These are the worst three weeks in fantasy baseball. They are the week before and after the All-Star Game and the week of the game smack dab in the middle. As it is, the game is beyond the actual midway point in the year, so there is less time to make up ground. And, especially during the week of the game, it is excruciating to make roster moves, especially if your league employs weekly moves.
There are no two-start pitchers during All-Star Week, so this becomes a useless week to try to pick up pitching points. The week before and after the game can be frustrating because, with so much time off in between, teams often skip starts, making it difficult to predict who will be making their two starts.
For this article, I always try to find viable pitchers owned in less than 50% of their leagues. These are the very pitchers who often get skipped. With that being said, I’ll give it a shot.
There is a huge docket of games on Monday, which theoretically means there will be many two-start options. However, in looking at the cast of characters, there are only two types of pitchers going: pitchers who are owned in nearly all of their leagues and pitchers who are barely owned at all, and for good reason–they are awful.
But in looking, I did manage to find two pitchers for your consideration:
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Yilber Diaz-Arizona Diamondbacks
Diaz has only made two starts this year but has pitched extremely well. He is still under the radar and owned in less than 10% of leagues, making him someone to target.
The 23-year-old righty does have a win under his belt, and he’s posted a quality start in each of his two games thus far. He’s 1-0 and pitched six innings each game. He has a solid 0.92 WHIP and an even more impressive 1.50 ERA.
Michael Lorenzen-Texas Rangers
Since making the switch to a starter a couple of years ago, Lorenzen has been a nice pitcher, eating innings and keeping his team in games. As a starter since 2022, he has a 22-20 record, including this year.
He has had a consistent WHIP in the 1.20s, and this year, his ERA is nearly one run less than the last two seasons. He’s sporting a 3.52 ERA. His biggest detractor is that he pitches to contact, only striking out 65 hitters in 92 innings. He does have a favorable matchup on Monday, facing the Chicago White Sox.