4 Two-Start Starting Pitcher Sleeper Streamers for Week 19

This piece focuses on the best two-start starting pitcher streamers and sleeper waiver wire pickups for Week 19 of fantasy baseball. These sleeper pitchers are near or below 50% ownership in Yahoo! leagues, and some are ideal for shallow leagues, but most are under-the-radar starters that can be considered in head-to-head leagues.

 

Danny Duffy, KC – 41% Owned

Projected starts: Tuesday @AZ, Sunday vs. SF

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Despite just a 5-10 record on the season, Duffy has been quite good lately-- actually, he's been effective for much of the season, to this point. Overall, Duffy sports a 2.42 ERA with a 2.0 K/BB ratio. Since June 1st, a span of 11 starts, he’s only had two starts during which he’s allowed up more than two earned runs, and he’s lowered his ERA by over a run over that stretch. Duffy's last four starts have been especially good, totaling nearly 25 innings and just three earned runs. It’s safe to say that his terrible win/loss record can mostly be blamed by an inconsistent, and mostly futile, Royals offense.

This week, I would feel good about Duffy going against two N.L. West teams who have both struggled to score runs for much of the season, especially the Giants with the third-lowest July run total in all of baseball. Paul Goldschmidt has just hit the DL for the Dbacks, too, providing even more of a reason to roll with Duffy.

 

Dillon Gee, NYM — 26% Owned

Projected starts: Monday vs. SF, Saturday @PHI

Gee missed about two months in the middle of the season due to a strained right lat muscle. His four starts since his return from the DL have been just okay-- Gee actually pitched pretty well last week against the Phillies, but he gave up a grand slam to Chase Utley with two outs in the sixth inning to make his stat line look terrible. His stuff has been pretty strong, and the Mets seem confident that he can be a solid third starter behind Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler going forward into 2015.

Getting back to this week, I like Gee’s matchups against the aforementioned weak Giants offense and the seemingly apathetic Phillies bunch, the latter of which have managed fewer than 200 runs at home this season (fifth-worst in the majors), along with just a .238 home batting average (also fifth-worst in the league).

 

Charlie Morton, PIT – 23% Owned

Projected starts: Tuesday vs. MIA, Sunday vs. SD

Morton hasn’t been his sharpest over the last several starts, as three of his last four outings have failed to qualify for quality starts. Morton has always been far more of a command guy than a strikeout guy, and this year is no different, as he has just 108 strikeouts in nearly 140 innings this season-- if he isn’t tossing quality outings, he can be a bit dicey for fantasy purposes. However, Morton has two home starts this week, and his numbers at PNC Park are much better than on the road. At home this year, Morton has a 2.18 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and .233 BAA (versus 4.52 ERA, 1.28 WHIP and .247 BAA on the road). Furthermore, the Marlins and Padres offenses are hardly formidable, despite San Diego’s recent run-scoring outbursts.  I think Morton could have a good bounce back week.

 

Kevin Gausman, BAL – 14% Owned

Projected starts: Monday @ WAS, Saturday vs. STL

The Orioles' flame-throwing righty has pitched well his past two outings, most recently shutting down a good Angels offense and earning the win. He hasn’t been striking out batters at the rate that many people were expecting, but overall he’s been more good than bad since he started seeing consistent innings at the beginning of June.  Gausman's ERA has hung in the high threes, and the solid Baltimore offense provides above-average run support, so he is often in the hunt for wins.  This week, Gausman will face his southern Beltway rival in Washington, DC before squaring off against the Cardinals. I’m always a fan of A.L. pitchers getting to face N.L teams, and Gausman gets to do so twice this week. He's certainly an intriguing streaming option, especially in deeper leagues.