Friday Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Starting Pitcher Streamer Rankings and Analysis

Heading into Friday, every National League division leader has a run differential over plus-100, led by Milwaukee's plus-141. The Cubs reached plus-100 after their fourth straight win, giving the NL four teams at that mark versus the American League, which as no teams that high.

The Yankees top the AL at plus-81, with the Tigers and Red Sox close behind, showing a fairly major divide between the two leagues. That doesn't mean we're guaranteed a World Series champion from the NL, but league superiority stands out clearly with a few months remaining.

Moving to fantasy baseball, let's look at four starting pitchers in action on Friday 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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Shane Baz, Baltimore Orioles @ Texas Rangers

Baz is owned in around 50% of fantasy leagues, making him more of a fringe streamer, but there's still enough availability to make it worth checking on him. We listed Baz here before his last start against Philadelphia, and though he had a good outing (just one run allowed in 6 1/3 innings), he took the tough-luck loss when his team scored zero runs. Baz is doing good work in most areas, including fantastic numbers limiting home runs, but Baz's strikeout rate is a little below average after previously staying above average in every prior season.

Texas has better numbers over the full season, as they have pulled themselves off our streaming list with increased offensive production, which has them fighting for a playoff spot. They are a much more appealing target at home, though, as the Rangers rank in the bottom 10 (or close to it) in essentially every box stat when looking only at games a team has played in their home park. A big reason for that is because Globe Life Field in Arlington is one of the worst hitter's parks in baseball, limiting every offense who plays there. The matchup is more good than great, but it's worth looking at the Rangers when they play at home.

Baz is a mid-level streamer. Even with a lower strikeout rate, he is still close to average in that area, just a little below that mark. Though the matchup is just OK, the location of this game increases the fantasy value for the pitchers involved.

Noah Schultz, Chicago White Sox vs. Cleveland Guardians

Over the full season, Cleveland has been one of our favorite fantasy targets, ranking in the bottom five in many box stats, including runs, hits, home runs, batting average, slugging percentage, and OPS. They have been better over the past month, looking more like an average offensive team in that time, but I trust the numbers over a longer timeframe, which point toward a clearly below-average lineup. Things change, and we will keep an eye on the Guardians to see if they continue to improve, but until that time, I will still target this team with pitchers.

Schultz is in his first big-league season, and things haven't gone great: 65 innings, 59 hits, 43 runs (5.82 ERA), and both a walk rate and strikeout rate a little worse than average. Most of those numbers are fine other than allowing too many runs, so maybe we could chalk it up to bad luck, but Schultz has shown some control issues that have hampered him, especially without big K numbers. A former first-round pick, Schultz could have a bright future, but he hasn't shown those heights quite yet in his short time in the majors.

Schultz is a low-to-mid-level streamer. It would be easy to bump him down another level when you see that ERA, but most of his numbers are close enough to the middle to envision an improvement in performance while still expecting some rookie struggles. The matchup makes it worth looking at Schultz in deeper leagues.

Ryan Feltner, Colorado Rockies @ St. Louis Cardinals

Kyle Leahy, St. Louis Cardinals vs. Colorado Rockies

We'll finish today with a game in which we can target both teams with streaming pitchers. The Cardinals aren't a basement team, ranking closer to 20th than 30th in most stats, but they are a below-average offense that doesn't really excel in any area, setting a nice floor for opposing pitchers. The Rockies haven't been on our streaming list often this season, as their numbers have been at least average, but when looking at only games they have played away from home, Colorado ranks in the bottom 10 often and sits as a below-average offense. The Coors Field effect is real.

Feltner has played his whole career on the Rockies, a tough proposition for any pitcher, as we just discussed with Coors Field. His numbers aren't very good this season, having given up more than a hit per inning with a 5.75 ERA and well-below-average strikeout rate. He does fine with walks, but Feltner has given up a home run every 4.5 innings this season, far worse than his career rate of one every 6.7 innings (which is close to average). It's tempting to think that Coors Field has been the main issue, but Feltner has actually been a little worse on the road, leaving him tough to trust in any situation.

Leahy has good numbers across the board, holding an ERA under 3.50 in a career-high 107 1/3 innings. His strikeout rate is slightly lower than average, but it's not too far off, especially for a starter. Leahy is on a major hot streak over his past seven starts (stretching back to June 23): 37 1/3 innings, 24 hits, five runs, nine walks, and 32 strikeouts. A guy with good season-long numbers who is having his best stretch right now is a solid bet, even if the matchup isn't great.

Leahy is a low-to-mid-level streamer and Feltner a low-level streamer. Feltner just hasn't been good enough; there's not much more to say. Leahy has been good enough, and though his lower strikeouts hold him down just a bit, he could be argued to be even a half-notch higher today.

Friday's Streamer Rankings

1. Shane Baz, BAL
2. Kyle Leahy, STL
3. Noah Schultz, CWS
4. Ryan Feltner, COL