Fantasy Baseball Saturday SP Streamers: Grab This Pitcher Recently Back From Injury

The weekend brings a respite for the working man and a chance to focus in on baseball before we hit the final stretch. Even though the season is winding down, every team has around 40 games remaining; that's nearly half the NBA or NHL season and more than twice as many as they play in the NFL. That means the standings can still flip, but teams are running out of time to make real improvements to their performance.

Moving to fantasy baseball, let's look at four 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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Joey Cantillo, Cleveland Guardians vs. San Diego Padres

Cantillo has been very average in most areas this season, walking a few too many batters but also carrying an above-average strikeout rate that more than makes up for it. That all mostly matches his career work, particularly when working as a starter (he had some better numbers in relief, but that's true of almost every pitcher). His best work happened earlier in the season, and Cantillo has been making shorter appearances recently, not going more than five innings since June. He's still worth considering, though his fantasy value isn't as strong as the season-long numbers make it seem.

San Diego ranks in the bottom 10 or very close to it in essentially every box stat over the full season. They are good drawing walks and don't strike out a ton, but everything else shows them as clearly a below-average offense. When looking at just the past month, though, the Padres are a top-10 offensive unit, showing out well in every area. That has helped move them back into playoff position; San Diego isn't a great target based on recent numbers. While season-long numbers are usually better to trust, it's impossible to ignore how good the Padres have been in the second half.

Cantillo is a low-to-mid-level streamer. His work is good enough to bump him a level higher, but the matchup here isn't nearly as enticing as it would seem looking only at stats from the whole season. San Diego was one of the worst offenses in baseball in the first half, but we can't treat them the same way anymore; Cantillo's spot here is more about his work than the matchup.

Randy Dobnak, Kansas City Royals @ Los Angeles Angels

The Angels are somewhat the opposite of the Padres, starting the season better offensively but looking like maybe the worst team in baseball lately. We've been talking about this pretty much every day recently; their stats over the past month are abysmal, showing them near the bottom in essentially every box stat, including ranking last in runs scored by a wide margin. Throw in the fact that they strike out about as much as any team in baseball, and we have a primetime target for opposing fantasy pitchers.

Dobnak has spent most of the year in the minor leagues this season, making just seven appearances and five starts in the majors (all in July and August). He does well limiting walks, but Dobnak is an abysmal strikeout pitcher, holding a K% of just 12.4% this season and 13.6% in his career (versus league average this year around 22%). He only has about a season's worth of innings in his career since debuting in 2019, and he has been fine in that time, splitting his work between the rotation and bullpen. While there's a low ceiling, Dobnak is OK to consider in the best matchups.

Dobnak is a low-to-mid-level streamer. He has been fine (allowing just eight runs in 36 innings is hard to ignore), but Dobnak won't look as good over a longer time span, and his painfully low strikeout rate leaves him with a very low ceiling.

Ryan Gusto, Miami Marlins @ Cincinnati Reds

Gusto was listed here before his last start against the Angels, and he performed well, allowing just three hits and two runs with a walk and four strikeouts as his team won 12-3. Gusto didn't get the win, though, as he was pulled after four innings (and just 60 pitches), hurting the fantasy day a bit. In his short career, Gusto has been good with walks and just a little below average with strikeouts, but he has been hit too hard, giving up a few too many hits and runs. There's a decent outlook with Gusto but just a middling ceiling.

The Reds draw plenty of walks and hit home runs at a top-10 rate, but they do everything else at a bottom-10 level, leading to an offense that has struggled hard most of the season. Their work in the past 30 days has followed much of the same pattern, leaving Cincinnati with the second-worst run differential in the National League and the fifth worst in all of baseball. The Reds rank last in both hits and batting average over the full season, showing a consistent lack of hitting ability.

Gusto is a low-to-mid-level streamer. The matchup is good, and Gusto has been fine, but his ceiling is a little lower than we might like.

Hayden Wesneski, Houston Astros vs. Seattle Mariners

Seattle is one of a few teams that we are currently looking to go after every day when we can. The Mariners have scored the fewest runs in the league and rank right near the top 10 in most batter strikeouts; there's not a much better place to start from when looking for streaming targets. Despite being in probably the worst division in baseball this season, Seattle is as cold as any team and in danger falling out of the playoff picture. Their hopes aren't dashed yet, but much longer like this, and they will be left without much of a chance come September (this current three-game series against division-leading Houston is huge).

Wesneski had Tommy John surgery last May and just returned a few weeks ago, making only three appearances so far. He has been fine, combining for 18 2/3 innings with 18 hits, eight runs, two home runs, six walks, and 12 strikeouts. Before the injury, Wesneski was good with walks and average with strikeouts with average or better work limiting hits, runs, and home runs in around 220 innings; there's hope for more from the 28-year-old. It's best to show some restraint after so much time off, but there's intrigue around Wesneski.

Wesneski is another low-to-mid-level streamer on a day full of them. I like his upside given his average strikeout work, but we must be realistic with his comeback after more than a year away recovering from injury. There is a nice ceiling given Seattle's struggles.

Saturday's Streamer Rankings

1. Joey Cantillo, CLE
2. Hayden Wesneski, HOU
3. Ryan Gusto, MIA
4. Randy Dobnak, KC