Wednesday Fantasy Baseball Starting Pitcher Streamers, Including Will Warren

Let's jump right in today and look at four starting pitchers in action on Wednesday who have good matchups and are widely available in fantasy leagues. 

Most stats are from MLB.com, as are the probable pitchers. The full streamer rankings are listed at the bottom.

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Slade Cecconi, Cleveland Guardians vs. New York Mets

Cecconi was very average in most areas last season, his first as a full-time big league starter. Essentially every mark is worse this season, as Cecconi is giving up more hits and runs with both a strikeout rate and walk rate that are several percentage points worse. He is doing better at limiting home runs, but Cecconi has otherwise seen his performance suffer a little, making him a below-average pitcher overall. He's still OK to consider when the matchup is right, but there's a lower ceiling and floor in fantasy.

The Mets' season-long numbers point to them as a bottom-five offensive team, ranking in that lowly group (or very close to it) in runs, hits, doubles, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS. They had a better stretch early in July, but New York has started faltering again, partly coinciding with Juan Soto hitting the IL. Soto's return is still uncertain, and the Mets don't have many other guys performing up to standard, leaving them as an appealing fantasy target.

Cecconi is a low-to-mid-level streamer. The matchup is right, but Cecconi has been worse this year than last, and his below-average strikeout work leaves his ceiling lower on any given day.

Jake Irvin, Washington Nationals @ Philadelphia Phillies

Philadelphia had a good stretch in which their numbers were rising up out of the bottom 10, but that success was short-lived, and the Phillies are back among our streaming targets given their recent work. Over the past 30 days, Philadelphia ranks below average is essentially every offensive box stat, and they fall into the bottom 10 in most of those categories. The Phillies are still in playoff position and are favored to make the postseason as a wild card, but the offense has been more a part of the problem than the solution much of the year.

Irvin spent more than two months on the IL before returning last Thursday, a game in which he allowed five runs in five innings against the Braves. Before getting hurt, Irvin had been OK, allowing too many runs but doing average work with limiting hits and home runs. His walk rate is just a hair higher than average, but his strikeout rate is also higher than the middle, something that is out of line with his career work. He's likely to strike out fewer batters over the rest of the season, but Irvin also has a chance to be an average pitcher, which puts him firmly in the streaming group.

Irvin is a low-to-mid-level streamer. It's worth showing caution after he struggled in his return, and we can't really expect big things from Irvin in any outing based on his career work.

Jacob Lopez, Athletics @ Cincinnati Reds

Lopez was a fantastic strikeout pitcher last year, but his K% has fallen nearly 10 percentage points in 2026 to a below-average 18.7%. Match that with his ugly walk rate (12.9% versus league average around 8-9% and last year's 9.3%), and Lopez has been on the wrong side in two of the most important areas. That has helped lead to much worse run prevention, as Lopez has a 5.79 ERA and has already allowed more earned runs this year than he did last year despite throwing 22 2/3 fewer innings so far. There's a lot of risk here.

The Reds offer the right opponent, though, hitting home runs and drawing walks but not doing anything else well and ranking in the bottom five in both runs and hits. The best thing that Cincinnati does for our purposes is strike out a lot; the Reds are one of the three most K-prone teams in the league along with the Pirates and Angels. There is a risk of the ball flying out of the park, but Cincinnati regularly doesn't score runs while striking out a lot, making them a strong fantasy target.

Lopez is a low-level streamer. He hasn't been very good, and his BB and K rates are both several percentage points on the wrong side of average. The matchup is intriguing, but I'd rather look elsewhere than count on Lopez.

Will Warren, New York Yankees vs. St. Louis Cardinals

Warren is owned in around 50% of fantasy leagues, making him a fringe streamer, but there's enough availability to make it worth looking to see if you can pick him up (his ownership was higher for much of the season). He is an above-average strikeout pitcher who has been a little better than average with walks this season, but run prevention is where the real issue comes up. While his 4.06 ERA is fine, Warren has given up 13 unearned runs (more than 20% of the runs he has allowed). If every run were earned, his ERA would be 5.13; that's not exactly fair, but it shows that Warren has been giving up a lot more runs than his ERA indicates.

St. Louis isn't a bottom-line offense, which we would prefer to target, but they rank close to 20th in a lot of categories, showing them as a clearly below-average offensive team. They don't strike out much, setting a lower ceiling than we might like, but the Cardinals don't really do anything well either, leaving a nice floor for opposing pitchers. Though they are still within shouting distance of a playoff spot, it will be an uphill climb for St. Louis to get there.

Warren is a mid-level streamer. His strikeout work gives him an advantage over the other pitchers listed here today, and though there have been some struggles, Warren has done well enough to expect a good outing here.

Wednesday's Streamer Rankings

1. Will Warren, NYY
2. Slade Cecconi, CLE
3. Jake Irvin, WSH
4. Jacob Lopez, ATH