Starting Pitchers to Pick up for Spot Starts on Saturday, June 23

Major League Baseball fills up Saturday nicely with games starting from 1:10 to 10:10 ET meaning that they’ll be hardball somewhere across the country for probably 12+ hours straight. If you’ve got MLB.tv it’s a great day to just chill and catch up on tons of baseball news and action across the country.

If you got into Saturday needing a finishing kick in your fantasy baseball league, here’s my three recommended spot start pickups for Saturday and the results of the picks for the last week.

The Picks

Franklin Morales – Bos: (3.8% owned) Morales had a solid first start of the year going five innings against the Cubs giving up two runs on four hits while striking out nine. He may be a steal if he continues to develop for the Red Sox. He’s had a solid year all year with a 3.14 ERA and has pitched 12.1 innings in his last three appearances while allowing just the pair of runs. He’ll face the Braves in Fenway Saturday night at 7:15 as he looks for his first win as a starter when he matches up with Randall Delgado who enters the game with a 4-7 record and a 4.12 ERA.

Alex Cobb – TB: (2.1%) Alex Cobb is coming off his best start of the year by far as he shut down the Marlins for seven innings while allowing just two hits and striking out 10. He enters the game with a 3-3 record and a 3.82 ERA with a 1.17 WHIP and 32 strikeouts in 37.2 innings pitched. At 4:05, the Rays are in Philadelphia in a rematch of the 2008 World Series and Cobb will match up against Kyle Kendrick who is 2-7 with a 5.29 ERA

Clayton Richard – SD: (3.7%) Facing the Mariners at Petco looks to be a good matchup for Richard. In his last two outings he’s pitched 14.2 innings allowing just a single earned run. His last time out he struck out six A’s in Oakland while throwing 7.2 shutout innings. He’s 4-7 on the year with a 3.94 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP. He’ll match up against King Felix in this one so while a win may not be easy to come by, he should be able to limit the M’s who rank in the bottom third of the league in team OBP, Slugging, and batting average.

The Payoff

Travis Blackley was the big hit from Thursday’s action with Daisuke getting knocked around early and Jacob Turner having a solid first outing of the year for Detroit. It’s unusual, but none of the three figured in the decision at all leaving the pick’s win-loss ugly although they did definitely lower the ERA and WHIP considerably. Here’s how the picks have pitched over the last week.