Week 2 Two-Start Pitchers Update

Here is the latest update to Week 2 two-start pitchers. Again this list is subject to change going forward.

Pitchers not listed on last update

F. Hernandez, Price, Cahill, Burnett, Duensing, Pineda, Richard, Matsuzaka, Francis, Tillman, Penny, Litsch, Talbot.

Pitcher no longer scheduled for two starts: Stauffer

Of the new pitchers, Jeff Francis is an interesting one to examine. After missing all of the 2009 season recovering from shoulder surgery, Francis came back to pitch 104.1 innings for the Rockies last year. A free agent following the 2010 season, the former 17-game winner had to sign an incentive-heavy, $1 year/$2 million deal with the Royals.

While winless in his first two starts, Francis has pitched into the seventh inning both games and has a 1.98 ERA along with a solid 3.28 xFIP. He’s getting more swings out of the zone (31.3 O-Swing%) and batters are making less contact than normal. It makes him an interesting candidate for his two starts this week and he potentially has some favorable pitching matchups.

In his first game this week, Francis squares off against Brian Duensing and the Twins. In his first start, Duensing’s velocity was down 2 mph from his average last year. Plus Minnesota is next to last in the American League with a 2.62 runs per game average.

Francis’ second start comes against rookie sensation Michael Pineda. Dave Cameron reviewed Pineda’s first start and concluded that Pineda has some work to do with his off-speed offerings to lefty batters, who managed two doubles and a triple in his game against the Rangers. The Royals can stack a lineup full of lefties to face Pineda, including the red-hot Alex Gordon, along with Chris Getz, Melky Cabrera, the Kila monster and Wilson Betemit.

While those names might not strike fear into many hearts and minds, that group has led the Royals to a 6-3 start to the season. Available on the waver wire in most leagues, Francis is a potential pickup to stream for his two starts this week.





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CptSpandex
12 years ago

The problem, of course, is that a great deal of your premise for streaming this guy is his favorable matchups. You cite that Minnesota has scored 2.62 runs per game, but fail to acknowledge that the Twins still have a very good offense. Eventually, they will come around. Do you want to be starting an 85 mph soft tosser on a still very bad team (it’s 9 games in for Chrtist’s sake) when they do? Not me.

Ben
12 years ago
Reply to  CptSpandex

As a huge Twins fan, the Twins’ offense could really, really suck this year.

glassSheets
12 years ago
Reply to  CptSpandex

Even when the Twins offense is going right (like it was in 2010), the Twins are a middle of the road offense vs LHP. Span, Mauer, Morneau, Kubel, Thome… from the right hand side they have Delmon, Cuddyer, and Valencia and a slew of switch hittting middle infielders. The RHB hardly strike fear into even the softest of soft tossers.