Amir Garrett and Zach Davies are worth picking up on the waiver wire

Sometimes it is hard to determine which probable starter you want to stream for your fantasy team. For those who do not know, streaming is picking up a probable starter off waivers then dropping him right after he finishes his start. In this article I will give you 3 streamers and 1 dreamer for May 1st. The dreamer will be someone who fantasy owners will most likely want to leave on the waiver wire due to an offensive mismatch against the him. We will call him a dreamer to make since of the rhyme scheme in the title because hey why not?

*All owned percentages are based on ESPN fantasy leagues.

Streamers

Amir Garrett vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (56.7% Owned)

2017: 23.0 IP, 5.09 ERA, 4.40 FIP, 8.61 K/9, 2.74 BB/9, 1.57 HR/9, .247 AVG
Career vs. Active Pirates: .217/.250/.391, 1 HR, 23 PA
Career @ Great American Ball Park: .269/.286/.308, 0 HR, 28 PA

Garrett will look to bounce back from his last start against the Brewers in which he gave up 9 runs in just 3.1 innings. If you look past his last start, Garrett has been a top of the rotation pitcher. He only up 4 earned runs over 19.2 innings pitched before his start against the Brewers. He has posted a poor soft/hard contact of 14.9/41.8 this season, but i expect this to drop dramatically this month as he faces more batters that are not the hard hitting and strikeout prone Brewers. The Pirates have lost Starling Marte already this season and have struggled offensively. So far the Pirates’ .379 SLG is the 3rd lowest in the NL. Look for Garrett to take advantage of the Pirates slow start as he chases another W this Monday.

Robert Gsellman @ Atlanta Braves (11.7% Owned)

2017: 21.2 IP, 6.23 ERA, 3.70 FIP, 9.14 K/9, 3.74 BB/9, 0.83 HR/9, .301 AVG
Career vs. Active Braves: .387/.449/.516. 1 HR, 69 PA
Career @ Turner Field: .333/.391/.524, 1 HR, 24 PA

Gsellman and the Mets will face a Braves lineup that does not feature a lot of power once you look past Freddie Freeman. This means that the Braves will be pitching into Gsellman’s strength, which is limiting the amount of fly balls and hard contact against him. Gsellman has however given up a lot of hits this year, and the Braves do put the ball in play a good amount of the time. The Braves are hitting .253 this year which is good enough for the 9th best team batting average in the major leagues. Fantasy owners should also not expect a lot of strikeouts for Gsellman as the Braves only have 166 strikeouts this season which is the third lowest in the majors. Gsellman may not have a lot strikeouts on Monday, but his ability to limit the long ball should keep the Braves from scoring too many runs.

Zach Davies @ St. Louis Cardinals (12.7% Owned)

2017: 24.2 IP, 6.57 ERA, 4.14 FIP, 8.03 K/9, 4.01 BB/9, 1.09 HR/9, .324 AVG
Career vs. Active Cardinals: .264/.284/.440, 3 HR, 94 PA
Career @ Busch Stadium: .179/.207/.286, 0 HR, 29 PA

Davies has really been struggling this year, but hopefully Monday will be the day he turns it all around. Davies’ command is a lot better than what he has shown us this season as his 4.01 BB/9 almost doubles his 2.09 BB/9 from last season . Another reason for Davies’ early season struggles is because he has given up a lot more fly balls than he did last year. The Cardinals are a very good lineup offensively, but Davies has had great success at Busch Stadium. Davies will go to St. Louis looking to duplicate what he did last time he was there.

Dreamer

Vince Velasquez @ Chicago Cubs (38.9% Owned)

2017: 21.1 IP, 6.33 ERA, 5.82 FIP, 9.28 K/9, 5.06 BB/9, 2.11 HR/9, .256 AVG
Career vs. Active Cubs: .364/.391/.636, 2 HR, 23 PA
Career @ Wrigley Field: .409/.458/.682, 2 HR, 24 PA

Now anyone starting against the Cubs I would usually stay away from, but this is especially true with Velasquez on Monday. Velasquez has struggled with command this season while also averaging over 2 HR/9. Add that with the fact he is facing one of the best lineups in baseball right now and will be pitching in a very hitters friendly park where he has struggled, and you have one poor start in the making. Sorry Phillies fans but I would not be expecting to take home a W against the 2016 World Champs come Monday.