Fantasy Baseball Week 1 Pitching Waiver Options: Ranger Suarez, Lance Lynn, Kenta Maeda, Ryan Pressly, David Robertson and More

The MLB season kicks off Thursday, March 28, so it’s time to get those starting lineups locked in.

There’s been a ton of early injuries, which might leave you scrambling for starting options early in the season. Today, let’s use the FantasySP fantasy baseball projections page to highlight some waiver wire options that might be able to help you out.

We’ll cover pitchers here after already discussing some hitting options.

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Starting Pitchers

Philadelphia Phillies’ Ranger Suarez, rostered in just 18% of leagues, is a waiver wire streaming option in week one (March 28-31) of the season.

Suarez is the probable starter for the March 31 game. It will come against the loaded Atlanta Braves’ lineup, but because the game is on Sunday (travel day), the Atlanta lineup probably will be missing a couple of its best hitters.

In one start against the Braves in 2023, Suarez struck out seven batters while allowing just one run on four hits over six innings. It’s a small sample size, but a positive for possibly streaming him against Atlanta.

St. Louis Cardinals’ Steven Matz also has a tough matchup on paper against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday, March 31. Matz is owned in just 8% of leagues, but projected the 12th-most fantasy points in week one according to our projections.

Similarly to Suarez, Matz likely won’t be facing all of the Dodgers’ top hitters on Sunday, although a night game will probably allow more regulars to play than normal. 

Matz started one game against the Dodgers in 2023, striking out six batters and allowing an unearned run on six hits over 4 2/3 innings. He took the loss, but that was more because St. Louis didn’t score in that contest.

Cardinals’ Lance Lynn, rostered in 46% of leagues, will face the Dodgers on Saturday evening. 

While pitching for the Chicago White Sox in 2023, Lynn struck out six Dodgers’ batters, but surrendered five runs (four earned) on six hits and two walks over five innings. It’s definitely not as positive an outing as Suarez or Matz had against their opponents last year, but Lynn still is a solid option because of his strikeout numbers, even if he gives up a couple runs.

Tampa Bay Rays’ Aaron Civale will start against the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday. Civale is owned in 62% of leagues right now.

Toronto has a pretty solid lineup, but Civale is probably one of the better waiver wire options in a lot of leagues out there after posting a 3.46 ERA a season ago. His ERA was below 2.50 before a couple of rough outings to cap the season.

Civale pitched against Toronto while on the Rays’ roster late in the 2023 season, allowing a run on two hits and two walks while striking out three over 1 2/3 innings. 

Detroit Tigers’ Kenta Maeda, rostered in 53% of leagues, will pitch against the Chicago White Sox on Saturday afternoon. It will be his debut for the Tigers.

The White Sox appear to be one of the worst teams in the league as the 2024 season starts up. Obviously, we don’t know exactly what they will look like in the regular season, but at first glance, this is one of the better matchups out there for a waiver wire option.

Maeda made two starts against Chicago in 2023 while pitching for the Minnesota Twins. In the first game, Maeda allowed four runs on eight hits while striking out three batters over six innings. In the second start, he allowed two runs on four hits and a walk while striking out eight batters over seven innings.

Washington Nationals’ Josiah Gray is the Opening Day starter, but only rostered in 20% of leagues. He’ll face the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday.

Gray’s one start against the Reds in 2023 didn’t go very well. He allowed five runs (three earned) on eight hits and four walks, but he did finish with six strikeouts.

Gray did pitch pretty well down the stretch of last season, but got roughed up a bit this spring training.

New York Mets’ Luis Severino, owned in 45% of leagues, will start against the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday. It will be his first start for the Mets after pitching the first eight years of his career with the New York Yankees.

Severino actually faced the Brewers in his last start of the 2023 season. He allowed a pair of runs on four hits and a walk over four innings - Severino struck out five batters along the way.

Relief Pitchers

Let’s also talk about some fantasy relievers that could be helpful early in the season. Maybe you drafted Milwaukee’s Devin Williams, only to see him get injured and be unavailable for a few months. This section could definitely help you out.

Houston Astros’ Ryan Pressly is still a solid fantasy option, even though he’s relinquishing closer duties over to Josh Hader.

Pressly will set up Hader and maybe be used as the team’s stopper if the opponent is mounting a rally. He pitched 65 1/3 innings over 65 games in 2023, and could get a few more opportunities now because he isn’t the closer.

Houston has four games against the Yankees this week, so there’s a good chance he at least appears in two games.

Texas Rangers’ David Robertson, rostered in just 40% of leagues, is another solid fantasy reliever, even though he might not get save opportunities.

Texas hasn’t named a permanent closer yet, and could split things between Robertson and Jose Leclerc. At the very least, Robertson will be in a high-leverage role and counted on often this season. 

Robertson pitched in 62 games in 2023, covering  65 1/3 innings and striking out 78 batters along the way. You’d expect him to pitch at least once across the team’s three games with the Chicago Cubs this week.

The nice thing with adding Robertson on the waiver wire is that he could become the team’s closer any day. Then, it will be a free-for-all to snag Robertson, so why not take a chance on him now and avoid the headache?

I want to discuss James McArthur and Will Smith together. They are the top closing options for the Kansas City Royals in 2024. McArthur is owned in 24% of leagues, while Smith is owned in 44%.

Smith is the veteran between the two, and has a lot more closing experience, so I anticipate him eventually landing the closer role. He pitched in 60 games a season ago, striking out 55 batters over 57 1/3 innings and earning 22 saves along the way.

McArthur pitched in 18 games in 2023, striking out 23 batters over 23 1/3 innings and claiming four saves.

Like I mentioned before, I like Smith to win the role because of his experience, so I’d lean toward taking him over McArthur if I needed to decide between the two. Both guys should pitch a bunch for KC though, so both could be decent fantasy options. Kansas City has just three games this week, so they might only appear in one game each depending on how the series goes.

The last reliever I’d like to discuss is San Francisco Giants’ Tyler Rogers, who is owned in 6% of leagues.

Rogers should be the primary setup man to closer Camilo Doval. Rogers has thrived in that role over his career and posted a strong 3.04 ERA over 74 innings and 68 appearances in 2023, with 60 strikeouts along the way.

Rogers pitches a ton for San Fran, and with four games scheduled this week, there’s a good chance he gets at least two appearances. He’s one of the better fantasy non-closers in the game and could be a good season-long option if you are looking for one of those guys.