MLB

Fantasy Baseball: 5 Pitchers to Stream in Week 23

Tom Whalen  —  @tomcwhalen Sep 3rd, 2018
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Vince Velasquez, Philadelphia Phillies

Starts: September 3rd at Miami Marlins, September 9th at New York Mets
ESPN ownership: 36.8%

The good news: Vince Velasquez surrendered just 10 earned runs in 5 August starts. The bad news: he averaged fewer than five innings per assignment.

A measly 9.8% strikeout-minus-walk rate in that span has the Philadelphia Phillies' fireballer looking like a shaky fantasy play at best, but it'll be hard to stay away from Velasquez this week as he lines up against the dregs of the NL East. The Mets and Marlins are both below-average performers in team ISO against righties this month, and Miami is right down there with Pittsburgh and San Francisco among the very weakest home teams in the majors.

Fantasy owners looking for a clear path to wins and quality starts are probably barking up the wrong tree here, but these two plus matchups do put Velasquez in a nice spot to ring up some strikeouts and zeroes.

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