Fantasy Baseball Friday Streaming Pitchers: Jones, Drohan, and More

We have a track record in this column of being bad luck when talking about a team in the opening, and the White Sox were the latest to suffer that fate. After talking about how Chicago was maybe the biggest surprise of the season, they went on to lose three out of four games to the Astros this week, seeing their lead in the division fall to just three games over Cleveland and six over Minnesota.

The White Sox are still the favorite to make the postseason based on percentages, and they could even snag a wild card, but Chicago's outlook is much worse now than it was coming out of the weekend.

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 pitchers. The full streamer rankings are listed at the bottom.

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Ryan Johnson, Los Angeles Angels @ Pittsburgh Pirates

Jared Jones, Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Los Angeles Angels

We'll start today with a game in which we can target both teams with streaming pitchers. The Angels are one of our favorite targets, ranking in the bottom five in many offensive box stats and continuing their woeful ways recently. Over the past 30 days, LA has been one of the worst offensive teams in baseball, lacking in every area; we can probably expect that the rest of the season as well. Speaking of the last month, that's what puts Pittsburgh here, as they are a bottom-10 team in every area during that timeframe. Their numbers over the full season are much better, but we're going on recent trends for this one.

Both these teams also rank among the top three in most batter strikeouts, something that has been true much of the season. That sets a big ceiling for opposing pitchers when the team also isn't doing any damage when they make contact.

Johnson's season-long numbers aren't pretty, showing a pitcher who gives up too many runs, home runs, and walks while holding a well-below-average strikeout rate. He has been at his best by far over the past month, though: in five August starts, Johnson combined for 26 1/3 innings with 14 hits and five runs allowed, though he is still struggling with walks and strikeouts (16 BBs and 15 Ks). Those control issues bring real concerns, but Johnson has been able to work out of trouble recently; that still leaves a bit of a low floor.

Jones has been inconsistent after missing more than a year recovering from elbow surgery (he had an alternative to Tommy John surgery but missed about the same amount of time). He has a big ceiling, holding an attractive strikeout rate and better-than-average walk rate, but Jones has been hit a little hard recently and been limited to short starts, reaching five innings just once in five August starts. He was much better in July, but it wouldn't be a surprise if Jones was feeling a little fatigue after such a long layoff; Pittsburgh pushed back this start a few days to give him some extra rest.

Johnson is a low-level streamer and Jones a mid-level streamer. Though he has been better recently, Johnson's underlying numbers are still problematic, and he has the worse matchup between these pitchers. Jones is the better pitcher and has the better matchup, and though he has struggled a bit recently, that came against tougher teams like the Dodgers, Red Sox, and Brewers. There's a much better outlook in this one.

Logan Allen, Cleveland Guardians vs. Detroit Tigers

After making at least 20 starts for Cleveland each of the past three years, Allen has spent most of this season in the minor leagues. His six appearances for the big-league team include just one start, and every outing has been out of the bullpen since he came back up on August 16. Allen has generally been very average in the majors, good enough to consider in fantasy when the matchup was right but never with a high ceiling. He does fine with walks but has been a below-average strikeout pitcher; he was better than the middle with Ks in the minors, bringing hope he could improve there, but it didn't happen over the past three years.

The Tigers had better stretches during the season, but they are currently on a downswing again, enough that it has dropped most of their numbers to the bottom 10. They are another team that has struggled hard over the past month, ranking in the bottom five (or very close to it) in runs, hits, home runs, walks, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS. They have fallen to the very edges of the playoff race, just 5.5 back in the wild card but needing to jump six teams to get a playoff spot; this season is likely over for Detroit.

Allen is a low-to-mid-level streamer. He hasn't been bad for the most part in the big leagues, but he also hasn't been overly successful, leaving a low fantasy ceiling along with the chance string together some decent innings.

Shane Drohan, Milwaukee Brewers @ Cincinnati Reds

Rinse and repeat with the description of the Reds: Cincinnati hits home runs but generally doesn't do much else at even an average rate. They are good at drawing walks, but the Reds are also the third team along with the Pirates and the Angels who are fighting for the most strikeouts in the league, leaving a nice ceiling for opposing pitchers. Cincinnati came into the season with decent hopes of competing for a playoff spot, but after a lucky start to the year, they have fallen off hard and are now essentially out of the race for the postseason.

Drohan was listed here as a streamer before his last start against the Rangers, and he had a good outing, throwing five innings with just one run and one walk allowed to go with six strikeouts. He has been good in his rookie season, doing average or a little better with walks, strikeouts, and limiting hits, runs, and home runs. While there's always risk in trusting a young pitcher, Drohan has done enough to show that he can be counted on in fantasy when the matchup is right.

Drohan is a low-to-mid-level streamer. You could argue that he deserves to be a half-notch higher with a high-ceiling matchup, but I'll show just a little restraint with a guy who has had a few ups and downs along the way.

Friday's Streamer Rankings

1. Jared Jones, PIT
2. Shane Drohan, MIL
3. Logan Allen, CLE
4. Ryan Johnson, LAA