September 22 Fantasy Baseball Starting Pitcher Streamers: Andrew Heaney, Spencer Arrighetti, Grant Holmes and Gavin Williams
Sunday's probable starters who are widely available in fantasy leagues and have good matchups.
The last games of the regular season are one week from today. It is officially time to get serious after nearly six long months of regular season. Playoff races will be decided, and we will crown the new kings of losing: the 2024 Chicago White Sox.
Let’s run through Sunday’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.
Spencer Arrighetti, Houston Astros vs Los Angeles Angels
Arrighetti has done really good strikeout work in his rookie season (27% versus the league average around 22%) but he’s also walking about 10.4% of the batters he faces (average is 8%). That lack of control has hurt his run prevention (ERA over 5.00) even as he has excelled with Ks.
Despite making 27 starts, Arrighetti somehow hasn’t faced his division rivals in LA. It’s worth making time to get to know them, as the Angels are one of the worst teams in the league and a bottom-10 offense. There isn’t much in current or future value on the Angels’ roster right now.
Arrighetti is a mid-level streamer. His strikeout work is strong, giving him even a little more upside, but control issues have been part of the reason he hasn’t excelled overall.
Andrew Heaney, Texas Rangers vs. Seattle Mariners
Seattle is still in the wild card hunt but needs their offense to really step up over the last week. Their pitching staff might be the best in baseball, but the lineup has held this team to a level just over .500 and battling for their playoff lives. Time is running out fast on this bottom-five offense.
Heaney has faced Seattle three times this season and has had good but not great results: 15.2 innings, 10 runs allowed, 14 strikeouts, and four walks. The strikeout work will play up against the most K-happy lineup in the league. On the season, Heaney has both a walk rate and strikeout rate several percentage points better than average.
Heaney is a mid- to high-level streamer. Everything matches up well for him to have success, but he hasn’t had a standout performance against this weak-hitting squad.
Grant Holmes, Atlanta Braves @ Miami Marlins
Holmes has mostly worked out of the bullpen in 23 appearances, but he will make his sixth start on Sunday. While most of his outings have been understandably short, Holmes has stretched out as a starter, going as deep as seven innings in one start. It would make sense to expect a start around five innings, which would be fine if he can strike out a batter per inning like he (almost) has on the season.
The “Luis Arraez versus Marlins hitters” game isn’t quite as fun now that Arraez has fallen out of the top 10 in runs and hits on Miami. For those uninitiated, Arraez was traded to the Padres on May 4th, but he still ranked among the top of the team’s leaderboard in several stats well into August. It speaks to his individual ability, but it says more about the lack of talent on Miami’s roster.
Holmes is a mid-level streamer. There’s upside given the matchup, but there is also a little bit of short start worry, holding him down just a bit.
Gavin Williams, Cleveland Guardians @ St. Louis Cardinals
The Cardinals have bounced in and out of the target zone for opposing pitchers, but they’ll finish as a team a little better than those I usually like to go after. They are listed here today because we have ANOTHER light day for streamers, and they still lack power enough to not be a terrible matchup. We take what we can get some days.
Williams does well with strikeouts but also walks too many guys along the way. That was the same story last season and seems to be his profile. The ability to rein in his walks will likely make the biggest difference between Williams being a long-term, consistent player and a guy who struggles at the big-league level.
Williams is a low- to mid-level streamer. The matchup isn’t great, but his strikeouts give him a little bump.
Sunday’s Streamer Rankings
- Andrew Heaney, TEX
- Spencer Arrighetti, HOU
- Grant Holmes, ATL
- Gavin Williams, CLE
