Sunday Fantasy Baseball SP Streamers: Quantrill, Bratt, and More

The final day of the MLB regular season is five weeks from today. Every team has around 30 games left to play, signaling the final stretch after a long, arduous season. We've seen plenty of twists and turns among teams and players throughout the past five months, but none of it will matter if those in question falter the rest of the way.

All but two divisions are within five games, and both Wild Card races have at least six teams within five games of a playoff spot (including the three teams currently in postseason position). We are set up for an exciting finish, though plenty can still change over the next month-plus.

Moving to fantasy baseball, let's look at four starting pitchers in action on Sunday 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 vs. Cincinnati Reds

Bratt is in his first big-league season, having made eight starts for the Dbacks this season. He has been very average in terms of allowing hits, runs, and home runs, but Bratt has both a walk rate and strikeout rate far worse than average. Now, it has been a terribly small sample (35 2/3 innings), and Bratt was much better in both areas in the minors, so things will likely get better. If he can improve on those rates and continue limiting hitters, Bratt will be a much more popular fantasy player; he's a bit of a risky player right now, though.

Cincinnati continues as one of the worst offensive teams in the league, hitting home runs but failing in pretty much every other area (they do draw walks at a decent rate). They rank in the bottom 10 in all other box stats, and those same trends have held over the past 30 days, showing the Reds as a team that has been consistently bad. Throw in the fact that Cincinnati strikes out as much as any other team, and there aren't many groups we would rather target with fantasy pitchers than the Reds.

Bratt is a low-to-mid-level streamer. It's hard to know what to expect of him at the highest level, but I'm encouraged by his minor-league numbers, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt given his small sample. The matchup is right, but we also need to see Bratt succeed before expecting too much.

Yusei Kikuchi, Los Angeles Angels @ Texas Rangers

Cal Quantrill, Texas Rangers vs. Los Angeles Angels

We'll go with a game here in which we can target both teams with streaming pitchers, as the Rangers and Angels have been maybe the worst two offensive teams over the past month. Both teams are in the bottom 10 (or very close to it) in all 10 box stats that I like to use over that recent timeframe (those stats are runs, hits, doubles, home runs, walks, strikeouts, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS). The season-long numbers are bad for LA and below average for the Rangers, so there doesn't seem to be much risk in going after them right now.

Kikuchi has been on the IL since the end of April with a shoulder injury, but he is scheduled to make his return here against the Rangers. In his career, Kikuchi has been a very average pitcher, reaching a little higher than that level with strikeouts but generally settling in somewhere in the middle overall. He was struggling before he went on the IL, but that was a long time ago; we have to be more worried about Kikuchi returning after such a long layoff. It's likely that he will make a short start, and we don't know what to expect after close to four months away.

Quantrill has made nine starts and 17 relief appearances this season, doing very well limiting hits, walks, runs, and home runs along the way. He has always been a below-average strikeout pitcher, so he has a lower fantasy ceiling than we'd like, especially working as a starter. Quantrill has been very good in August, giving up 12 hits and four runs (two earned) in 19 innings, so you might be getting him at his best, and he has shown enough to trust him for at least a decent outing.

Kikuchi and Quantrill are both low-to-mid-level streamers today. The matchups couldn't be much better based on recent results, but Quantrill's lack of strikeouts limits his ceiling, and Kikuchi has a ton of uncertainty in his return. This game does take place in Texas at one of the best pitcher's parks in baseball, giving the pitchers an extra little boost.

Tomoyuki Sugano, Colorado Rockies vs. Cleveland Guardians

Sugano came to the majors for the first time last season at 35 years old after a long career in Japan, and he has been fine in that time, a little below average but still functional. He is very good with walks, but Sugano has a painfully low strikeout rate, sitting at 13.9% this year and 14.9% in his short career (versus league average around 22%). That keeps his fantasy ceiling way down, so it's tough for me to ever really suggest Sugano, though he's worth considering if you're in a super-deep league.

Cleveland has poor offensive numbers over the full season, but they went through a stretch where they looked closer to average recently. Well, those good times are over, and the Guardians are back to hitting like a bottom-10 team as they struggle to reach the top of a poor division. They don't strike out much, so they don't offer the highest ceiling, but Cleveland does everything else at a poor enough level to set a nice floor for opposing pitchers.

Sugano is a low-level streamer. The matchup is right, but his minimal strikeout work really brings him down. Throw in the fact that this game takes place in the hitter's haven of Coors Field, and it's enough to stay away from Sugano on Sunday.

Sunday's Streamer Rankings

1. Cal Quantrill, TEX
2. Mitch Bratt, ARI
3. Yusei Kikuchi, LAA
4. Tomoyuki Sugano, COL