Welcome to the biggest fantasy football draft weekend of the year!
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Wait. Damn. Wrong sport. Pitching! That’s right, we’re here to talk pitching. I’d like to address something real quick… every week I get questions about why a certain pitcher is included or (more commonly) not included herein. So I have a disclaimer that tells you the exact update of Rudy Gamble’s Streamonator tool that I sourced my list of the coming week’s two-start pitchers from.
This is in an effort to (1) signify that any news or changes or updates that came from MLB teams after that time couldn’t possibly be reflected in this column, and (2) to pass the buck for my research to Rudy. Sorry, Rudy.
Now that that’s out of the way, why don’t you and I dive right in?
Pitchers’ projected starts for the next week are sourced from Rudy Gamble’s Streamonator as of the update at 10:45am Eastern.
The bold pitchers below are the most extreme version of each section. The best of the Top Shelf, the safest of the Well, the worst of the Bar Mat.
The Top Shelf
| Pitcher | First Start | Second Start |
|---|---|---|
| Corbin Burnes, MIL | PIT(MO) | @ARI(SA) |
| Carlos Rodon, SF | SD(MO) | PHI(SU) |
| Max Fried, ATL | COL(TU) | MIA(SU) |
| Lucas Giolito, CHW | KC(TU) | MIN(SU) |
| Jose Berrios, TOR | CHC(MO) | @PIT(SU) |
| Frankie Montas, NYY | @LAA(MO) | @TB(SU) |
| Miles Mikolas, STL | @CIN(MO) | CHC(SU) |
| George Kirby, SEA | @DET(TU) | @CLE(SU) |
Notes
- Frankie Montas never would have made it to the Top Shelf on a double-road-start-week with the A’s offense backing him up.
- George Kirby is good, leading Mariners starters in almost every meaningful category this season, and the 2nd-place Mariners have taken 2 of 3 from Cleveland so far this year, and the Tigers… well, they’re the Tigers.
The Well
| Pitcher | First Start | Second Start |
|---|---|---|
| Zac Gallen, ARI | PHI(MO) | MIL(SA) |
| Andrew Heaney, LAD | @NYM(TU) | SD(SU) |
| Taijuan Walker, NYM | LAD(TU) | WSH(SU) |
| Tony Gonsolin, LAD | @MIA(MO) | SD(SA) |
| Pablo Lopez, MIA | LAD(MO) | @ATL(SU) |
| Ranger Suarez, PHI | @ARI(MO) | @SF(SU) |
| JT Brubaker, PIT | @MIL(MO) | TOR(SU) |
| Cole Irvin, OAK | @WSH(TU) | @BAL(SU) |
| Brayan Bello, BOS | @MIN(MO) | TEX(SA) |
| Cal Quantrill, CLE | BAL(TU) | SEA(SU) |
| Matt Manning, DET | SEA(TU) | KC(SU) |
Notes
- Lots of good choices in this group. The Well may not be the Top Shelf, but these are still all recommended starts.
- Even as a jaded A’s fan who is begging for the mercy of the offseason, I have to suggest you run Cole Irvin out there this week, as the matchups (even on the road) are pretty favorable. Washington’s the only team in baseball with a worse record than Oakland this season, and the A’s have managed a 4-1 record against the O’s so far.
The Bar Mat
| Pitcher | First Start | Second Start |
|---|---|---|
| Mike Clevinger, SD | @SF(MO) | @LAD(SU) |
| Madison Bumgarner, ARI | PHI(TU) | MIL(SU) |
| Kutter Crawford, BOS | @MIN(TU) | TEX(SU) |
| Adrian Houser, MIL | PIT(TU) | @ARI(SU) |
| Dylan Bundy, MIN | BOS(MO) | @CHW(SU) |
| Dane Dunning, TEX | HOU(TU) | @BOS(SU) |
| Spenser Watkins, BAL | @CLE(TU) | OAK(SU) |
| Jose Urena, COL | @ATL(TU) | @CIN(SU) |
| Chase Anderson, CIN | STL(MO) | COL(SU) |
| Javier Assad, CHC | @TOR(MO) | @STL(SU) |
Notes
- One of my favorite things is to count the number of former truly top-tier fantasy starters who end up down in the Bar Mat. The top two there this week certainly count.
