Two Startapalooza, Week 17: To Rodon Or To Rodon’t

Maybe I’m just feeling refreshed, rejuvenated, reinvigorated, re-whatever else you can find in your local thesaurus to express that not-so-not-fresh-feeling. Or maybe I’m just crazy. Either way, this feels like the best slate of two-start pitchers we’ve had all season. The elites of Tier 1 are plentiful, and Tier 2 isn’t far behind. Tier 3 has a bevy of solid options that could well be available to you, like the surging Tyler Anderson (bad matchups) and the soon-to-be-not-disabled Zach Eflin. The names in Tier 4 aren’t (and never are) super enticing, but therein lies a cavalcade of very good matchups. Tanner Roark has a start against the Marlins, and if he can’t put up a quality start there I’m going to start a petition to let me kick him in the nads for the damages he’s caused to my ERA and WHIP. Per usual you have to be pretty desperate to roll with any of the Tier 5 options, but they’re here for your perusal nevertheless.

• Ross Stripling (LAD) – Well here’s a name I never imagined I’d be placing in Tier 1. Yet it’s hard to argue with it given what he’s shown us. Over 80 innings as a starter he’s posted a 2.36 ERA/1.06 WHIP with a 10.24 K/9 and 0.90 BB/9 (!!!). He has even suffered a .318 BABIP despite a 30.3% hard contact rate and 14.7% pop-ups. Nobody could have seen this freight train coming, but Stripling has not only carried his success from the bullpen into starting, but he’s gotten even better. He is a pitch tunneling savant, whose command and ability to change eye levels is incredible. He’s even got some decent matchups this week, making him an all-formats start.

• Kenta Maeda (LAD) – Maeda got you a cute little 0.1 IP Win on Sunday, if you happened to still have him in your starting lineup on a non-start day. He came into the seventh inning and worked out of a bases loaded situation just to get some work in. That’s not bad for an off day; usually on my day off I just sit around in my robe puffing on my vintage gentleman’s pipe, adjusting my monocle, and shaking my head at various MLB managerial decisions. Tier 2 might seem a bit rich for Maeda, but the matchups are decent (same as Stripling’s), and he has a tasty 1.54 ERA over 11.2 July innings. He hasn’t just been lucky either, with a 0.90 FIP and a crazy 19:3 K:BB ratio. He should pile up plenty of K’s against the free swinging Phillies. Groovy, baby.

• Carlos Rodon (CHW) – This may be a little rich for Rodon, too. He has a 3.56 ERA/1.19 WHIP over seven starts, which is fine, but things aren’t all unicorns and naked little pixies under the hood. The walks are still too high at 3.56 BB/9, and the strikeouts are way down to just 7.33 K/9. He’s throwing his changeup more, which is a good thing in some ways, and it hasn’t been terrible, which is even better. It’s netting 65% ground balls with just a .150 BAA, but doesn’t get any whiffs. The real issue is that his slider isn’t getting whiffs either, and that’s supposed to be his bread-and-butter. While batters are hitting just .065 on the slider, it’s getting only 16% whiffs. He’s really only throwing it down and in to righties and low and away to lefties – super predictable. Perhaps he just doesn’t have the command to hit the outside of the zone to righties for strikes, but without that slider he isn’t going to be much fun to own the rest of the season.

• Jeremy Hellickson (WSH) – Helix has assuaged my trepidation a bit over his last two starts, going 11 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 9 K. He simply just isn’t going to pitch too deep into games, which limits his upside, but guess what? He’s got the Marlins this week, and if that doesn’t tickle your pickle in ways that can only otherwise be achieved with a feather duster and some mayonnaise, then buddy I don’t know what to tell ya.

• Drew Pomeranz (BOS) – The Pom Pom tossed 69 nice pitches in his final rehab start at Triple-A on Wednesday and appears good to go for a double dipper right off the DL. Unfortunately, it’s still Drew Pomeranz, and pitchers often have a pretty tight pitch count for their first start back off the DL. He was pretty terrible over his first eight starts (6.81 ERA/5.36 FIP) so this is a real “break glass in case of fantasy emergency” type of situation. Actually I prefer to think that he’s stuck in a giant cocoon and to utilize his services you have to grab an ax and cut through the giant web. There’s no broken glass in that scenario, so it’s much safer, you see. The matchups are there this week, but I’m not particularly optimistic regardless.

*All pitchers are scheduled for two starts as of Friday evening.

You can find Dokken on Twitter @NathanDokken.