Fantasy Baseball: 5 Starting Pitchers to Stream in Week 1

Clayton Richard, San Diego Padres

Starts: March 29th vs. Milwaukee Brewers, April 4th vs. Colorado Rockies
ESPN ownership: 6.0%

Another decidedly unsexy starter with a pair of plum venue matchups this week is journeyman lefty Clayton Richard. Diehard streamers will recall Richard's solid run of usable fantasy production in the last two months of 2017 when the soft-contact maestro tallied a 3.52 ERA over 64 innings thanks to a stellar 61.9% ground ball rate.

Of course, a walk-prone pitcher who is this reliant on batted-ball luck is going to be too much of a WHIP liability to roster in most standard leagues, but two starts in the accommodating environs of Safeco Field do make him an interesting dart throw for deep-leaguers. After all, Richard was excellent at home during the stretch run last season, twirling 28.1 innings of 0.95-ERA ball (certified with a quite respectable 2.63 FIP) across August and September.