Is This Pirates Pitcher the Secret to Your Sunday Fantasy Baseball Lineup?
Five starting pitchers with good matchups on Sunday who are widely available in fantasy leagues.
One weekend into May, we have a fairly balanced standing sheet across the league. Seven teams have 20 or more victories, nine teams have fewer than 15, and the remaining 14 squads are somewhere between those marks. Its early, and there's a lot of time for the standings to spread out, but hopefully this portends a competitive season up through the end of September.
Moving to fantasy baseball, let's look at five starting pitchers in action on Sunday who have good matchups and are widely available in fantasy leagues. Most stats are from MLB.com, as are the probable starters. The full streamer rankings are listed at the bottom.
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Braxton Ashcraft, Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Cincinnati Reds
Ashcraft is owned in half of fantasy leagues, on the fringe of being a true streamer, but he's available enough to make it worth checking to see if you can grab him. He has just over 100 career innings to his name, but Ashcraft has already shown himself to be a high-level strikeout pitcher who is average with walks. He also has an ERA just over 3.00, showing very good run and hit prevention.
I mentioned a few days ago that Cincinnati had played only three games within the division before this weekend, and they have lost the past two games to Pittsburgh by a combined score of 26-8. The offense has been the weakest unit through the first month-plus, leaving them vulnerable to opposing pitchers.
Ashcraft is a mid-to-high-level streamer. We should temper expectations just a bit given his short track record, but I believe that Ashcraft can be a high-level fantasy pitcher over an extended stretch, making him worth keeping if you're able to pick him up.
Anthony Kay, Chicago White Sox @ San Diego Padres
San Diego has high hopes but is coming up a little short offensively early in the season. They topped out as a middling offense last year, and that has been the case again through April, as they rank in the bottom 10 in many box stats while not really excelling anywhere. The biggest thing of note for the franchise currently: the Padres are set to have most of the team's stake sold after being valued at nearly $4 billion recently.
Kay has been hit too hard and has both a walk rate and strikeout rate much worse than average. Kay had limited big-league time before spending the past two seasons in Japan, and in his return, things haven't been great, as he has given up 28 hits and 17 runs in 25 innings. There's not enough here to trust him in any fantasy league.
Kay is a low-level streamer. On top of his own shortcomings, the Padres are more of a good matchup than a great one, and they don't strike out much, setting a lower ceiling than we like to see. You can find a better way to spend your innings this early in the season.
Jack Kochanowicz, Los Angeles Angels vs. New York Mets
The Mets' woes continue, as they have the league's worst record and one of the worst run differentials. Their offense is a major part of the problem, ranking in the bottom five in runs, hits, doubles, home runs, walks, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS. They don't strike out much, but that's the only place we can point to New York having any offensive success. It will take multiple players having major turnarounds to transform this team into even an average offense in 2026.
Kochanowicz walks too many hitters and has a well-below-average strikeout rate; that's not a good start. After being hit way too hard the past two years, though, he is doing well limiting batters in 2026, giving up just 24 hits, 14 runs (12 earned), and one home run in 35 innings. He would be worthy of consideration if those numbers held, but given the negative rates and his past issues with getting hit, I'm skeptical that his numbers will stay this good for long.
Kochanowicz is a low-to-mid-level streamer. I don't trust him, but the matchup is about as good as could be based on this year's numbers, something that we can't ignore. I'm skipping him, but Kochanowicz is worth a look if you're in a deep league and/or desperate for innings.
Tyler Mahle, San Francisco Giants @ Tampa Bay Rays
Steven Matz, Tampa Bay Rays vs. San Francisco Giants
We'll finish today with a game in which we can target both teams with streamers. Tampa is closer to middling than truly poor as an offense, but they are especially low in the power categories, ranking in the bottom eight in doubles, home runs, and slugging percentage. The Giants are lowlier, struggling to score runs, hit for power, and draw walks. To the latter point, they have drawn by far the fewest walks of any team this season, contributing to bottom-three rankings in on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS.
Mahle has been an above-average strikeout pitcher in his career, though that number was below average in limited work over the past two seasons (and is right at average this year). He has given up too many walks, hits, and home runs this season, a bad combination for any pitcher, and it has led to an ERA near 6.00 in 30 2/3 innings.
Matz has worked exclusively in the rotation after pitching out of the bullpen most of last season, and he has been right in the middle with both walks and strikeouts. He has done well limiting hits but has given up a home run about every five innings, while his career rate is closer to one every seven innings (which is about average). Matz is worth consideration when the matchup is right.
Mahle is a low-level streamer and Matz a low-to-mid-level streamer. The former just hasn't been good enough this year to trust in a fantasy lineup yet, while the latter is showing enough signs and has the better matchup in this one. You could argue that Matz should be a half-notch higher.
Sunday's Streamer Rankings
- Braxton Ashcraft, PIT
- Steven Matz, TB
- Jack Kochanowicz, LAA
- Tyler Mahle, SF
- Anthony Kay, CWS
