pitching Streamers: Braxton Ashcraft, Taijuan Walker and More

We've reached another Friday! Two weeks from today, we will have already seen the first game of the NFL season while waiting for the second game (Chiefs/Chargers in Brazil) and anticipating the first NFL Sunday of the year. It's an exciting time. MLB will also be in their final month, so the games are going to start really mattering after a marathon season.

Let's look at five starting pitchers in action on Friday 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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Braxton Ashcraft, Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Colorado Rockies

Antonio Senzatela, Colorado Rockies @ Pittsburgh Pirates

We'll start today with two matchups of poor offensive teams, first heading to the National League, where two of the worst teams start a three-game series. There are different levels of bad: while Pittsburgh is a bad offensive team, they have exciting young pitching and have played better in the second half (though still below average). Colorado, on the other hand, is the worst team in baseball and sees it on both the offensive and defensive side, years away from being relevant.

Ashcraft is in his rookie season with just 41 2/3 innings to his name. Most of his appearances have been out of the bullpen, but he has made three starts, including last Friday against the Cubs when he allowed just three hits and one run in five innings to pick up the win. Ashcraft has been right around average with both walks and strikeouts; he was only average with Ks in the minors, so there might not be much more upside there.

Senzatela is OK with walks, but he is a super-low-level strikeout pitcher. His K rate this season is only 11.1%; league average is more than twice that at 22.5%. On top of that, he has allowed 163 hits and 19 home runs in 108 innings, leading to an ERA of an even 7.00 (and that's even with seven unearned runs).

Ashcraft is a low-to-mid-level streamer and Senzatela a low-level streamer. The matchups are pristine for both pitchers, but Senzatela just hasn't been good enough to put in your lineup against anyone, while Ashcraft is fine in his very small sample.

Aaron Civale, Chicago White Sox vs. Minnesota Twins

Zebby Matthews, Minnesota Twins @ Chicago White Sox

Our other faceoff today takes place in the AL Central, where two teams a combined 48 games below .500 start their series (Chicago accounts for most of that at 37 games under). The White Sox have been really bad all season. The Twins have been below-average most of the season, and they are short-handed after a trade deadline fire sale, having now fallen out of the wild card race (9.5 back).

If you are here often, you've seen me talk about Civale, who was on the MLB-best Brewers but asked for a trade when he lost his rotation spot. The team obliged and sent him to the worst team in the American League. The irony is too great. He has his rotation spot back, but Civale hasn't had a good season, sitting near average with walks but below average with strikeouts while holding an ERA near 5.00. His career numbers are better, but Civale hasn't been good in 2025.

Matthews has really good rates, a few percentage points better than average with walks and well above average with strikeouts (27.3% K rate). Where he falls short is limiting hitters when they make contact: Matthews has given up 105 hits and 19 home runs in 85 2/3 career innings, both way too many and the main reason why he has a career ERA near 6.00. I like his chances of improving if he keeps his rates up, but this is an ongoing problem early in his career.

Civale is a low-to-mid-level streamer and Matthews a mid-level streamer. I'm taking a bit of a leap of faith with Matthews because he has been so good with strikeouts, and Chicago represents the right chance to put together a good start.

Taijuan Walker, Philadelphia Phillies vs. Washington Nationals

Walker is another guy who is decent with walks but well below average with strikeouts. He was better earlier in his career, but the 33-year-old veteran has lost something along the way (which usually happens to all pitchers). Walker has been good enough to stick in the rotation, especially as Aaron Nola and now Zack Wheeler have dealt with injuries.

Washington has a few potential young stars: outfielder James Wood has 27 doubles and 26 home runs, and shortstop CJ Abrams has 27 doubles, 16 home runs, and 26 stolen bases. There's not a lot else going right in the lineup, though, so the Nationals will have to add some more talent and see internal development to get closer to being an average team any time soon.

Walker is a low-to-mid-level streamer. The matchup is right, but Walker is middling at best, especially falling short with strikeouts. It's a common tale here in the streaming world.

Friday's Streamer Rankings

1. Zebby Matthews, MIN
2. Braxton Ashcraft, PIT
3. Taijuan Walker, PHI
4. Aaron Civale, CWS
5. Antonio Senzatela, COL