Fantasy Baseball: 5 Pitchers to Stream in Week 17
Shane Bieber, Cleveland Indians
Start: July 24th vs. Pittsburgh Pirates, July 30th at Minnesota Twins
ESPN ownership: 46.5%
Shane Bieber returns to the Cleveland Indians after taking his rotation turn with Triple-A Columbus over the All-Star Break. The Indians were no doubt keen to keep their rookie righty in rhythm, with the 23-year-old cultivating a sharp 3.53 ERA and 3.11 fielding independent pitching (FIP) thanks in large part to his pinpoint control (4.4% walk rate and 63.4% first-pitch strikes).
Most projections systems have this over-performing former fourth-round pick regressing to a league-average or worse level in the second half (ZiPs gives Bieber a 4.20 ERA rest of season, while numberFire's models have the first-year righty reverting to a 5.06 mark), and it's hard not to see why: Bieber's coaxed just 9.9% soft contact across his first 43.1 frames in the majors, to say nothing of his 45% hard-contact rate allowed.
But while the rookie's yearlong prospects seem dim, it's worth considering Bieber as a short-term streaming option against the Pirates. Pittsburgh carries one of the MLB's lowest team hard-contact marks against righties in the first half, with just a 19.5% group line-drive rate and a middling group isolated slugging (ISO) of just .159.
Cautious owners in lineup lock leagues might steer clear thanks to an assignment against a pesky Twins over the weekend, though Minnesota isn't fearsome enough to warrant an outright fade.
