Fantasy baseball: Kumar Rocker, Shane Baz lead pitchers to stream in MLB this week
The MLB season is underway, and although it's still early, we're already noticing patterns in both individual pitchers and opposing offenses that you can take advantage of in your fantasy league.
Most pitchers have already had two starts under their belt, and while one bad start is not a death sentence for fantasy relevance, the underlying metrics like spin rate, whiff rate, and velocity can often be indicative of a pitcher's long-term success over the course of a season.
Still, the most important thing to do when deciding which pitcher to stream is to follow trends. If an offense is cold, consider the pitcher playing against them. If an offense is hot, stay away. So long as torpedo bats exist, you should never start someone against the New York Yankees. That's just common sense.
Without further ado, here are five pitchers to consider streaming this week.
Pitchers to stream for fantasy baseball Week 3:
*All roster numbers provided by FantasyPros
Kumar Rocker, TEX (Rostered in 25% of leagues)
Projected Starts: Saturday at Mariners
Rocker has not had a tremendous start to the 2025 season. He gave up six earned runs to the Cincinnati Reds on March 31 after all. However, his start on Sunday was much better, surrendering only one run to the Tampa Bay Rays across five innings pitched.
While Rocker has limited Major League experience, his metrics in 2024 were too good to look beyond. Per Baseball Savant, Rocker was better than at least half the league in chase rate, whiff rate, barrel rate, and ground ball rate, even ranking within the top-ten percent of pitchers in a few of those categories. On Saturday, he'll face a Mariners squad that could only muster a .666 OPS at home in 2024. And in 2025, it doesn't seem to be getting much better. Through seven games at home, the Mariners are 3-4 and are averaging just 2.57 runs per game.
T-Mobile Park had MLB's lowest ballpark factor in 2024 at 91. That trend has continued early in 2025, sitting dead last once again at 90.
Shane Baz, TB (Rostered in 46% of leagues)
Projected Starts: Tuesday vs. Angels
The Los Angeles Angels are not a great baseball team, and their 2025 wOBA (.2957) reflects that. They are third-to-last in MLB in that category ahead of only the Chicago White Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates.
Baz looked good in his first start of the year, albeit it was against the Pirates, but hey, we just established that the Angels are on the same level as Pittsburgh. At home, Baz has only surrendered a .188 batting average and .567 OPS. He's a must-add this Tuesday for anyone with spare games started.
Mitchell Parker, WSH (Rostered in 7% of leagues)
Projected Starts: Friday at Marlins
Through two starts in 2025, Mitchell Parker has a 0.73 ERA across 12.1 innings, surrendering only nine hits and six walks. Though he isn't much help in the strikeout department, relying primarily on weak contact to get the job done, those numbers are stellar considering this is a mostly unknown guy who held both the Philadelphia Phillies and Arizona Diamondbacks to practically shutout ball.
Now, he gets a very weak Marlins team? That's a recipe for success. The downside is that a pitcher playing to contact like Parker does, can lead to inconsistent outings. If balls just happen to find holes, they can be in for rough outings. However, given that the Marlins currently rank outside the top-15 in wOBA, walk rate, and strikeout rate, Parker shouldn't have much issue.
Carson Spiers, CIN (Rostered in 2% of leagues)
Projected Starts: Saturday vs. Pirates
Although Cincinnati's offense has struggled to start the year, they haven't struggled as much as Pittsburgh's offense, which ranks 27th in baseball with a .277 wOBA through Sunday.
Spiers' first start of the year saw him hold the Texas Rangers to one run across six innings, allowing only six baserunners in that span. While he did give up a home run in that game, which has been a problem for him throughout his career, the Pirates only have six of them on the year.
Ben Lively, CLE (Rostered in 4% of leagues)
Projected Starts: Wednesday vs. White Sox
Yes, through two starts, Ben Lively has not looked good. But he's facing the White Sox. That's all that should need to be said. Anyone facing the White Sox is a decent streaming option.
While Lively's first two starts against Kansas City and San Diego were not good, those were on the road. The return home should do well for Lively's output. In 2024, he put up an ERA almost a quarter of a run better at home (3.70) than on the road (3.93). Furthermore, his team also gave him much more run support in home contests a season ago, leading to a stellar 8-3 record at Progressive Field in 2024.
While that could very well change in 2025, it's hard to bet against a guy who had splits like that just a year ago facing arguably the worst offense in baseball.