Friday Fantasy Baseball Streamers: Ranking Holmes, Kikuchi, and Top SP Options

All but four baseball teams have now played at least 25 games, putting us more than 15% of the way through the season. The MLB season is long and grueling, and it can help to break it down into chunks.

Memorial Day is often pointed to as an unofficial point in the season when we can start believing what we are seeing, both from teams and players. We're still over four weeks away from that holiday, but in the world of fantasy baseball, we can't wait and see; scoring is well under way.

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 starters. The full streamer rankings are listed at the bottom.

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Grant Holmes, Atlanta Braves vs. Philadelphia Phillies

Holmes has generally been an above-average strikeout pitcher who limits hitters well while walking just a few too many batters. Though his Ks are down a bit, he has otherwise followed that same pattern early in 2026, making him a valuable fantasy pitcher. If his strikeouts tick back up, Holmes will be a very good fantasy asset.

The Phillies and Mets are fighting not just for worst record in baseball but also the title of most disappointing team through April. Philadelphia is in the bottom five or very close to it in runs, hits, walks, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS. It's still very early, and the Phils have the names to turn things around, but they are vulnerable right now.

Holmes is a mid-to-high-level streamer. His current level of performance is good enough to get him there, and there's more potential. Philly is a positive target right now.

Yusei Kikuchi, Los Angeles Angels @ Kansas City Royals

Kansas City has both the worst record and the worst run differential in the American League. They are in the bottom 10 in most offensive box stats and in the bottom five in runs scored, requiring a lot of improvement even to get up to an average level. After a few seasons on the upswing, the Royals are laboring early in the season.

Kikuchi had his best season in 2024 and earned a nice contract despite being in his mid-30s. He was good last year for the Angels but has seen his performance worsen early in 2026. He has given up 28 hits and 15 runs in 24 innings, and while he is doing well striking batters out, Kikuchi has also walked nearly 10% of the batters he has faced over the past two seasons (league average is around 8-9%). There's still upside here despite the slow start to this season.

Kikuchi is a low-to-mid-level streamer with some upside. We can't ignore that he has been hit around a bit this year, but the strikeout numbers are real, and Kikuchi has better work in his recent past.

Michael Lorenzen, Colorado Rockies @ New York Mets

Lorenzen has had a ROUGH start to 2026. He is generally a little worse than average with both walks and strikeouts, and while his BBs are better this year (and last), his Ks are way below average. Lorenzen has also be knocked around, allowing 39 hits, 23 runs, and four homers in 21 2/3 innings, though five of those runs were unearned. His current performance is untenable.

I mentioned the Mets above, as they have been as bad as any team, losing 12 straight games before they won on Wednesday. Offensively, they are in or near the bottom five in most offensive box stats, and though Juan Soto just returned from the IL, Francisco Lindor was lost to a calf injury, swapping out one hurt star for another.

Lorenzen is a low-level streamer. Though New York has struggled hard, Lorenzen's numbers in 2026 are impossible to trust, even with this game away from Coors Field.

Miles Mikolas, Washington Nationals @ Chicago White Sox

The White Sox are the worst team of the past half-decade. They are only slightly better than the Royals by both record and run differential this year, and they rank in the bottom 10 in most offensive categories. Chicago has shown home run power, but they otherwise have fallen short with the bats.

Mikolas' early numbers are enough to knock him out of the rotation soon (and maybe get him released): 19 2/3 innings, 29 hits, 22 runs (20 earned), six home runs, 10 walks, and 15 strikeouts. Each of those numbers is well worse than average, and his ERA sitting over 9.00 is the type of quirk pitchers have after just a few innings, not close to 20. There's not much to like here from a guy who has always struggled with Ks.

Mikolas is a low-level streamer. Like Lorenzen, no matter the matchup, there's no way to trust Mikolas given his performance so far. We need to see major improvements before rostering him in any fantasy league.

Andre Pallante, St. Louis Cardinals vs. Seattle Mariners

Pallante does everything at a fairly average level aside from striking batters out, as he has been well below average with Ks his entire career. His performance in 2026 has mostly followed that same pattern, though he has also seen a spike in walks when he had previously been at the top end of average. Pallante is OK to consider when the matchup is right, but he has a low ceiling.

Seattle has been at a bottom-10 level in many areas, but their biggest benefit for us is that they rank in the top five in most batter strikeouts. It wouldn't be a surprise to see the Mariners hit better moving forward given the names in their lineup and their recent run to the ALCS, but they are vulnerable early in the season.

Pallante is a low-level streamer. The matchup is more good than great, and the thing Seattle offers most (strikeouts) is also where Pallante falls short. Things don't seem to line up for him in this one.

Friday's Streamer Rankings

1. Grant Holmes, ATL
2. Yusei Kikuchi, LAA
3. Andre Pallante, STL
4. Michael Lorenzen, COL
5. Miles Mikolas, WSH