Now that the season has really gotten going, it is time to start grinding the two-start pitchers to give you an advantage over your competition.
Each week, I will be giving you a breakdown of the two-start options for your fantasy leagues broken up into the following tiers:
- Must Start: The guys that you have to start because of their talent and/or matchups.
- Should Start: These are the guys that are rostered in most formats and probably should be in your lineup.
- Here We Go: Pitchers that you are probably starting in most formats but have some level of risk to them.
- Feeling Lucky: Pitchers available in less than 25% of leagues that are risky, but viable in deeper formats.
- Desperate Measures: Pitchers you shouldn’t use unless you have no other choice.
Two-Start Starting Pitcher Rankings & Tiers
These are projected two-start pitchers and are subject to change.
Must Start
Should Start
Drew Smyly (vs NYM, vs CIN)
Smyly has been fantastic this season, throwing 50.1 innings with a 2.86 ERA, a .93 WHIP, with 46 strikeouts. Smyly is rarely bad when he pitches, but he struggles to stay healthy. That is a problem for down the road and he should be started in most formats.
Dane Dunning (at PIT, at BAL)
Dunning has quietly been really good, throwing 37.1 innings and a .88 WHIP this season. He doesn’t strike out many batters, but the ratios are great and there is a lot of runs support for wins in Texas.
Eduardo Rodriguez (at KC, vs CWS)
E-Rod has pitched amazingly this season, throwing 56.2 innings with a 2.06 ERA, .86 WHIP, and 52 strikeouts. He had his first bad start of the season and even that wasn’t too bad. He has decent matchups here and should be started in every format.
Jordan Montgomery (at CIN, at CLE)
Montgomery has struggled a bit as of late, but he typically is a very reliable starter with a great defense behind him and an offense that is finally starting to come to life. He has great matchups versus two teams that are bad versus lefties.
Here We Go
Matt Strahm (vs ARI, at ATL)
Strahm is back in the rotation after the demotion of Bailey Falter. Strahm has been great throwing 32 innings with a 2.81 ERA, a .97 WHIP, with 45 strikeouts. He may not go deep into games which limits his upside, but he offers strikeouts and nice ratios.
Bailey Ober (vs SF, vs TOR)
Ober has been great since joining the Twins rotation , throwing 30.1 innings with a 1.78 ERA, .96 WHIP and 28 strikeouts. While the numbers are great, but I worry about the massive flyball rate which will come back to haunt him at some point. The Giants may not seem scary, but they have been good against right handed pitching this season and the Blue Jays are stacked. Maybe he gets by again, but there is a risk here that could blow up in your face.
MacKenzie Gore (vs SD, at KC)
I am surprised that Gore hasn’t gotten more love this season. He has a 3.69 ERA and 58 strikeouts in 46.1 innings. However, it has come with a 1.45 WHIP because the walk rate is so high. The walk rate means the outings come with risk, he has been so good it is hard not to start him against mediocre offenses versus lefties.
Kyle Bradish (at NYY, vs TEX)
Bradish has been up and down this season, but most recently he has been great throwing two straight outings with a total of 12.1 innings pitched with only one earned run allowed and 11 strikeouts. He has a tough set of matchups, but it is hard not to use him with how well he has pitched recently.
Feeling Lucky
Kodai Senga (at CHC, at COL)
Senga has been hit or miss this season because of the really high walk rate. I worry that him having to pitch in Coors is a bad spot for him, so I am probably avoiding this one unless I don’t have other options.
Eury Perez (at COL, at LAA)
Perez has been great since his call up, but this is a really tough two-step with one in Coors and another against a loaded offense in the Angels. It is really hard for you to use him here outside of deep leagues with the risk associated and the fact he looks like he might be a bit homer prone.
Taj Bradley (vs TOR, vs LAD)
Bradley has returned to the Majors after the Rays lost Drew Rasmussen for the season. While he struggled in his first inning of his first start back, after that he was great. He has a really tough two step here, so it is a gamble to want to use him here especially after struggling in AAA. I think I will pass here.
Mike Clevinger (at CLE, at DET)
Clevinger has pitched better as of late, but he has been pretty mediocre at best this season. He has great matchups here versus the two worst teams in baseball versus right handed pitching, so it is hard not to want to stream this one, but there is risk considering his walk and homer problems.
Michael Lorenzen (at KC, vs CWS)
Lorenzen has quietly pitched really well lately, throwing three straight quality starts. The skills aren’t very good so I wouldn’t expect him to keep it up long term, but this isn’t a tough two-step, so it isn’t a bad time to take a chance in spite of the risk.
Brady Singer (vs DET, vs WAS)
Singer has been awful this season, getting beat by the long ball and poor command. However, he has been much better in his last two starts though part of that was a couple of unearned runs not hurting him. He gets a really nice two start week, so in spite of the struggles this season, he is a pretty tempting two-step.
Desperate Measure
- Edward Cabrera (at COL, at LAA)
- Josh Fleming (vs TOR, vs LAD)
- Tommy Henry (at PHI, vs BOS)
- Chase Anderson (vs MIA, vs NYM)
- Austin Gomber (vs MIA, vs NYM)
- Dylan Dodd (vs LAD, vs PHI)
- Drew Rucinski (at SEA, vs HOU)
- Colin Rea (vs HOU, vs SF)
- Graham Ashcraft (vs STL, at CHC)
- Peyton Battenfield (vs CWS, vs STL)
- Brandon Williamson (vs STL, at CHC)
- Gavin Stone (at ATL, at TB)
- Luis Medina (at SEA, HOU)
- Taijuan Walker (STL, at CHC)
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