June 29 Fantasy Baseball Starting Pitcher Streamers: Tobias Myers, Aaron Civale, Cal Quantrill and More
A look at Saturday's probable starters who are widely available in fantasy leagues and have good matchups.
Heading into the last weekend of June, things are starting to get real. The All-Star game and trade deadline come next month, then it will be the home stretch to the end of the season (and the beginning of football!!!).
Let’s look at Saturday’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 MLB. The full streamer rankings are listed at the bottom.
Griffin Canning, Los Angeles Angels vs. Detroit Tigers
Canning’s season numbers match his career except for one major area: After not having a strikeout rate below 22% in any previous season, he’s below 16% in 2024. His number this year is currently over 10 percentage points worse than last season (25.9%). That has taken him from a guy who could have a high ceiling against the right opponents to a pitcher who tops out as a middling streamer.
Detroit isn’t as bad as a few other teams that end up here often, but they are still underwhelming. They’re in the bottom 10 in runs scored, home runs and all four slash categories, meaning even if they aren’t in the basement with teams like the White Sox and Mariners, they still offer fantasy value for opposing pitchers.
Canning is a low- to mid-level streamer here. The OK matchup combined with his loss of strikeout magic means Canning has a low ceiling.
Jonathan Cannon, Chicago White Sox vs. Colorado Rockies
I say the same thing every time Colorado ends up here: They have top-10 offensive numbers at home and bottom-10 numbers on the road. Coors Field flips the game around at times, and Rockies’ hitters are night-and-day between home and away games (as are their pitchers, which we will get to below).
Cannon’s last start against the Tigers went poorly, as he gave up eight runs (five earned) in just one inning with seven hits and two home runs allowed. In the two starts before that, he combined for 15.2 innings and just one run allowed with 11 strikeouts and two walks. He’s a rookie, so the up-and-down performance isn’t surprising, but it’s encouraging to see Cannon excelling in the big leagues at times.
Cannon is a mid-level streamer here. He did well in the minors limiting walks, which has carried over to the majors, but he was seriously lacking in strikeouts, so his ceiling is likely capped.
Aaron Civale, Tampa Bay Rays vs. Washington Nationals
Civale is a little better than average with both strikeouts and walks in his career and has kept up that performance in 2024. Despite having thrown 41 less innings than he did last year, he has given up two more runs and three more home runs than he did in 2023. A lot of this is probably luck; I’m not too far down on him despite the worse results.
The Nats follow the script: They are in the bottom 10 in many offensive stats. They are closer to 20th than 30th in a lot of those categories, though, looking more competent than the worse teams that are playing out the string. They are also in the bottom 10 in batter strikeouts, not giving a high ceiling to opposing pitchers.
Civale is a mid-level streamer here. The matchup is OK, and Civale has been OK, so it seems like an OK day to put him in your lineup.
Tobias Myers, Milwaukee Brewers vs. Chicago Cubs
Myers has an average or better strikeout rate, walk rate and ERA in his rookie season. The month of June has been especially fruitful: 4-0 record with 25.1 innings pitched, just two runs allowed and 18 strikeouts to six walks. There can’t be many guys who had a better past month.
He faced the Cubs back on May 4 and allowed four runs in three innings with two strikeouts and four walks. Myers wasn’t pitching as well and Chicago was hitting better at that time, so the circumstances are different this time around. With the Cubs sitting in the top 10 in most batter strikeouts and the bottom 10 in batting average, Myers seems to have the upper hand in this one.
Myers is a mid- to high-level streamer. His recent success along with Chicago’s middling offensive ceiling gives Myers a good chance at a quality outing.
Cal Quantrill, Colorado Rockies @ Chicago White Sox
Quantrill has an ERA almost a full run lower on the road than at home. Every pitcher struggles more at Coors Field, so Rockies pitchers can be unfairly judged because their overall numbers are lacking. Quantrill doesn’t strike out enough guys and he’s walked a few too many this year, but he is a useful pitcher, especially outside of Colorado.
The White Sox are the worst offensive team in baseball, most notably ranking dead last in all four slash categories. They have scored over 30 runs less than the next closest team, showing complete ineptitude at times.
Quantrill is a mid-level streamer here. His upside is capped because of his lack of strikeouts, but there’s not a better matchup a pitcher could ask for.
Friday’s Streamer Rankings
- Tobias Myers, MIL
- Aaron Civale, TB
- Cal Quantrill, COL
- Jonathan Cannon, CWS
- Griffin Canning, LAA
