Fantasy baseball streaming pitchers: Waiver wire targets (week 16)
FantasyPros··4 min read
Fantasy Baseball Streaming Pitchers: Waiver Wire Targets (Week 16)
The All-Star break has come and gone. The dog days of the baseball season are here, and it is time to look ahead at some upcoming matchups. There are some intriguing fantasy baseball streaming pitchers for the rest of the ... read more »
The All-Star break has come and gone. The dog days of the baseball season are here, and it is time to look ahead at some upcoming matchups. There are some intriguing fantasy baseball streaming pitchers for the rest of the week.
I will be using the FantasyPros streaming pitchers rankings to help with my picks. Feel free to sync your league and take a look at your own to find high-potential starters available on your waiver wire.
Please keep in mind that starters can get off schedule, and some projected starters can be pushed back due to circumstances such as injury and weather.
Zach Thornton is an intriguing rookie. The 24-year-old lefty has had three starts spread throughout this season, and has shown great potential in all of them. He has allowed only five runs across 17.1 innings, striking out 15.
The advanced stats are not big fans of this small sample size. Thornton throws low-velocity, and it is hard to argue that his 2.60 ERA will remain this low. However, Thornton has a long track record of success in the minors, and his Major League success has been very promising. We are at the point of the season where almost every waiver wire option has some sort of asterisk.
Pick up the young talent as a speculative option. If you are very hesitant, wait to see how Thornton does against the Brewers, and stream him later if he does well.
Christian Scott might be my favorite option this week. He is coming off perhaps the best start of his season, where he struck out seven Phillies across 5.2 scoreless innings.
Scott is unfortunately yet to go deep into games. He has not thrown over 5.2 innings in 2026. He has earned great results, but he is yet to secure a single quality start.
The 27-year-old righty makes up for his low innings with strikeouts. He has a 10.9 K/9 ratio, striking out 72 batters in 59.2 innings. He has an excellent 2.87 ERA.
Although the Brewers are not an easy opponent, Scott has shown that he can deliver five solid innings with great strikeout numbers.
It looks like Brandon Pfaadt could be turning around a rough 2026. Since mid-June, he has lowered his ERA from 5.92 to 4.58. His xERA is down to 4.22. He has achieved this while facing the Giants, Padres, Dodgers and Cardinals, allowing four runs across 21 innings.
The waiver wire is extremely bleak this time of year, and Pfaadt may be one of the best options for this week. While the 27-year-old righty has not been overpowering batters, he has done a great job limiting damage through an excellent groundball rate.
Pfaadt is a good option against the Cardinals, who have a .705 OPS, which is the eighth-worst in baseball.
Spencer Arrighetti has cooled down after a hot start to his season. He had an ERA of 1.34 on June 1st after eight starts. Something realistically had to change, and it did. His ERA has ballooned to 4.34 since then, but he is beginning to settle down once again.
Arrighetti reminded the league of his potential in his most recent start, where he held the Orioles to one run across five innings. Most of the 26-year-old righty’s damage has come from walking excessive batters, so it helps that the White Sox walk at a slightly below-average rate.
Friday is extremely limited for pitching options, and I prefer starters from other days of the week. Regardless, Arrighetti exists as an option for the brave-hearted.
Kyle Leahy continues to quietly get results. Just as he has for the bulk of his career, Leahy is ignoring expected stats. He has an xERA of 5.38 compared to his real ERA of 3.59. For whatever reason, Leahy frequently outperforms his expected stats.
The 29-year-old righty is on a hot streak. He has allowed only two runs across his last 25.1 innings. His pitches have looked very deceiving and almost unhittable.
I love Leahy as he carries this hot streak against the Reds, whose team OPS of .709 is the 10th-worst in baseball.
Ronel Blanco? What a blast from the past. His 2024 beginning-of-the-season no-hitter came out of nowhere. The rest of his 2024 was great (he threw 167.1 innings to a 2.80 ERA), but unfortunately his 2025 season was marred by a UCL tear. Blanco is finally back and made his first start of 2026 against the Marlins yesterday.
I understand Blanco allowed four runs in 4.2 innings against the Marlins. But he also struck out eight batters. He is rusty, but the strikeout potential is there. Blanco also threw 86 strikes, so he is not too limited by pitch count.
I am cautiously optimistic as Blanco faces the White Sox, who are a tough opponent but also have the seventh-most strikeouts in the league with 891.
SerpApi.Org
