Fantasy Baseball: 4 Pitchers to Stream in Week 3

Francisco Liriano, Detroit Tigers

Start: April 17th vs. Baltimore Orioles, April 22nd vs. Kansas City Royals
ESPN percentage owned: 12.1%

When you see a mere 14.6% strikeout rate next to the name Francisco Liriano, no one would blame you for suspecting a readout error, but the fact is, the veteran lefty has seen his strikeout rate drop over each of the last four seasons. And while the gap between Liriano's 2.13 ERA and his 4.17 fielding independent pitching (FIP) indicate trouble on the horizon, regression is unlikely to take hold this week against two of the American League's weakest offenses.

The Royals have mustered a mere .077 isolated power against southpaws this season, coupled with a 5.0% walk rate against lefties that should help keep even the rather wild Liriano afloat. Meanwhile, Baltimore's team splits actually favor lefty matchups, but this is decidedly faint praise -- the team still very much under achieves in terms of hard contact and line drive rate against southpaws, despite some decent power results on the whole.

Liriano is certainly no longer the strikeout dynamo of yore, but he is a respectable deep-league filler in Week 3.