Matt Bishop | April 29th, 2019
Here are your two-start pitchers for this week. While it’s never a given that both starts will go down due to weather or a change in rotation plans, these are pitchers that are slated to do some extra work this week.
STREAMER OF THE WEEK (20% Owned CBS, 46% ESPN, 26% Yahoo)
John Means, SP BAL (4/29 @CHW, 5/05 TB)
(3-2) 1.74 ERA 1.11 WHIP 10.02 K/9 2.61 BB/9
A lone bright spot in the Orioles rotation, John Means has earned his place to remain in the rotation after pitching to an impressive 1.74 ERA in 20.2 innings. While his peripherals may indicate that he is getting a bit lucky (1.74 ERA 3.33 FIP 4.18 xFIP), his profile shows budding potential.
He currently carries a 10.02 K/9 with an impressive 2.61 BB/9. He is limiting hard contact to the tune of a ridiculous 16.4%, which is the BEST AND LOWEST MARK IN BASEBALL (20.0 IP minimum). He is also carrying a 68.2% contact rate (7th BEST IN MLB) with a 15.3% swinging strike rate (6th BEST IN MLB). He is clearly in some elite company:
Means is a 4-pitch pitcher:
Fastball (53.5%) Slider (5.8%) Curveball (6.5%) Changeup (34.3%)
His changeup is currently his best and strongest pitch, which is yielding a 3.9 pVAL and opposing batters are only hitting .132 against it. It has also produced a 26.3% swinging strike rate, with a 40.2% zone rate and a 43.9% chase rate. That is a money pitch and that is elite. Obviously, it’s hard to expect wins from a struggling Orioles team and a tough matchup against Blake Snell at home on Sunday 5/05, but Means has the stuff to offer a high floor in a two-start week and the underlying skills to be a solid starter rest of season.
WEEK 4 STREAMER RESULTS:
Spencer Turnbull, SP DET
Game 1: 5.0 IP 3 H 4 BB 0 ER 2 K (WIN)
Game 2: No Start (Skipped)*
*This is why streaming is so tricky and dangerous.
MUST START
Justin Verlander (@MIN, @LAA)
Trevor Bauer (@MIA, SEA)
Blake Snell (@KCR, @BAL)
Zack Wheeler (CIN, @MIL)
Patrick Corbin (STL, @PHI)
Luis Castillo (@NYM, SFG)
SAFE START
Chris Paddack (@ATL, LAD)
Kenta Maeda (@SFG, @SDP)
German Marquez (@MIL, ARI)
Eduardo Rodriguez (OAK, @CHW)
Mike Soroka (SDP, @MIA)
Julio Teheran (SDP, @MIA)
Kyle Freeland (@MIL, ARI)
RISKY START
Jake Junis (TBR, @DET)
Jake Odorizzi (HOU, @NYY)
Frankie Montas (@BOS, @PIT)
Jeff Samardzija (LAD, @CIN)
Kyle Gibson (HOU, @NYY)
Tanner Roark (@NYM, SFG)
Rick Porcello (OAK, @CHW)
David Hess (@CHW, TBR)
Brad Keller (TBR, @DET)
Ivan Nova (BAL, BOS)
Anibal Sanchez (STL, @PHI)
DON’T START
Michael Wacha (@WSH, @CHC)
Jhoulys Chacin (COL, NYM)
Adam Wainwright (@WSH, @CHC)
Freddy Peralta (COL, NYM)
Nick Margevicius (@ATL, LAD)
Michael Pineda (HOU, @NYY)
Clay Buchholz (@LAA, @TEX)
Adrian Sampson (PIT, TOR)
Jason Vargas (CIN, @MIL)
Ervin Santana (BAL, BOS)
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