Fantasy Baseball Two-Start Pitchers: Rankings & Waiver Pickups (Week 12) (2024)

You should be grinding two-start pitchers to give you an advantage over your competition during the season.

Each week, I will give you a breakdown of the two-start options for your fantasy leagues broken up into the following tiers:

Must Start: Pitchers you have to start because of their talent/matchups.
Should Start: Pitchers rostered in most formats and who should probably be in your lineup.
Here We Go: Pitchers you are probably starting in most formats but who come with some level of risk.
Feeling Lucky: Pitchers available in less than 25% of leagues that are risky but viable in deeper formats.
Desperate Measures: Pitchers you shouldn’t use unless you have no choice.

These projected two-start pitchers are subject to change and will with the season just beginning. For whatever it’s worth, I’m a little more conservative earlier in the season as I don’t love getting my ratios trashed early on.

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Fantasy Baseball Two-Start Pitchers: Week 12

Must Start

Corbin Burnes (SP – BAL) at TB, vs. PHI
Pablo Lopez (SP – MIN) vs. COL, vs. OAK
JP Sears (SP – OAK) at SD, at MIN
Zack Wheeler (SP – PHI) at BOS, at BAL
Paul Skenes (SP – PIT) at STL, at COL
Dylan Cease (SP – SD) vs. OAK, at NYM
Logan Gilbert (SP – SEA) vs. CWS, vs. TEX
Bryan Woo (SP – SEA) vs. CWS, vs. TEX
Ryan Pepiot (SP, RP – TB) vs. BAL, at ATL
Zach Eflin (SP – TB) vs. CHC, at ATL
Nathan Eovaldi (SP – TEX) at LAD, at SEA
Carlos Rodon (SP – NYY) at KC, at BOS
Erick Fedde (SP – CWS) at SEA, at ARI
Hunter Greene (SP – CIN) vs. CLE, at MIL
Jack Flaherty (SP – DET) vs. WAS, at HOU

Should Start

Kutter Crawford (SP, RP – BOS) vs. PHI, vs. NYY

Kutter Crawford would normally be in the Must Start tier even with the tough matchups he is facing, but he has struggled over his last three outings, allowing 15 earned runs in 16.1 innings. I think this is just a bump in the road and I am not overly worried about him, but we want to keep an eye on these two starts and see if he can turn it around.

Seth Lugo (SP – KC) vs. NYY, at LAD

Here We Go

Albert Suarez (RP, SP – BAL) vs. ATL, vs. PHI

Albert Suarez is now in the rotation with the Orioles losing both John Means and Dean Kremer to injuries. He has pitched well this season between the rotation and the bullpen, but this is a tougher set of matchups on the docket. At least the games are at home, so I like him as a pretty good streamer option.

Jose Soriano (RP, SP – LAA) at ARI, at SF

Jose Soriano has been up and down throughout the season with a 3.64 ERA and 55 strikeouts in 64.1 innings pitched. He can go deep into games, but sometimes the control gets him into problems. This isn’t a tough set of matchups versus a struggling Arizona offense and a bad Giants one. Both games are in friendly parks, so I am probably rolling with Soriano and hoping we get the good version.

Chris Paddack (SP, RP – MIN) vs. COL, vs. OAK

Chris Paddack has been in a bit of a rough stretch, but he has also had a brutal schedule recently, facing the Yankees twice, the Guardians, the Rangers and the Royals in his last six starts. He has one of the easiest possible two-steps this week with the A’s and Rockies away from Coors, so you are likely using him in all formats.

Tylor Megill (SP – NYM) vs. MIA, vs. SD

Tylor Megill has been pretty great since returning from the injured list (IL), throwing 17 innings over three starts with a 3.18 ERA and 20 strikeouts. He has a tough matchup at the end of the week, but a fantastic one to start it, and both matchups are at home. He should be used in most formats, just for the start against the Marlins alone.

Feeling Lucky

Brady Singer (SP – KC) vs. NYY, at LAD

Brady Singer deserves to be in a higher tier, but you don’t get matchups tougher than these versus two of the best offenses in baseball. Singer has a 2.76 ERA this season, but a 4.49 xERA. This feels like a pretty scary regression week.

Kyle Harrison (SP – SF) vs. HOU, vs. LAA

Kyle Harrison has been up and down, largely due to issues around command and control. It is hard to know when he will be on or off, which makes him difficult to trust when he has a tough matchup to lead off the week against the Astros. At least the back half is easy, and both matchups are at home

Jordan Montgomery (SP – ARI) vs. LAA, vs. CWS

Jordan Montgomery has struggled since debuting for the Diamondbacks, throwing 46.1 innings with a 6.80 ERA. If it weren’t for two of the best matchups in baseball, he would be in the Desperate Measures tier, but it is hard not to believe this isn’t a good week for a guy who has been a top-30 starting pitcher before.

Jesus Luzardo (SP – MIA) at NYM, at WAS

Jesus Luzardo had been pitching pretty well despite a loss in velocity since returning from the IL, but then he struggled versus the Padres and got lit up versus the Rays. These are two good matchups, so it is hard not to use him, but it is riskier than it appears.

Spencer Arrighetti (SP – HOU) at SF, vs. DET

Spencer Arrighetti was supposed to have a two-start week last week, but he got pushed back after leaving his start with a minor calf issue. He lines up for a much better set of matchups here against two teams that are lackluster offensively. He has struggled with walks but has also gotten unlucky in the strand rate and batting average on balls in play (BABIP) departments. While his lack of control is concerning, these are matchups I would roll with in deeper formats.

Desperate Measures

Dakota Hudson (SP, RP – COL) at MIN, vs. PIT
Tobias Myers (SP – MIL) vs. TOR, vs. CIN
Joey Estes (SP – OAK) at SD, at MIN
Patrick Corbin (SP – WAS) at DET, vs. MIA
Spencer Schwellenbach (SP – ATL) at BAL, vs. TB