Fantasy Baseball Week 1 Preview: Top sleeper pitchers for both five- and 12-day period, featuring Mike Burrows
The best pitchers to stream will depend on how your league defines Week 1
Streaming pitchers is not for everyone, nor is it for every week. For the most part, you're going to want to start the best ones you have, regardless of matchups.
But there will be injuries. There will be underachievers. There will be havoc wreaked upon those oh-so-brittle arms, and there will be times where your best hope is to turn to the waiver wire.
That's what these recommendations are for. I'll be releasing them every week, limiting my selection to those rostered in less than 80 percent of CBS Sports leagues.
This first week is different because opening day is on a Wednesday, not a Monday, which means not every league agrees on what the first week should be. The default CBS setting is to count the first weekend as its own five-day scoring period, but some leagues prefer to combine it with the first full week for an 12-day scoring period. The good news is that I have streamer recommendations for each setup. The bad news is that if your league chooses the latter setup, the numbering will be off for all future weekly sleepers articles (my Week 3 will be your Week 2, etc.)
A small price to pay to have it your way, I suspect.
The Astros have equipped Michael Burrows with a new sinker, and if spring is any indication, the former Pirate is looking to make a leap this year. His first turn is against an Angels lineup that was a distant first in strikeouts last year.
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The Twins lineup is so bad that they have a journeyman backup catcher (Victor Caratini) slotted in at Dh, so even if you're skeptical of the long-awaited Shane Baz breakout (I know I am), his first matchup is one to exploit.
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Though it's difficult to pin down why, Matthew Liberatore racked up whiffs at a ridiculous rate this spring, delivering a swinging-strike rate near 19 percent. The Rays lineup is looking pretty gross beyond Junior Caminero, Yandy Diaz and Jonathan Aranda.
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Chad Patrick was underrated as a rookie -- delivering a 3.53 ERA, 1.28 WHIP and 9.6 K/9 -- and will be asked to be more of an anchor this season. He can't ask for a better matchup to kick things off than the White Sox.
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Grant Holmes' spring showed that his partial UCL tear is nothing to hold him back, made most evident by a start against the Pirates in which he struck out nine over five no-hit innings. The Royals could be a breakout team offensively this year, but they finished fifth from the bottom in runs scored last year.
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Will Warren wrapped up the spring with a 1.42 ERA and 0.63 WHIP, and while that could prove meaningless in the long run, his matchup against the Giants is a gentle way to begin the season.
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Cody Ponce has come back from Korea with a couple extra miles per hour and a new splitter. He backed up his MVP season there with a 0.66 ERA and 0.81 WHIP this spring and probably has the best two-start slate of anyone who might be available in your league.
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My bold prediction for the Twins that they'll be the lowest-scoring team in baseball this year, and Shane Baz's other matchup is against the lowest-scoring team in baseball last year. I've never been more of a fan.
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Kodai Senga reworked his mechanics this spring, and early signs point to him having more velocity and better control. The Cardinals and Giants may not be bottom-of-the-barrel lineups, but they're certainly lacking in star power.
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The hope here is that Burrows' first start against the Angels is so dominant that it makes up for any misfortunes that may befall him in the Red Sox start. Of course, seeing as he's a trendy breakout pick for this year, he may do just fine in that one, too.
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If Warren's first matchup against the Giants is good enough to roll the dice on him coming off a great spring, then a second matchup against the Marlins only helps his case. That lineup looked like it might be OK with Kyle Stowers (hamstring) in it, but not without him.
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Patrick was pretty good as a rookie and is in line to face two of last year's worst five offense, but I'll caution that both the White Sox and Royals have reason for optimism this year, at least on the hitting side.
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