Fantasy Baseball Streaming Pitchers: Top SP Waiver Wire Pickups for Tuesday

With both the NBA and NHL starting their conference finals this week, we are creeping toward the time when baseball gets the spotlight all to themselves for a few months. Preseason football will be a part of the discussion soon after, but MLB gets a short span during the Dog Days of Summer when they are the only major American professional sport in action.

Moving to fantasy baseball, let's look at five starting pitchers in action on Tuesday 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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Foster Griffin, Washington Nationals vs. New York Mets

Griffin spent the past three seasons in Japan, where he did good work, and he has continued to pitch well in his return stateside. He has given up just 40 hits and 20 earned runs in 51 innings with an average walk rate and a slightly above-average strikeout rate. Griffin is owned in over 40% of fantasy leagues, as owners take note of his successful return.

The Mets took two out of three games from the Yankees over the weekend, part of a stretch of 11 wins in their past 16 games. That has brought them closer to .500 and an even run differential, but the offense still ranks in the bottom five in many box stats, so we will keep going after them with streaming pitchers until they show better work with the bats.

Griffin is a mid-level streamer. The matchup is right, and Griffin has been good this season, but the track record in the majors is very short, so it's best not to expect great things right now.

Griffin Jax, Tampa Bay Rays vs. Baltimore Orioles

Baltimore is more of a good matchup than a great one, ranking low in hits and batting average but hitting for good power, leaving them somewhere in the middle overall. Most importantly for our purposes, the Orioles sit near the top of the league in most batter strikeouts, setting a nice ceiling for opposing fantasy pitchers.

Jax has mostly worked as a reliever in his big-league career, making just 20 starts in 314 appearances. He has joined Tampa Bay's rotation recently, including five shutout innings against Toronto his last time out. Jax is generally a high-level strikeout pitcher who is average with walks, but both his K rate and BB rate have been on the wrong side of the middle this season, so there's room for improvement.

Jax is a low-to-mid-level streamer. His past strikeout work gives him a bit of a ceiling, especially with the Orioles striking out a lot, but Jax hasn't been great this year, leaving his floor a little lower than we'd like.

Anthony Kay, Chicago White Sox @ Seattle Mariners

Kay is another guy who spent the past two seasons in Japan and found success. The Japanese league is NOT the major leagues, however. Kay has struggled in his return to the big leagues, with a walk rate worse than average and a strikeout rate far below average. He has also given up too many hits and runs, not leaving many areas of reprieve (though his 3-1 record could fool those who refuse to look even a little deeper).

Seattle is in the bottom 10 in many offensive box stats, hitting for some power but not doing much else well. As many of our target teams tend to do, the Mariners strike out a lot, ranking in the top five in most batter Ks. There's upside here for much better performances moving forward from a team that reached the ALCS last season, but so far, Seattle has warranted their spot on our streaming list.

Kay is a low-level streamer. No matter the matchup, he just hasn't been good enough to trust outside of the deepest fantasy leagues.

Jacob Lopez, Athletics @ Los Angeles Angels

Lopez has generally been good with strikeouts while walking too many guys in his career, but his K rate has fallen off in 40 1/3 innings this season while his BB rate has shot up to close to twice the league average. Lopez is also getting knocked around, giving up a home run every 4.3 innings and sitting with an ERA close to 6.00.

The Angels have struck out more than any other team, a major benefit for potential streaming pitchers. It only helps that LA also ranks in the bottom 10 in runs, hits, doubles, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS. After starting off a little better, the Angels have slipped offensively, a big part of the reason they have the fewest wins in baseball.

Lopez is a low-level streamer. The matchup is right, but Lopez just hasn't performed well this season, leaving him as a risky proposition in your fantasy lineup unless you're in a super deep league.

Ryne Nelson, Arizona Diamondbacks vs. San Francisco Giants

San Francisco is very low in runs, home runs, and walks; we've been talking about it essentially every day that the Giants end up here. Let's focus more on their individual players today instead. DH Casey Schmitt has been their best offensive guy, batting .297 with eight home runs. Only three other players with at least 25 at-bats are hitting .250, and Rafael Devers is the only other Giant with as many as five home runs. It's otherwise guys showing no power, no hit tool, or neither.

Nelson has good walk and strikeout rates this season, but he has been hit hard, sitting with a 5.40 ERA and a home run allowed every five innings. Nelson has mostly been good limiting hits, homers, and runs in the past, so there's a good chance he can get back to at least an average level, but he also pitches in a major hitter's park, and this game takes place in Arizona, a negative point against him.

Nelson is a low-to-mid-level streamer with some upside. I want to bump him up another level, but Nelson hasn't been great this year, so it's best to show a little restraint, even if you expect his performance to return to the mean.

Tuesday's Streamer Rankings

1. Foster Griffin, WSH
2. Ryne Nelson, ARI
3. Griffin Jax, TB
4. Jacob Lopez, ATH
5. Anthony Kay, SEA