All the stud pitchers.
Week 4 features a handful of elite two-start pitchers. Guys like Jose Fernandez, Yu Darvish, Adam Wainwright and both Phillies’ aces draw two starts this week, exciting fantasy owners everywhere. However, what if you aren’t fortunate enough to own one of these top tier arms? You better leave your league, I guess, because you are screwed.
Kidding, of course.
If you aren’t streaming pitchers in fantasy baseball, you simply are not doing it right. But fear not, degenerates, for I possess some available arms in your league that can catapult you to a big week.
Wily Peralta, Milwaukee Brewers (vs SD, vs CHC) - Peralta is off to a very nice start for the Brewers, sporting a 2-0 record with a 1.96 ERA and 13 strikeouts in three starts. The 24-year old right-hander is adding an effective slider to his arsenal, throwing it about 27 percent of the time thus far. It’s really helped keep batters on their toes, and Peralta could get even better in the coming weeks. He is currently sporting a HR/9 of 1.47, by far the highest of his career, and he’s basically giving up a home run every fifth fly ball, as Garion Thorne pointed out. This guy is more of a ground ball pitcher, posting a 61.8 GB percentage this year. These home run numbers are going to regress in a big way, especially this week against the Cubs and Padres, two teams that rank 29th and 26th in home runs per game, to go along with 28th and 30th in runs per game. Both games are at home, and with the way the Brewers are swinging the bat, Peralta could be in line for two wins. Oddly enough, he’s still available in over 70 percent of Yahoo! leagues.
Tyler Lyons, St. Louis Cardinals (@NYM, vs PIT) - Lyons certainly isn’t an exciting arm, but opportunity tends to beat out a ton of other aspects in fantasy. After Joe Kelly hurt his hamstring trying to beat out a hit, an opportunity presented itself for Lyons to play a bigger role in the rotation. We all know how the Cardinals tend to just generate productive pitchers year in and year out, so Lyons could be someone to monitor down the road. For this week, however, he is definitely worth watching, as he draws two starts against two slumping offenses. Mets opponents rank first in strikeouts per nine (9.64), 5th in opponent hits per nine (7.65) and 4th in opponent outs pitched per game (28). The Pirates, on the other hand, haven’t been lighting it up to start the year, averaging the fourth-fewest hits and notching the 10th-most strikeouts this year.
Zach McAllister, Cleveland Indians (vs KC, @SF) - While Danny Salazar gets all the hype because he can strike people out, it’s been McAllister that has been the better pitcher, recording wins in two of three starts and sporting an ERA 0f 2.04. The guy has been keeping the ball in the park, failing to surrender a home run through three outings. And it’s not odd, either, as he doesn’t leave the ball over the heart of the plate, which is probably why his career HR/9 is 1.01. That bodes well for a matchup with the home run deficient Royals, who have launched just five homers on the year, the fewest in baseball. He’s throwing the ball well, showing movement on his four-seam fastball, and could keep it going in Week 4.
Others to consider: Tanner Roark, Mike Leake, Scott Feldman.
Adam Pfeifer is a featured fantasy sports columnist for Rant Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @aPfeiferRS.
Related: Fantasy Baseball Week 4 Starts/Sits
