You should be grinding the two-start pitchers to give you an advantage over your competition every week.
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 throughout the season.
- Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Assistant
- Fantasy Baseball Trade Tools
- Weekly Fantasy Baseball Content
- MLB Prop Bet Cheat Sheet
Fantasy Baseball Two-Start Pitchers: Week 17
Must Start
- Jose Berrios (SP – TOR) vs. TB, vs. TEX
- Erick Fedde (SP – CWS) at TEX, vs. SEA
- Tarik Skubal (SP – DET) at CLE, vs. MIN
- Garrett Crochet (SP, RP – CWS) at TEX, vs. SEA
- Bailey Ober (SP – MIN) vs. PHI, a DET
- Logan Gilbert (SP – SEA) vs. LAA, at CWS
- Chris Sale (SP – ATL) vs. CIN, at NYM
- Reynaldo Lopez (RP, SP – ATL) vs. CIN, at NYM
- Zack Wheeler (SP – PHI) at MIN, vs. CLE
- Hunter Greene (SP – CIN) at ATL, at TB
- Mitch Keller (SP – PIT) vs. STL, at ARI
- Logan Webb (SP – SF) at LAD, vs. COL
Should Start
Albert Suarez (RP, SP – BAL) at MIA, vs. SD
Albert Suarez has been great this season, throwing 70.1 innings with a 2.82 ERA and 55 strikeouts. However, he has struggled recently, allowing a 4.91 ERA over his last 25.2 innings of work. He has a great matchup to start the week, so he is worth using here, but there is some risk.
Tanner Houck (SP – BOS) at COL, vs. NYY
Tanner Houck has been fantastic in the first half, throwing 117 innings with a 2.54 ERA and 112 strikeouts. He struggled a bit before the break which is the reason he is not a must-start option, but the Rockies are a terrible offense and the Yankees were struggling before the break, so these are nice matchups.
Here We Go
Christian Scott (SP – NYM) at MIA, vs. ATL
Christian Scott is a really good pitching prospect who has been up and down in his first season in the Majors. He has a nice matchup with the Marlins and a tough one versus the Braves, but he is such a talented pitcher you should use him in most formats.
Mitchell Parker (SP – WAS) vs. SD, at STL
Mitchell Parker had been one of the big surprises in fantasy this year before getting beat up in two of his last three starts. He faces a good Padres offense and a Cardinals offense that has been better as of late, so this is a tough set of matchups with some risk.
Javier Assad (SP, RP – CHC) vs. MIL, at KC
Javier Assad has been great this season and probably deserves to be higher on this list. However, he is going up against two of the better lineups in baseball that are good at making a lot of contact, which is something Assad can struggle with. You probably aren’t sitting him here, but there is risk.
Carlos Rodon (SP – NYY) vs. TB, at BOS
Carlos Rodon was struggling before the break, especially with walks and home runs. The velocity and strikeouts were still there, but any time Rodon looks off it worries you because of his long injury history. The Rays are a nice matchup and you aren’t running away from the Red Sox, but it is hard to know what you will get from Rodon.
Zack Littell (SP, RP – TB) at NYY, vs. CIN
Zack Littell probably deserves to be higher on this list. However, he has two tough matchups versus a good Yankees team in New York and a Reds offense that has a lot of upside. He had a couple of bad starts in the month before the break. I think he is usable because the Yankees had been struggling before the break and the Reds aren’t as good offensively away from home.
Michael Lorenzen (SP – TEX) vs. CWS, at TOR
Michael Lorenzen has been great since joining the Rangers but struggled in two of his last three starts before the break against the Angels who aren’t very good and the Orioles who are. These are pretty good matchups but the risk is there with his walk rate and home run issues, but I would roll with him in a lot of leagues.
Feeling Lucky
Lance Lynn (SP – STL) at PIT, vs. WAS
Lance Lynn has been up and down all season, but he is getting a nice set of matchups versus a Washington offense and a Pittsburgh offense that are lackluster, at best. There is a risk because of his homer-prone ways, but both games are in pitcher’s parks. He is worth streaming if you can afford a potential blowup.
Robbie Ray (SP – SF) at LAD, vs. COL
I love Robbie Ray, but it is hard to know how the Giants will use him coming off of Tommy John surgery. He has looked good in AAA, but there is a lot of risk here.
Max Meyer (SP – MIA) vs. NYM, at MIL
I love Max Meyer as a talent, but the Marlins aren’t a team that gives him a lot of win potential and the matchups here aren’t great. Throw in the fact we don’t know how deep he will go into the games and he becomes more difficult to use outside of really deep leagues.
Desperate Measures
- Jordan Montgomery (SP – ARI) at KC, vs. PIT
- Spencer Howard (RP, SP – CLE) vs. DET, at PHI
- Carlos Carrasco (SP – CLE) vs. DET, at PHI
- Carson Fulmer (SP, RP – LAA) at SEA, vs. OAK
- Hogan Harris (SP, RP – OAK) vs. HOU, at LAA
- Kyle Freeland (SP – COL) vs. BOS, at SF
- Jack Kochanowicz (SP – LAA) at SEA, vs. OAK
- Randy Vasquez (RP, SP – SD) at WAS, at BAL
- Colin Rea (SP – MIL) at CHC, vs. MIA
- Jon Gray (SP – TEX) vs. CWs, at TOR
- Yonny Chirinos (RP, SP – MIA) vs. NYM, at MIL
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