Saturday Fantasy Baseball Pitching Streamers: Martin Perez Leads Waiver Wire Targets
Five starting pitchers with good matchups on Saturday who are widely available in fantasy leagues.
Houston's Yordan Alvarez had a huge first inning yesterday. Before the Royals even recorded the first three outs of the game, Alvarez hit a two-run home run and a grand slam, becoming the second player (along with David Ortiz) to record two homers and six RBI in an inning (since RBI became an official stat). Alvarez is now tied for the league lead in home runs, and his team needed every bit of his performance in a 10-8 victory.
Moving to fantasy baseball, 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.
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Mike Burrows, Houston Astros @ Kansas City Royals
Burrows was good in 96 innings for the Pirates last season, looking average or better in essentially every area. This year hasn't been as kind: in 73 1/3 innings, he has given up the same number of hits, more runs and home runs, and nearly as many walks as he did in all of 2025. His strikeout rate also dropped from above average to below average, leaving Burrows as a low-level option.
The Royals have been a common target here recently, as they don't really stand out for their success in any area. They are right near the top 10 in doubles, but they are close to the bottom five in home runs; it doesn't take high-level analysis to say that homers are better than doubles. While they are close to the middle in strikeouts, Kansas City is also middling with walks, and they are a below-average offense overall.
Burrows is a low-level streamer. Though the matchup is right, Burrows hasn't been good enough this season to really trust outside of deep leagues. If his strikeouts tick back up, he will have a better outlook.
Joey Cantillo, Cleveland Guardians vs. Detroit Tigers
The Tigers rank in or very close to the bottom 10 in runs, hits, batting average, and on-base percentage. They were previously lower in other areas too but have gotten closer to the middle, though they still sit as a below-average offensive team overall. This is a team that found plenty of success last season, so we could see them keep improving without a ton of surprise, but Detroit has disappointed so far this season.
Cantillo strikes batters out at a good rate, but he combines that with too many walks, discounting some of that success. His K rate has also fallen from well above average to simply an average number, and while that's still useful in fantasy, it makes other problems stand out more. He has also been giving up hits, runs, and homers at a higher rate than last season, when he made about 2/3 of his appearances out of the bullpen.
Cantillo is a low-to-mid-level streamer. He is still doing decent strikeout work, so Cantillo has a better outlook than a guy like Burrows, but there's enough downside to be cautious, particularly if you're in a shallower league.
Shane Drohan, Milwaukee Brewers vs. Philadelphia Phillies
Drohan has done most of his work out of the bullpen in his first big-league season, making three starts versus 10 relief appearances. He has good numbers in every area, and Drohan did high-level strikeout work in the minors, so there's hope he can keep up that level. Starting is harder than pitching in relief, but Drohan has been decent in his past two outings (both starts), combining for 10 1/3 innings, nine hits, five runs, three walks, and nine strikeouts.
Philadelphia is in or near the bottom five in runs, hits, doubles, walks, batting average, on-base percentage, and OPS. They hit home runs, led by Kyle Schwarber's league-leading 24 (now tied with Alvarez), and a team can find success by mashing at a high level, but not many other guys are picking up the slack, leaving this offense toiling many games.
Drohan is a low-to-mid-level streamer. I like his numbers so far, but he has only thrown 37 1/3 innings in the majors, mostly out of the bullpen. While the matchup is right, I want to see Drohan more in the rotation before fully trusting him.
Trey Gibson, Baltimore Orioles vs. San Diego Padres
San Diego has been one of our favorite targets throughout the season, ranking very low in most areas, including at or near the bottom in runs, hits, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS. As we try to determine which teams have had hot/cold streaks and which will continue to play well/poorly moving forward, one of the things that I'm most confident about is that the Padres will continue being a regular guest here on the streaming list.
Gibson is another pitcher in his first season, with just 17 innings to his name. While he did good strikeout work in the minors, Gibson has only struck out five batters in those 17 innings, holding an impossibly low 6.8% K rate (league average is around 22%). That number will improve because it has to, but it's a quirk of his small sample of big-league work. He has otherwise been OK; it's too hard to glean anything real from such a short span.
Gibson is a low-to-mid-level streamer. Given his Ks in the minors (324 in 252 1/3 innings), I expect that number to improve quickly, but there's no way to know what Gibson will be in the major leagues. The great matchup pushes him up a notch.
Martin Perez, Atlanta Braves @ New York Mets
Perez has been very good for the league-best Braves in 2026. His current ERA, strikeout rate, and WHIP would be the best of his career, and he has maintained an average walk rate in line with his career number. It has only been 56 innings, and it's most likely that Perez will regress to the mean in a negative way, but there's plenty of intrigue here on a team that has a knack for getting the best out of their pitchers.
The Mets rank in the bottom five in runs, hits, doubles, walks, and all four slash categories. That's not just a few paltry numbers; that's close to league-worst offensive work. They have been closer to average over the past 30 days, partly a product of big home run numbers, but New York has been struggling all season, and until we see more positives, I'm going to keep targeting them.
Perez is a mid-level streamer. You can argue that he should be another level higher, but I have a feeling that the bottom is going to fall out at some point, leading to a few rougher outings, especially as his strikeout rate is still a hair below average. Given the strong matchup, there's still a good chance that Perez finds success in this one, though.
Saturday's Streamer Rankings
- Martin Perez, NYM
- Shane Drohan, MIL
- Joey Cantillo, CLE
- Trey Gibson, BAL
- Mike Burrows, HOU
