Fantasy Baseball: 4 Pitchers to Stream for Week 25

Jameson Taillon, Pittsburgh Pirates

Start: September 19th vs. Milwaukee Brewers
ESPN ownership: 33 percent

At first glance, it's hard to fathom why reeling Pittsburgh Pirates righty Jameson Taillon remains on one third of ESPN rosters. His surface results over the last month have been positively brutal, with a 5.49 ERA in just under 20 innings, to say nothing of the uncomfortably thin margin between his 13% strikeout rate and 12% walk rate.

Still, a more palatable 3.61 fielding independent pitching (FIP) mark over that span, coupled with a decent 29% hard-hit rate, suggests that Taillon might not actually be displaying the wild depreciation in skills that his results seem to suggest.

Hard as it is to trust the erstwhile top prospect as you jockey for elbow room in your standings, the matchup with the Brewers provides Taillon with a strong floor and the potential to put up some crooked numbers in the strikeout column. After all, since the All Star break, the Brew Crew have been hitting like they've had a few too many, tallying one of the worst team whiff rates in baseball while losing the power stroke that made them a one of the surprise stories of the season's first half.

Add to that the continued dominance of Taillon's curveball (check out that 48.4% strikeout rate across 514 offerings this season) and the Brewers' futility against breaking pitches, and it seems like Taillon is in a nice spot to get started on a late-season revival.