For the past five-plus years, I’ve contributed The Week Ahead and Impact Report at Rotoworld. Those articles included a look at two-start pitchers, streamers, waiver pickups, and injuries. Many readers planned their week and FAAB deadlines around those articles, so my plan is to contribute something similar weekly throughout the 2023 season in this space.

If there’s something else you’d like to see, please let me know in the comments section.

 

Two Start Pitchers

American League

Strong Plays

Shane McClanahan: PIT, NYY

Joe Ryan: @CHW, @CLE

Logan Gilbert: @OAK, HOU

Yusei Kikuchi: @BOS, @PIT

Jose Berrios: @BOS, @PIT

 

Decent Plays

Luis Garcia: SF, @SEA

Jon Gray: ARI, @LAA

Tyler Wells: @KC, @ATL

Tanner Houck: TOR, @PHI

Corey Kluber: TOR, @PHI

Domingo German: CLE, @TB

Zack Greinke: BAL, OAK

 

At Your Own Risk

Michael Kopech: MIN, @CIN

Michael Lorenzen: NYM, @STL

 

National League

Strong Plays

Zac Gallen: @TEX, WAS

Max Scherzer: @DET, COL

Sandy Alcantara: ATL, @CHC

Drew Smyly: @WAS, MIA

 

Decent Plays

Charlie Morton: @NYM, BAL

Hayden Wesneski: @WAS, MIA

MacKenzie Gore: ChC, @ARI

Roansy Contreras: @TB, TOR

Blake Snell: CIN, LAD

Steven Matz: LAA, DET

Ross Stripling: @HOU, MIL

 

At Your Own Risk

Taijuan Walker: @LAD, BOS

Eric Lauer: @COL, @SF

Luke Weaver: @SD, CHW

Ryan Feltner: MIL, @NYM

 

Streamers

These are pitchers I’m considering as single-start streamers this week in a 12-15 team mixed league that are available in at least 50% of leagues.

American League

Ryan Yarbrough: OAK (5/6)

Ken Waldichuk: @KC (5/7)

 

National League

Michael Wacha: CIN (5/2)

Ryne Nelson: WAS (5/6)

Joey Lucchesi: COL (5/6)

 

Player Notes

• This is a big week for pitching pickups with arms like Bailey Ober and Tanner Bibee earning rotation spots, while Dodgers top prospect Gavin Stone is also set to make his debut on Wednesday. As mentioned last week, I strongly believe Ober and Bibee are more worthy of big bids than Mason Miller was last week due to a higher innings cap and more competitive teams. Bibee was my favorite pitching prospect in all of baseball coming into the year (as evidenced by my 70%+ ownership share in NFBC Draft Champions leagues), as much for his great stuff as for his polish. Simply put, you won’t find many minor league pitchers with a career K/BB ratio above 5.00, and that ratio was actually above 6.00 last season. Bibee has also been relatively durable, including 132.2 innings last season, so he should have some leeway to pitch major innings with Cleveland this year. Even when Triston McKenzie returns, the Guardians should be able to make room for Bibee in the starting rotation with the way Zach Plesac has struggled. Bibee is the closest thing you will find to a Spencer Strider addition in 2023, and I’d be aggressive in FAAB bidding.
• Ober can be a good fallback option with Kenta Maeda going down with more arm issues. The reported Spring velocity increase hasn’t held early in his MLB numbers, but Ober has been excellent in two starts, nonetheless. I’m a big Ober fan because of his elite control, with a career BB/9 below 2.0, and he also proved last season that he could keep the ball in the park. It’s often difficult for tall pitchers like Ober to show consistency due to mechanical issues, but Ober hasn’t shown any issues in his career.
• Another fallback option with long-term upside is Dane Dunning, who is the assumed replacement for Jacob deGrom in the Rangers rotation. Those fantasy managers who bought into the Dunning Experience last season will likely shy away, but it should be noted that he pitched hurt with a hip injury that was surgically repaired in the offseason. The previous two seasons showed breakout potential with a sub-4.00 FIP in his first two MLB seasons and well above average groundball rates. Dunning hasn’t been missing bats early this season as a reliever, throwing his cutter more often, though that’s also over a small sample size of innings. Dunning might not earn a start in the coming week with Texas looking at two off-days, but I like the potential as a stash.
• There’s some hype over the promotion of Rockies outfielder Brenton Doyle. While Doyle is athletically gifted and strong defensively, I find the hype to be puzzling. Doyle was barely on the prospect radar before this season in large park to his high strikeout rate, including 171 strikeouts in 548 plate appearances last season. He was also a 20/20 man during that time, but Doyle has shown very poor on-base ability. He did hit .306 in 12 games at Triple-A prior to the call-up this year, but Doyle is already 25 and the longer track record shows that performance to be a fluke. He has a path to playing time, though it should be remembered how hesitant Bud Black and the Rockies organization are to give young players opportunities over the years (Elehuris Montero, cough, cough).
• The Cardinals are riding the hot hand in their lineup with Paul DeJong becoming a regular since his promotion to the majors. Before getting ahead of ourselves, remember that DeJong is a historically streaky hitter. We only need to look to his promotion in late July of last year for proof. DeJong hit .333-4-13 in his first 10 games. He hit .120-1-5 the rest of the way (43 games). If you’re rostering Tommy Edman and worried, I wouldn’t be too scared.