Saturday's Fantasy Baseball Streaming Pitchers: Shane Baz, J.T. Ginn, and More

It's not just a weekend; it's the first weekend of the NFL season. It's a great time for sports fans, especially as MLB enters their last three weeks. There will be a lot of action, and every game matters now, especially for those teams just a few games out of playoff position.

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 are listed at the bottom.

Use the FantasySP offensive ranking measure to help find the best and worst matchups for your fantasy baseball lineup.

Shane Baz, Tampa Bay Rays vs. Cleveland Guardians

Baz has put together a decent year by many measures, allowing a little less than one hit per inning while holding an average walk rate and above-average strikeout rate. He has been a little home run prone (one every 5.8 innings), but there's also a decent amount of bad luck involved in his ERA being right about 5.00. He has been much worse at home, feeling the effects from playing those games in a minor league ballpark that has played as a top-10 hitter's park.

The Guardians have the fewest base hits of any team and rank last in both batting average and on-base percentage. They are second worst in slugging percentage and OPS, ahead of only the abysmal Pirates. In the age of analytics, hits and batting average are more devalued than at any other time in history; the rule still stands, though, that not making outs is the best way to score runs, and Cleveland makes outs as frequently as any team in the league.

Baz is a mid-level streamer. His work is positive, particularly the strikeouts, but he gets brought down a little because this game is at his home park of Steinbrenner Field, where his numbers are noticeably worse.

J.T. Ginn, Athletics @ Los Angeles Angels

Speaking of rough home parks, the A's are in the first of three seasons in Sacramento at another minor league park, a stadium that has played as offense-happy as anywhere outside of Colorado. Ginn has been a victim of that circumstance, matching Baz in performing substantially better on the road. Ginn is better than average with both walks and strikeouts; he just falls short when getting roughed up at home.

Luckily, this one is on the road and against the Angels, the most strikeout-prone team in baseball. LA is also bad in most other areas, including having the second-fewest base hits ahead of only the Guardians. They are just outside the bottom 10 in walks drawn, and they rank in the bottom three in both batting average and on-base percentage. The Angels do hit for power, but they otherwise falter in essentially every other category.

Ginn is a mid-level streamer. His own work has been good away from home, and the matchup here fits well, giving Ginn a high ceiling.

Stephen Kolek, Kansas City Royals vs. Minnesota Twins

Minnesota is falling toward rock bottom. They were swept in a four-game series against the White Sox during the week and lost the first one against the Royals yesterday, averaging just four runs per game over that stretch. The Twins have a below-average offense that might not be among the worst but is bad enough to make them a streaming target on the right days.

Kolek came over from the Padres at the trade deadline. He made one start with the Royals, allowing four hits and just one run with three strikeouts and no walks last Saturday. In 132 1/3 career innings, Kolek has been good with walks but a well-below-average strikeout pitcher. Given that most of his appearances have been in relief, he probably isn't going to improve his Ks while making longer outings.

Kolek is a low-to-mid-level streamer. The matchup is decent but not great, and Kolek has been fine but holds low strikeout numbers, something that caps his fantasy ceiling.

Andre Pallante, St. Louis Cardinals vs. San Francisco Giants

Justin Verlander, San Francisco Giants @ St. Louis Cardinals

San Francisco is four games out of a wild card spot, behind the Padres and Mets, who are tied for the second and third wild cards. St. Louis isn't much further behind, sitting 6.5 back, but with just 20 games left, that is becoming an unclimbable hill, especially since they have to jump four teams to get there. Both teams have weak offenses, and the Cardinals have been especially poor since the trade deadline, not looking anything like a playoff team.

Pallante is around average with walks, but he is well below average with strikeouts, sitting at just 16% this year compared to the league average around 22.5%. He is also on a streak of rough outings: Pallante has given up 28 runs (24 earned) in his past five starts. That has ballooned his ERA up close to 5.50.

Verlander had an interesting start last time out: he threw five scoreless innings, allowing three hits while walking four and striking out 10. He threw 121 pitches in those five innings, a terribly inefficient day but good enough in a game his team won 13-2 over Baltimore. Verlander has been right around average with both walks and strikeouts, quite a feat at 42 years old.

Pallante is a low-level streamer and Verlander a low-to-mid-level streamer. The latter has been better, and Pallante has been knocked around too much lately to count on him for anything.

Saturday's Streamer Rankings

1. Shane Baz, TB
2. J.T. Ginn, ATH
3. Justin Verlander, SF
4. Stephen Kolek, KC
5. Andre Pallante, STL