Justin Mason | Sun, Jun 2nd 2024, 8:40am EDT

Fantasy Baseball Two-Start Pitchers: Rankings & Waiver Pickups (Week 11)

You should be grinding two-start pitchers to give you an advantage over your competition during the season.

Each week, I will give you a breakdown of the two-start options for your fantasy leagues broken up into the following tiers:

Must Start: Pitchers you have to start because of their talent/matchups.
Should Start: Pitchers rostered in most formats and who should probably be in your lineup.
Here We Go: Pitchers you are probably starting in most formats but who come with some level of risk.
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 choice.

These projected two-start pitchers are subject to change and will with the season just beginning. For whatever it’s worth, I’m a little more conservative earlier in the season as I don’t love getting my ratios trashed early on.

Fantasy Baseball Two-Start Pitchers: Week 11

Must Start

Max Fried (SP – ATL) at BOS, at WAS
Grayson Rodriguez (SP – BAL) at TOR, vs. TB
Corbin Burnes (SP – BAL) at TOR, vs. TB
Kutter Crawford (RP, SP – BOS) vs. ATL, at CHS
Tarik Skubal (SP – DET) at TEX, vs. MIL
Justin Verlander (SP – HOU) vs. STL, at LAA
Luis Gil (SP – NYY) vs. MIN, vs. LAD
MacKenzie Gore (SP – WAS) vs. NYM, vs. ATL
Jared Jones (SP – PIT) vs. LAD, vs. MIN
George Kirby (SP – SEA) at OAK, at KC
Kevin Gausman (SP – TOR) vs. BAL, at OAK
Nathan Eovaldi (SP – TEX) vs. DET, at SF
Yu Darvish (SP – SD) at LAA, vs. ARI

Should Start

Bailey Ober (SP – MIN) at NYY, at PIT

Bailey Ober’s overall line doesn’t look great, but the majority of damage done against him was in his first start of the season and his most recent start; both of which were against the Royals. In his other nine starts, he has thrown 50.2 innings with a 3.02 ERA, recording five wins and 53 strikeouts. He should be started in virtually all formats.

Seth Lugo (SP – KC) at CLE, vs. SEA

Seth Lugo has been unreal this season, throwing 78.1 innings with a 1.72 ERA. He has nine wins and 66 strikeouts. He is due for regression at some point as he allows a ton of contact, but until that regression hits, you should start him.

Trevor Williams (SP – WAS) vs. NYM, vs. ATL

Trevor Williams has also been great and due for regression, but he also has five wins this year and a 2.22 ERA. The matchups aren’t too bad with the Mets struggling mightily and the Braves missing Ronald Acuna, so I will continue to roll him out there and hope for the best.

Here We Go

Tyler Anderson (SP – LAA) vs. SD, vs. HOU

Tyler Anderson is another pitcher due for regression, and this might be the week. The Astros and Padres are excellent offenses, but the Padres at least struggle versus left-handed pitching, so while this one is risky, he is probably worth the risk in deeper leagues.

Alek Manoah (SP – TOR) vs. BAL, at OAK

I don’t know if Alek Manoah will be active this week as he left his last start with elbow issues, so he may hit the injured list (IL). If he doesn’t he is a risky bet versus one of the best offenses in baseball in the Orioles. The A’s are a nice matchup that may be worth risking the first part of the two-step.

Matt Waldron (SP – SD) at LAA, vs. ARI

Matt Waldron has been awesome recently, throwing 23 innings over his last four starts with a 1.96 ERA and 31 strikeouts. He has done a good job mixing pitches and keeping hitters off balance. He has two decent matchups versus a bad Angels team and a mediocre Diamondbacks offense.

Feeling Lucky

Triston McKenzie (SP – CLE) vs. KC, at MIA

Triston McKenzie has been up and down this season, but he has also been lucky with a .231 batting average on balls in play (BABIP). He has struggled recently with six home runs and 10 walks allowed over his last three starts. He has a great matchup at the end of the week but a terrible one at the beginning.

Kyle Gibson (SP – STL) at HOU, vs. COL

Kyle Gibson has pitched pretty well this year, posting a 3.60 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP with 52 strikeouts in 65 innings. He has a nice matchup versus a Rockies team leaving Coors Fields, which is always a matchup you want to attack. However, he has a tough matchup versus a great Astros team that has the fourth-best OPS versus right-handed pitching this season.

Andrew Abbott (SP – CIN) at COL, vs. CHC

Andrew Abbott finally experienced the regression in his last start that has been a long time coming. His overall line still looks pretty good, but he has a matchup in Colorado, which is always risky. Then he has a tough matchup at home versus a good Cubs offense. I think a lot more people will play him than they should.

Desperate Measures

Ryan Feltner (SP – COL) vs. CIN, at STL
Ty Blach (RP, SP – COL) vs. CIN, at STL
Ryne Nelson (SP – ARI) vs. SF, at SD
Slade Cecconi (SP – ARI) vs. SF, at SD
Frankie Montas (SP, RP – CIN) at COL, vs. CHC
Jake Woodford (RP, SP – CWS) at CHC, vs. BOS
Joey Estes (SP – OAK) vs. SEA, vs. TOR
Keaton Winn (SP – SF) at ARI, at TEX

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