As the baseball season roars on into July, games are crucial at this point and every little thing counts in determining. The same can be said for fantasy baseball—we are 13 weeks into the season and you can really start to see if you are in a contender or not. While the driving force behind great fantasy teams is having great talent across the board, starting pitching is king.
For the second straight week I take a look at some starting pitchers you can pick up from the free agent pool to help you get that extra edge you need to win. They may not all work out as it’s always a risky game, but you always need to look for that extra advantage.
Tyler Matzek, Colorado Rockies
Vs. San Diego Padres, Monday
Vs. Minnesota Twins, Sunday
Coors Field is a double-edged sword for fantasy owners—if one of your hitters is in town, you anxiously await the loads of points that will follow. Baseballs fly out of the park in Denver, so it’s always a date you circle on your calendar. But when you have a pitcher starting in Coors Field, it’s an uneasy fantasy baseball. Even if you have an ace, you always feel like it’s a roll of the dice.
Now while it may sound crazy, you should go out and pick up Matzek for his start next week at home in Colorado. Matzek has made five starts since being called up for the first time, three of them coming on the road. Matzek has four quality starts during that time, with the one poor start coming at Coors Field against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Matzek is coming off consecutive dominant outings—he went six strong innings against the Washington Nationals, striking out six. Just a week earlier he got his vengeance on the Brewers in Milwaukee—holding them to one run in six innings, giving up just five hits and not giving up a free pass.
On Monday he faces the holy grail of lineups, the Padres are without a doubt the worst offense in baseball and it isn’t close. They rank last in runs (254), batting average (.214), on-base percentage (.273), slugging percentage (.333) and 29th in walks (210).
Matzek has shown great command of his pitches early on and that trend should easily continue next week. Matzek can easily work up to 100 pitches, allowing him to go deep into games as long as his stuff remains dominant. Matzek may only finish the game with six strikeouts, but he could blank the Padres for at least seven innings.
If one start against a weak lineup isn't enough for you, Matzek is scheduled to start next Sunday as well against the Minnesota Twins. Minnesota is without Joe Mauer, while Kendrys Morales hasn't delivered as hoped for the Twins. This game will be more of a challenge, but Matzek should walk out with a quality start.
Kevin Correia, Minnesota Twins
@ Seattle Mariners, Monday
When the Twins and Seattle Mariners face off early this week, it will be a series prime for great pitching duels. What makes this series different will be that the starters aren't aces. Felix Hernandez won't pitch during the three-game series and we will see more of these teams No.3 through five starters.
While Correia's days as a consistent under-four ERA pitcher is gone, the 33-year-old has pitched very well over his last six starts. Outside of giving up four runs to the Texas Rangers, Correia has held opponents to under two runs in five of those six starts. While he isn't striking many batters out with a 4.48 K/9 rate, he produces a lot of ground balls (.408).
Groundball pitchers can run through streaks, for two months a large percentage of groundballs could be finding holes and the hits lead to runs. Instead of giving up the nine-plus hits he was allowing earlier in the season, Correia has now cut that number down to five-to-six hits per game.
Now he will take on a Mariners' lineup that ranks 23rd in batting average (.244) and 28th in on-base percentage (.301), in a dreamland for pitchers. Correia is a veteran who knows how to work around the strike zone, avoiding walks and creating those weak grounders. You can pick up Correia for his Monday start and expect to get six quality innings with a low WHIP, just don't expect the Twins to help him out with run support.
Chris Young, Seattle Mariners
Vs. Minnesota Twins, Tuesday
A day after Correia pitches well against the Mariners, Seattle should answer right back with a great outing of their own. While Felix Hernandez gets all of the attention and Taijuan Walker is considered the future co-star of this rotation, you can never count out the old guys.
The 35-year-old Young seems to have found the fountain of youth this season, putting up numbers similar to his career year in 2007 when he was 29. During the 2007 season with the San Diego Padres, Young posted a 3.12 ERA and 1.10 WHIP in 173 innings. Those numbers are nearly identical to his line this year, a 3.11 ERA and 1.11 WHIP in 98 1/3 innings.
From 2009-2011, Young combined for just 120 innings as he battled through numerous arm injuries and just could never seem to get back on the mound. Young health improved and was able to throw 115 innings for the New York Mets in 2012 with a 4.15 ERA, before having to sit out the entire 2013 season with another injury.
The Mariners ultimately decided to give Young another shot in March, hoping they could catch lightning in a bottle and get a number five starter out of it. While the move certainly didn't receive as much praise as the Robinson Cano signing, Young has actually provided the Mariners more value for the price they paid.
Young is healthy and has been a key piece of the Mariners' rotation this season as he now hopes to continue with his rejuvenation on Tuesday against the Twins. Like Correia, Young doesn't aim for a lot of strikeouts indicated by his 5.03 K/9 ratio. The driving force behind Young's remarkable season is an unfathomable .197 batting average on balls in play. That mark leads the majors and is 20 points higher than Johnny Cueto.
Obviously there is plenty of luck involved there, but Young has shown great balance between his mixture of fly out percentage (.308) and ground out percentage (.203). Young relies on a great defense behind him making sure to make both the routine plays, while getting contact to hit into the shifts. This is where the veteran really holds his advantage, he knows where the guys behind him are aligned and he does an excellent job creating contact to get the ball in the right direction.
While Young's strikeout rate may be low, he can take advantage of a free-swinging opponent at times and the Twins are just that with the seventh most strikeouts in baseball (722). Combine that with their .244 team batting average and this game has all the makings of another beautiful masterpiece by Young.