Streaming Pitchers for Sunday 8/17: Eovaldi, Canning, Pannone

Not meant to be an epic, the Streamer Report will provide you with three starting pitcher selections and then call it a proverbial day. The criteria is starting pitchers who are 50% owned or less in Yahoo leagues. We’ll consider matchup, track record versus opponent, recent performance, and more.

How did Friday’s streamers fare?

Vince Velasquez vs. San Diego Padres: 5.1 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO, 0 HR, 1 W
Adrian Houser at Washington Nationals: 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO, 0 HR
Patrick Sandoval vs. Chicago White Sox: 4.1 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO, 0 HR

Pretty decent day, brought the ERA down to even more respectability. Also trimmed the walk rate a tiny bit. Strikeouts have been hard to come by, though. Here’s the comparison:

Sunday’s Streamers

Nathan Eovaldi vs. Baltimore Orioles (45% owned)

This is Eovaldi’s first start since April 17th. He has made 11 relief appearances since coming off the injured list, and the only downside is that he’ll likely be on a pitch count of 55 to 60 pitches or so (that’s me guessing). Still, with triple-digit heat and the Orioles on the docket, Eovaldi bears consideration. This is an arm you could add and hold, if he continued to perform. One final nugget: Eovaldi has a 2.90 ERA in day games over the last three seasons, compared to a 5.09 ERA in night games over the same stretch. This game begins at 1:05 pm ET. Not saying it’s crazy significant—and I honestly don’t look at day/night splits too much—but this seemed a tad noteworthy.

Griffin Canning vs. White Sox (26% owned)

Canning should work a bit deeper in this one after being limited to four innings (80 pitches) in his return from the injured list in his last turn. The White Sox are always appealing to stream against, striking out 26.3% of the time against righties (the worst rate in the MLB alongside San Diego). Canning’s 9.50 K/9 is his best feature, and the high strikeout rate of the Sox coupled with their woeful .141 ISO (29th in the MLB) make Canning my favorite streamer for Sunday. I also trust the Angels bats to get to Dylan Cease, who has mostly struggled during his big league stay (5.54 ERA).

LHP Thomas Pannone vs. Seattle Mariners (1% owned)

A 1% owned bulk reliever. I must be crazy. But Pannone actually has some encouraging pieces to his repertoire, including a history of solid command at developmental levels and three legitimate offerings (heater, curve, change). Anyway, he followed Wilmer Font in his last turn, after Font managed a pair of innings. The Mariners have a hefty 25.7% strikeout rate against southpaws—only the Orioles, Rangers, and Rays are worse. I wouldn’t generally consider Pannone, but this is about as nonthreatening of a matchup as he’ll find, and he should have a decent shot at snagging the win today. Don’t believe me? Yusei Kikuchi pitches for the Mariners, which means I would have a decent chance at a win if I was pitching for Toronto. Slinging that 60 mph heat, y’all. You’d only use Pannone if you needed a chance at a win and maybe had a lead in ratios...but I think it is a viable strategy today.

I’d rank them Canning, Eovaldi, Pannone.

Am I getting too cute with Pannone? I don’t think so. At only $4600 on DraftKings, I’ll have some shares with my Braves stacks...