Fantasy Baseball: 5 Pitchers to Stream in Week 5
Jake Junis, Kansas City Royals
Starts: April 30th vs. Tampa Bay Rays, May 5th at Detroit Tigers
ESPN ownership: 15%
It seems like lifetimes ago that Jake Junis was positioning himself as one of the breakout pitching talents of 2018. A rough stretch in June and July last year (7.33 ERA, .586 opponent SLG across 42 innings) largely erased with goodwill he'd gathered when he worked a 3.18 ERA in his first eight starts.
Thus the Kansas City Royals righty was met with apathy during 2019 draft season, and he hasn't done much to regain the interest of standard league owners, with the 26-year-old carrying an ugly 5.57 ERA through his first 32.1 innings of work.
Still, Junis' 4.28 FIP and outsized .351 BABIP allow do suggest a useful if unexceptional profile for streaming purposes, as do his marginal improvements in swinging strikes and home run rate. That early-week start against a surging Rays lineup might be a tough pill to swallow, but a date with Detroit (one of the AL's weakest offenses per ISO and wRC+) should put Junis on the map as a worthy two-start play in deeper leagues.
