Fantasy baseball pitcher rankings, lineup advice for Friday’s MLB games

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Pirates RHP Johan Oviedo enters his weekend start having won three consecutive outings and fantasy managers should be paying him more attention. (0:41)

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By Todd Zola

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Friday brings a typical 15-game slate, all evening affairs. Action gets started at 6:40 p.m. ET with a pair of games in the Sunshine State, before culminating with a 10:15 p.m. ET start in San Francisco. There are four closely-ranked streaming candidates for those wanting a boost in pitching as we head into the weekend.

Cristopher Sanchez (10.9% rostered in ESPN leagues) tops the list for a home date with the Minnesota Twins. Sanchez is somehow still seeking his first win despite posting a 3.44 ERA over 10 starts. He’s coming off his only subpar effort of the season where he allowed six earned runs in five innings to the Kansas City Royals. Take away that outing and his ERA is 2.66 for the season. Sanchez will encounter a Twins lineup with the fifth-lowest wOBA and sixth-highest strikeout rate facing southpaw pitching.

Ranked just after Sanchez is Kyle Gibson (31.4% rostered) as the Baltimore Orioles open a weekend series in the Pacific Northwest against the Seattle Mariners. Gibson isn’t known for missing bats, but he has been on a strikeout role lately, fanning 39 over his last 37 1/3 innings, spanning six starts. The veteran righty has a chance to continue to rack up punch-outs against an offense with a 26% strikeout rate, the second-highest in MLB with a right-hander on the hill.

Next up is Aaron Civale (49.5%) in a proverbial revenge game, though Civale ended up in an improved scenario after the Cleveland Guardians dealt him to the Tampa Bay Rays at the trade deadline. That said, Civale struggled in his first outing with his new team, yielding nine hits and three earned runs to the Detroit Tigers in four frames. Civale’s former team averages the fifth-fewest runs per game in MLB since the break.

Johan Oviedo (18.9%) is the last of the four consecutively ranked streaming candidates. Oviedo’s first full season as a starter has been rocky, with eight starts where he allowed at least four runs, but most of those were early. Oviedo yielded no more than three runs in his other 15 outings, 12 of which registered as quality starts. Oviedo faces a seemingly dangerous Cincinnati Reds offense, but the NL Central affair is at PNC Park, so the Reds incur a steep park downgrade. Furthermore, since the break, Cincinnati’s .304 wOBA is the sixth-worst facing right-handers, in large part due to a bloated 29.1% strikeout clip in this time frame, the second-highest mark over this span.

Johan Rojas (.9%) has emerged as the Philadelphia Philles’ everyday center fielder. He’s filling in for Brandon Marsh, who is on the IL with a bruised knee. There is a chance Marsh and Rojas form a platoon when Marsh returns, but for now Rojas is a regular. Rojas has a bit of pop, but speed is his game. The righty swinger is still seeking his first MLB homer, but he’s 6 for 6 in steals after 20 games. On Friday, Rojas enjoys the platoon edge on Dallas Keuchel, one of the lowest-ranked hurlers on the ledger.

Pitchers are ranked in order of their Forecaster/Daily Notes projected fantasy points (FPTS), using ESPN’s standard scoring system (2 points per win, minus-2 per loss, 3 per inning, 1 per K, minus-1 apiece per hit or walk allowed, minus-2 per earned run allowed).

T: The pitcher’s handedness. OPP: Opposing team. RST%: The pitcher’s roster percentage in ESPN leagues. ML: Caesars Money Line. O/U: Caesars Over/Under for runs scored. For the projected stat line, W% is the team’s win probability using ESPN projections, IP is innings pitched, ER is earned runs allowed and K is strikeouts.

If a team is planning on using an “opener” to start their game, but will rely on a “bulk pitcher” to follow him on the mound after 1-2 innings, the bulk pitcher is listed and indicated with an asterisk.

Best and worst hitters from the day are generated by THE BAT X, a projection system created by Derek Carty using advanced methods like those used in MLB front offices, accounting for a variety of factors including player talent, ballparks, bullpens, weather, umpires, defense, catcher pitch-framing, and lots more.

MJ Melendez (KC, C — 50%) vs. Adam Wainwright

Michael Massey (KC, 2B — 1%) vs. Wainwright

Lars Nootbaar (STL, RF — 34%) at Tucker Davidson

Maikel Garcia (KC, SS — 8%) vs. Wainwright

Mark Canha (MIL, LF — 4%) at Michael Kopech

Andrew McCutchen (PIT, LF — 17%) vs. Andrew Abbott

Ke’Bryan Hayes (PIT, 3B — 11%) vs. Abbott

Seth Brown (OAK, 1B — 3%) at Joan Adon

Shea Langeliers (OAK, DH — 4%) at Adon

CJ Abrams (WSH, SS — 29%) vs. Paul Blackburn

Ryan Mountcastle (BAL, 1B — 58%) at Luis Castillo

Jazz Chisholm Jr. (MIA, 2B — 73%) vs. Nestor Cortes