Fantasy Baseball: 5 Pitchers to Stream for Week 22

Mike Montgomery, Chicago Cubs

Starts: August 28th vs. Pittsburgh Pirates, September 3rd vs. Atlanta Braves
ESPN ownership: 9 percent

The lack of wiggle room between Mike Montgomery's strikeout rate (18.9%) and walk rate (10.7%) make him a decidedly unsexy add outside of deep leagues, but he has filled in valiantly for the ailing Jon Lester, spinning 10.1 innings of shutout ball in the star lefty's stead since Lester was sidelined with shoulder fatigue earlier in the month.

The third-year southpaw won't wow anyone with his 90 MPH fastball, but by combining that pitch with an 80 MPH changeup and low-70s curve, he can occupy three distinct velocity bands and thus keep hitter off balance, earning a 58.9% grounder rate along with a 21.7% soft-contact mark.

Montgomery should see plenty of dribblers during this week's two-step, as he toes the rubber against a Pirates team that we've already established is a soft-contact machine, along with a Braves offense that hovers near the top of the leaderboard in terms of grounders and weak contact against lefties since the break.

The Chicago Cubs lefty has a mere 8% swinging-strike rate that keeps his upside decidedly capped, but with these matchups, he might have the safest floor of any of the pitchers in this group.