Roster Management: June 15 - 21
A look at the best matchups for the upcoming fantasy week
I am back home, and that’s a great feeling. Back on my own couch in a quiet room with an Elijah Craig. Big thanks to John, Tim, and Trevor for keeping the content going while I was less on my game away from home.
There are few things better to me than being able to sit down by myself with only one task at hand. So I’m back to that.
Check out the latest from John Allen! Taking a look at favorable parks that some hitters will be visiting:
Two Start Streamers
I’ve personally been getting crushed at SP in my home league. It’s the time of year where pretty much everybody is riding the waiver wire for starting pitchers. So I might start up a more regular look at starting pitchers to stream.
But if you’re just playing the volume game, here are some picks for two-start pitchers to stream next week:
Christian Scott (CIN & PHI)
Dustin May (vs. SD & KC)
Walbert Urena (ARI & ATH)
I like Christian Scott a good bit. I think he should be more owned than he is. I don’t love the spot against the Phillies lineup given that he’s a righty, but the Reds matchup is really nice now with Elly still on the IL.
And how can you argue with what Dustin May has done? I suppose these guys are all owned in sharp leagues.
Here are the more desperate options:
Troy Melton (HOU & CWS)
Lucas Giolito (STL & TEX)
Jack Perkins (PIT & LAA)
Troy Melton has ten strikeouts and two walks in his last two starts, so he’s recapturing some of that strikeout ability he flashed a couple of years ago in a short time in the Majors. He gave up four homers last start, and that tracks with his fly ball heavy ways. I mean… four homers doesn’t track. That’s a lot, but you get what I’m saying.
Lucas Giolito has only thrown four innings in each of his last two starts and has an ugly 8:6 K:BB, so that seems like a major danger area. But we can somewhat believe that he’ll get better as he gets more into the swing of things, and that’s not a bad schedule for a two-start week.
Jack Perkins is more of the same. Four innings in each of the last two with a 10:5 K:BB and three homers allowed. I don’t think he’s good, but the Pirates and the Angels are good matchups, although they’re both back in Sacramento…
So these are all like points league recommendations where you’re just hunting for positive points two times.
NAME TO WATCH FOR: HAGEN SMITH
There have been rumblings about Smith getting the call-up for the White Sox. It was maybe going to happen Saturday against the Dodgers, but the South Siders mercifully spared him of that rough debut matchup. It could happen very soon. His last start was last weekend, so he’s gotta pitch somewhere very soon. And it could very well be Tuesday against the Yankees and then again Sunday against the Tigers.
The story with Smith is a high strikeout rate with a good ground ball rate that negates homers. But he’s had trouble with the walk in the minors. Some will forgive him from that. I’ve seen some White Sox guys on X talking about mechanical adjustments. I’m always pretty skeptical of that.
But the general rule here is that the AAA strikeout rate is more important than the walk rate. For some reason I can’t quite explain, there are quite a few examples of guys with bloated walk rates in those two AAA leagues who come up and do just fine in the Majors. I wouldn’t put much trust in the guy, but his K-BB% is pristine and the stuff is very good. He’s struck out 35% of hitters this year with 18 in his last nine innings.