Fantasy Baseball Two-Start Pitchers: Week 5 (Arrieta, Cueto, Berrios, & More)
We are now a full month into the fantasy baseball season. Now, it's time to stop looking at what happened in 2015 and start looking at how these players are doing in the current campaigns. Here is the list of probables for Week 5...
Probable two-start pitchers:
Jake Arrieta, CHC (@ PIT, vs. WAS)
Jose Berrios, MIN (@ HOU, @ CWS)
Eddie Butler, COL (@ SD, @ SF)
Andrew Cashner, SD (vs. COL, vs. NYM)
Gerrit Cole, PIT (vs. CHC, @ STL)
Bartolo Colon, NYM (vs. ATL, @ SD)
Patrick Corbin, ARI (@ MIA, @ ATL)
Johnny Cueto, SF (@ CIN, vs. COL)
R.A. Dickey, TOR (vs. TEX, vs. LAD)
Marco Estrada, TOR (vs. TEX, vs. LAD)
Brandon Finnegan, CIN (vs. SF, vs. MIL)
Gio Gonzalez, WAS (@ KC, @ CHC)
Kendall Graveman, OAK (vs. SEA, @ BAL)
Jon Gray, COL (@ SD, @ SF)
A.J. Griffin, TEX (@ TOR, @ DET)
Junior Guerra, MIL (vs. LAA, @ CIN)
Jason Hammel, CHC (@ PIT, vs. WAS)
Matt Harvey, NYM (vs. ATL, @ SD)
Jeremy Hellickson, PHI (@ STL, @ MIA)
Hisashi Iwakuma, SEA (@ OAK, @ HOU)
Nathan Karns, SEA (@ OAK, @ HOU)
Dallas Keuchel, HOU (vs. MIN, vs. SEA)
Collin McHugh, HOU (vs. MIN, vs. SEA)
Matt Moore, TB (vs. LAD, @ LAA)
Jon Moscot, CIN (vs. SF, vs. MIL)
Jimmy Nelson, MIL (vs. LAA, @ CIN)
Aaron Nola, PHI (@ STL, @ MIA)
Justin Nicolino, MIA (vs. ARI, vs. PHI)
Martin Perez, TEX (@ TOR, @ DET)
Jose Quintana, CWS (vs. BOS, vs. MIN)
Tanner Roark, WAS (@ KC, @ CHC)
Jeff Samardzija, SF (@ CIN, vs. COL)
Luis Severino, NYY (@ BAL, vs. BOS)
James Shields, SD (vs. COL, vs. NYM)
Chris Tillman, BAL (vs. NYY, vs. OAK)
Josh Tomlin, CLE (vs. DET, vs. KC)
Justin Verlander, DET (@ CLE, vs. TEX)
Edinson Volquez, KC (vs. WAS, @ CLE)
Michael Wacha, STL (vs. PHI, vs. PIT)
Adam Wainwright, STL (vs. PHI, vs. PIT)
Jered Weaver, LAA (@ MIL, vs. TB)
Matt Wisler, ATL (@ NYM, vs. ARI)
Steven Wright, BOS (@ CWS, @ NYY)
Cream of the crop:
Jake Arrieta, CHC (@ PIT, vs. WAS)
In five starts, Arrieta is 5-0 (1.00 ERA). He's also struck out at least six batters in each outing. Whether he's at home or on the road, it doesn't matter. Arrieta is still dominant.
Dallas Keuchel, HOU (vs. MIN, vs. SEA)
It's been a rough couple of outings for Keuchel. He's allowed a combined 11 earned runs in the past two starts. However, those two performances were on the road. In 373.1 innings of work at Minute Maid Park, Keuchel is 27-13 with a 2.87 ERA. Both of his starts in Week 5 are at home.
Matt Harvey, NYM (vs. ATL, @ SD)
The Dark Knight gets to particularly easy villains this week. Harvey won his first game of the season against the Braves. He hasn't been pitching deep into games (averaging under six innings per start), but Harvey's thrown at least 100 pitches in back-to-back contests. His second opponent, San Diego, has struck out the third-most amount in baseball.
Johnny Cueto, SF (@ CIN, vs. COL)
Cueto returns to Great American Ball Park, but as a member of the visiting team. In his career, Cueto is 48-22 with a 2.91 ERA in the GABP. He'll also face the Rockies, but in pitcher-friendly AT&T Park.
Potential bargains:
Steven Wright, BOS (@ CWS, @ NYY)
He's started in four games this season and hasn't allowed more than two earned runs in a game in 2016. Wright has also struck out at least six batters in three-straight starts.
Jose Berrios, MIN (@ HOU, @ CWS)
In his major league debut, Berrios allowed five earned runs to Cleveland, but he also struck out five. The Astros lead the league with 238 strikeouts this season. As a team, Houston has a .226 batting average against right-handed pitchers, too (26th-worst in MLB). The White Sox are batting .240 as a team against righties.
Avoid at all costs:
Martin Perez & A.J. Griffin, TEX (@ TOR, @ DET)
Perez (lefty) and Griffin (righty) will both travel to Toronto and Detroit to face some loaded lineups. Josh Donaldson, Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Bautista, and even Micael Sanders are hitting all pitchers well this season. As for Detroit J.D. Martinez, Ian Kinsler, Victor Martinez, and Nick Castellanos are crushing southpaws and you can add Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Miguel Cabrera to that list for righty-smashers.