Roto Riteup: April 15, 2016

The NL East is going to be a streaming pitcher haven all year, it looks like. We’ve mentioned this, and we’re still not even halfway to the point that team batting average, for example, begins stabilizing, but given our Bayesian prior for some of these teams, it’s time to start focusing on the Phillies, Braves, and Mets.

Those three teams entered Thursday’s action as the league’s three worst offenses by wRC+ at 68, 55, and 53, respectively, each with an above-average strikeout rate. Philadelphia scored three runs on four hits (three for extra bases), the Braves mustered two on five (and one), and the Mets mercifully had a day off. The Twins are your target in the AL.

On the agenda:
1. Jaime Garcia has career night
2. Vincent Velasquez is exactly as good
3. Various News and Notes
4. Streaming Pitcher Options

Jaime Garcia has career night
It feels like it’s been about, well, never since Jaime Garcia was last healthy. Since a breakout 2010 and follow-up 2011, he’s thrown 122, 55, 43, and 130 innings. And so despite a 3.33 career ERA and 3.34 career FIP, Garcia was barely inside the top-60 starters at draft time, even though he locked down a job in the Cardinals’ rotation.

After a somewhat disappointing opener, Garcia looked better than he’s perhaps ever looked. He struck out a career-high 13 batters with just one walk in a complete game shutout. That gives him a 19:4 strikeout-to-walk ratio in the early going, and that success is going to warrant a deeper dive into how his arsenal’s looking. For now, he’s probably worth an add in the 20 percent of leagues in which he’s still available – talent’s never been the issue, so he should be owned while healthy.

He wasn’t the only pitcher with a Game Score of 97 yesterday.

Vincent Velasquez is exactly as good
To be quite honest, Vincent Velasquez was even better than Garcia on Thursday. He struck out 16 batters without issuing a walk, surrendering three hits in a complete game shutout of his own. His FIP was -0.38 on the day, bringing his season-long mark to 0.44. That’s much higher than his 0.00 ERA, so expect his ERA to regress to, like, almost half a run sometime soon.

Velasquez had a bit of a rocky debut as a swingman with the Astros last year, a 55.2-inning stint in which his ERA underperformed his peripherals. Now, his fastball is like a distant diamond sky, registering 13 of his strikeouts and a PITCHf/x era-tying 20 whiffs yesterday.

Wow, Velasquez threw 62% of his pitches in the zone, half in the heart of the plate, mostly fastballs pic.twitter.com/yIBLuJxMi2

— Bill Petti (@BillPetti) April 15, 2016

He’s still available in a quarter of leagues. Few starters have such high strikeout projections.

Various News and Notes
Drew Pomeranz was great opposite Velasquez, too. He’s up to 15 strikeouts in 11 innings this year. He remains a pitcher I really like despite the control issues.

Josh Donaldson is already at five home runs. That early-season calf scare seems like months ago. Kris Bryant homered for a second day in a row. Bryce Harper hit a grand slam for his third homer of the year and the 100th of his career. Elite sluggers gonna…slug elitely.

Brandon Crawford left the Giants’ game with a hip flexor injury. Ehire Adrianza replaced him but had to leave, himself, after fouling a ball off his foot. Crawford is hoping not to miss time, and if he’s wrong, Kelby Tomlinson would see some reps. Tomlinson has wheels but not the tools to get on base to use them.

Sergio Romo suffered a more certain fate than Crawford, as he’ll hit the DL with a right flexor strain. He won’t even be reevaluated for two weeks, which opens up an opportunity for trendy bullpen sleeper Hunter Strickland. Strickland already had value in leagues where middle relievers were valuable, but this moves him a seat closer to the closer’s chair in the event Santiago Casilla is unavailable. So of course, Strickland responded by allowing a run in a low-leverage inning of work.

Also in that game, Tony Wolters stole a pair of bases. This is a catching prospect who once stole 19 bags in 69 games at Low-A, and while that was half a decade ago, he’s stolen three or more every year since. Sadly, he doesn’t have the power to take advantage of Coors Field if he were to get more playing time, and Tom Murphy remains the more intriguing depth behind Nick Hundley, who’s being checked for a concussion.

Justin Turner missed Thursday’s game due to a sore hand. X-rays were negative, but he’s probably best to avoid with the late start Friday just in case. Byron Buxton also had a negative X-ray on his hand after being hit with a pitch.

Justin Masterson signed a minor-league deal with the Pirates. Maybe they’ll sprinkle their magic pixie dust on him. Yu Darvish is hoping to return in roughly a month. Bet on the long side of that, given the lack of specificity in his statement.

Streaming Pitcher Options
If you enjoy streaming pitchers or play DFS, tune into the Roto Riteup for recommendations each and every day.

A pitcher for today: Joe Ross @ PHI (Jeremy Hellickson)
Available in roughly half of leagues and likely to be a cheap DFS play on a day with plenty of good pitchers throwing, Joe Ross draws those same Phillies. Picking on them back-to-back isn’t my favorite approach, but I’m a believer in Ross.

A pitcher for tomorrow: Josh Tomlin vs NYM (Matt Harvey)
Steering into my Trevor Bauer crash here by giving the nod to Josh Tomlin, who must have earned the job for something. This will be his first start of 2016, and he’ll look to build on the 7:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio he posted over 65.2 innings last year.