Fantasy Baseball Starting Pitcher Streamers for Friday: Leahy, Matthews and More

The final day of July brings plenty of questions: Who will buy/sell at the trade deadline? Which teams still have a chance to make the playoffs? Who are the real contenders?

As much as we would like answers with two-thirds of the season already over, there are still two months to go, and each team has over 50 games remaining. We won't know much until weeks down the line, but the trade deadline on Monday is a major milestone in the season as we head toward the home stretch.

Moving to fantasy baseball, let's look at four 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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Mitch Bratt, Arizona Diamondbacks @ Cleveland Guardians

Bratt is only four starts and 15 2/3 innings into his career, and it hasn't gone well: 20 hits, 11 runs, four home runs, and 11 walks to 10 strikeouts. A fifth-round pick out of high school in 2021, Bratt was much better in the minor leagues, including doing really good strikeout work, so there's hope for better production moving forward, but the small sample has his major league numbers looking rough. This will be his easiest matchup so far, for what it's worth (his previous starts were against the Cardinals, Dodgers, Athletics, and Nationals).

Cleveland is a clear bottom-five offensive team, ranking in that lowly group in many box stats (including all four slash categories). This has been a season-long thing, as the Guardians have been one of our target teams since the beginning based on last year's struggles. Jose Ramirez returned on July 22 after more than a month on the IL, but he doesn't have any extra-base hits in the seven games he has played since coming back. The pitching will have to power the team if they can sneak into the playoffs in a weak division, but it's doubtful that Cleveland can win in the postseason unless they get a major improvement soon.

Bratt is a low-to-mid-level streamer. His work so far doesn't warrant consideration, but he was much better in the minors, and the matchup here is pristine. There's a little deep-league intrigue.

Janson Junk, Miami Marlins @ New York Mets

Over the full season, the Mets are in the bottom 10 in essentially every box stat, reaching the bottom five in many of those areas. They have been a little better over the past month, reaching an average level mostly, but New York lost Juan Soto about a week ago to the IL and have struggled again in that short timeframe. While every team goes through ups and downs, the numbers over a longer time are usually going to tell the best story about what to expect moving forward. I'm still comfortable targeting the Mets.

Junk is very good with walks, but he generally gets hit a little too hard and is a below-average strikeout pitcher. He has been decent in three of his past four starts, allowing exactly one earned run in each contest, but those all came in outings of no more than five innings and against easier matchups with Toronto, Seattle, and San Diego. Maybe there's another successful outing coming, but the ceiling is low.

Junk is a low-to-mid-level streamer. His recent run of good games against weaker competition gives a little hope here, but there's not much of a ceiling, and Junk hasn't found a ton of success as a starter the past two years.

Kyle Leahy, St. Louis Cardinals @ Toronto Blue Jays

Leahy has been very average in most areas and even better than average in preventing runs (3.55 ERA, matching his career number of 3.61). Leahy is a little below average with strikeouts, but he's close enough to the middle to make him intriguing in the right matchups, especially as a starting pitcher. He has shown good control and been right in the middle allowing hits and home runs (a little better than average with the latter). Other than a bump in strikeouts, there's not a lot that Leahy is missing right now.

The Blue Jays have been one of the worst offenses in baseball over the past 30 days, ranking in the bottom five in most box stats during that time. They have struggled all season, mostly with a lack of power: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has six home runs in 381 at-bats. In his career, Guerrero has hit a homer every 21.8 at-bats; this season, it's once every 63.5 at-bats. That's the rate of a light-hitting middle infielder, not a first baseman. The lack of power is just one aspect, as Toronto is struggling in many areas, though they don't strike out much.

Leahy is a low-to-mid-level streamer. His K work being a little below average matched with a Toronto team that barely strikes out means the ceiling isn't great here, but Leahy is in line for a decent outing in which he might give up few runs, and that's valuable for any fantasy owner.

Zebby Matthews, Minnesota Twins @ Seattle Mariners

Seattle plays in maybe the best pitcher's park in baseball; this is something we talk about often. They are still a below-average offense when looking only at away games, though, showing the Mariners as a team that we can target no matter where they play. This one is in Seattle, so there's even more value today against a team that has faltered all season despite being in position to contend for the division in the final two months.

Matthews has always given up too many runs, but at least he did above-average strikeout work in 2024-25 (117 innings). This season, Matthews is still giving up too many runs, but his K rate has fallen by around 25% from those first two years. He still does well limiting walks, but Matthews has also given up way too many home runs (one every 5.1 innings, which is also his career rate). Matthews has shown consistently that he gets hit hard, leaving risk any time he takes the mound.

Matthews is a low-to-mid-level streamer. His lower strikeout rate takes away his margin for error, and he has been hit way too hard to expect good results consistently, though the matchup and location are in his favor.

Friday's Streamer Rankings

1. Kyle Leahy, STL
2. Zebby Matthews, MIN
3. Mitch Bratt, ARI
4. Janson Junk, MIA