If you need an indication of just how lacking in high-end hurlers the Week 5 (April 22-28) assortment of two-start pitchers is, know this: Chris Sale is second in my rankings.
Sure, he got his velocity back in his last start, which counts for a great deal. But it still didn't yield great results. He still has some work to do with his secondary pitches and command.
Of course, fewer two-start studs means more two-start fringies, which makes for a robust waiver wire for all the two-start streamers out there. And that's absolutely the case this time around.
Sticking to those owned in less than 80 percent of CBS Sports leagues, my favorite is Sonny Gray, who seems to have rediscovered his form in Cincinnati. Meanwhile, Mike Minor has been consistently pitching deep into games while elevating his swinging strike rate to the level it was when he worked out of the bullpen two years ago.
Using a 60 percent cutoff, Luke Weaver has at least one favorable matchup at PIttsburgh after back-to-back strong outings. Wade Miley isn't much of a bat-misser but offers plenty of wins potential with the Astros and an excellent matchups vs. Cleveland.
Even scraping the bottom of the barrel, looking at those owned in less than 40 percent of leagues, Pablo Lopez, Spencer Turnbull and Lance Lynn have some appeal. You can see where they rank relative to each other in the table below. I'd be comfortable using any of the top 21 in any format. Nos. 22-27 I'd restrict to points leagues, ignoring everything beyond.
Note: I've decided to exclude Homer Bailey, though he's potentially a two-start option. It depends on whether the Royals opt to skip their fifth starter this week.
Rank | Pitcher | Start 1 | Start 2 |
1 | Carlos Carrasco, CLE | vs. MIA | at HOU |
2 | Chris Sale, BOS | vs. DET | vs. TB |
3 | Matthew Boyd, DET | at BOS | at CHW |
4 | Joe Musgrove, PIT | vs. ARI | at LAD |
5 | Jack Flaherty, STL | vs. MIL | vs. CIN |
6 | Domingo German, NYY | at LAA | at SF |
7 | Kevin Gausman, ATL | at CIN | vs. COL |
8 | Sonny Gray, CIN | vs. ATL | at STL |
9 | Jose Quintana, CHC | vs. LAD | at ARI |
10 | Kenta Maeda, LAD* | at CHC | vs. PIT |
11 | Brad Peacock, HOU* | vs. MIN | vs. CLE |
12 | J.A. Happ, NYY | at LAA | at SF |
13 | Jake Arrieta, PHI | at NYM | vs. MIA |
14 | Brad Keller, KC* | at TB | vs. LAA |
15 | Luke Weaver, ARI | at PIT | vs. CHC |
16 | Mike Minor, TEX | at OAK | at SEA |
17 | Zach Eflin, PHI | at NYM | vs. MIA |
18 | Kyle Freeland, COL | vs. WAS | at ATL |
19 | Pablo Lopez, MIA | at CLE | at PHI |
20 | Yonny Chirinos, TB*^ | vs. KC | at BOS |
21 | Wade Miley, HOU | vs. MIN | vs. CLE |
22 | Trevor Williams, PIT | vs. ARI | at LAD |
23 | Spencer Turnbull, DET | at BOS | at CHW |
24 | Lance Lynn, TEX | at OAK | at SEA |
25 | Steven Matz, NYM | vs. PHI | vs. MIL |
26 | Erik Swanson, SEA | at SD | vs. TEX |
27 | Zack Godley, ARI | at PIT | vs. CHC |
28 | Jake Odorizzi, MIN | at HOU | vs. BAL |
29 | Zach Davies, MIL | at STL | at NYM |
30 | Jeremy Hellickson, WAS | at COL | vs. SD |
31 | David Hess, BAL | vs. CHW | at MIN |
32 | Matt Harvey, LAA | vs. NYY | at KC |
33 | Chris Stratton, LAA | vs. NYY | at KC |
*RP-eligible | ^expected to follow opener | |||