Fantasy Baseball: 5 Pitchers to Stream in Week 4
Trevor Cahill, Oakland Athletics
Starts: April 23rd at Texas Rangers, April 29th vs. Toronto Blue Jays
ESPN percentage owned: 7.5%
Trevor Cahill showed up late to 2018, but he didn't look unprepared, slinging seven shutout frames against the Chicago White Sox and showing the strikeout upside that made him a streamer perennial last season despite the bloated 4.93 ERA.
Cahill's homecoming with the Oakland Athletics puts the 30-year-old in a nice spot to help pitching-needy fantasy owners, with the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum grading as one of the top offense-suppressing venues in the majors. And while his lack of fastball command (16.0% walk rate on 112 fourseams in 2017) puts a firm cap on his fantasy value, Cahill has plenty of swing-and-miss in that kitchen-sink arsenal. Last year he coaxed hitters to a 26.5% chase rate on his go-to sinker, with an eye-popping 20.2% swinging-strike rate on his slider -- all of which gives him significant upside against weaker offenses.
And weak offense is what he'll get in Week 4, lining up against the Rangers and Blue Jays, both of whom rank in the top 13 in swinging-strike rate and strikeout rate. The barely-owned Cahill is a plus-play in most formats, and deep-leaguers might consider him an outright hold.