May 7 Fantasy Baseball Starting Pitcher Streamers: Jose Butto, Cristopher Sanchez, Logan Allen and More
A look at Tuesday's probable pitchers who are widely available in fantasy leagues and have good matchups.
The most redeeming part of the long baseball season is that games are different from day to day. Most NBA games will follow the same formula, with the superstars leading the way and role players in supporting roles. Baseball is different, though.
The best player might hit the ball hard every time at bat and still go 0-4. One bounce of the baseball can turn a double-play into a five-run inning. The presence of a different starting pitcher every day is the biggest variable, though.
Imagine facing Randy Johnson one day and Jamie Moyer the next: That’s almost two different sports for hitters. The matchups a pitcher faces can be just extreme, and that often dictates how much fantasy value a hurler has in any particular start.
Let’s go through Tuesday’s probable starters (according to MLB.com) who are widely available in fantasy leagues and have good matchups, creating streaming value. Most stats and rankings are from ESPN. The full streamer rankings are at the bottom.
Logan Allen, Cleveland Guardians vs. Detroit Tigers
Allen’s career stats (162.1 innings over 2023-24) are right around league average in terms of strikeout percentage, walk percentage and ERA. There is a lot more to pitcher performance than those three metrics, but they give a decent look at how a pitcher is handling the things he can control (K% and BB%) and how it’s translating to team results (ERA).
The Tigers started the season looking like the hapless team of 2023 but have turned it around the last few weeks. By full-season numbers, Detroit is in the bottom 10 in runs, home runs, batter strikeouts, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS. They are above the bottom 10 in EVERY single one of those stats over the past 15 days, though.
Your confidence in Allen depends on what you expect from the Tigers; viewing them somewhere in the middle is reasonable, and that makes them an OK team to target with fantasy pitchers. I’ll call Allen a low- to mid-level streamer because of the inconsistency from Detroit.
Jose Butto, New York Mets @ St. Louis Cardinals
Unlike Detroit’s surge over the second half of April, the Cardinals have kept up their moribund ways through the whole of 2024. St. Louis is in the bottom five in runs scored, home runs, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS.
Butto has just 74 innings to his name, and he has both struck out and walked batters at a higher-than-average rate. The results have been positive, with an ERA under 4.00, but Butto could help himself by putting fewer free runners on base.
Against the Cards, Butto is a mid-level streamer. His strikeouts give him a higher ceiling than some, but he’s likely to top out at six innings. That’s fine, but it’s not quite the level of the top streamers.
Patrick Sandoval, Los Angeles Angels @ Pittsburgh Pirates
Sandoval has appeared here somewhat often as a capable streamer. His career numbers are similar to Butto in that he strikes out batters at a good rate but also walks them too often. He holds a career ERA just under 4.00, though 2024 has produced worse results (ERA over 6.00).
The Pirates offer a softer landing spot than the Twins and Phillies did during Sandoval’s last two starts. Pittsburgh is in the bottom 10 in every stat mentioned for St. Louis: runs, home runs, batter strikeouts, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS. There aren’t many better teams to target in fantasy baseball.
Sandoval is another mid-level streamer, generally holding a defined ceiling but able to surprise, like he did with 10 strikeouts in five innings last time out against Philadelphia.
Cristopher Sanchez, Philadelphia Phillies vs. Toronto Blue Jays
Sanchez has been better than most of the guys listed here today, still striking them out around league average but also walking batters at a well below-average rate. He has been a positive performer in 2024, allowing more than three runs just once in six starts.
Toronto continues as one of the most disappointing teams of the young season. With thoughts on contending for the division, they instead sit at the bottom, 7.5 games back of first place and performing like a bottom-10 offensive team.
Sanchez is a mid- to high-level streamer in this one. The only real downside is that Toronto has struck out the fourth least of any team in 2024. Still, Sanchez has a chance at a strong outing.
Tuesday’s Streamer Rankings
Cristopher Sanchez, PHI
Patrick Sandoval, LAA
Jose Butto, NYM
Logan Allen, CLE
#waivers #2024-fantasy-baseball
