Starting Pitching to Consider Picking up for Tuesday, July 31

There’s 15 games across the Major Leagues as the month of July comes to a close. If you’re already on the hunt for starting pitching this week, there’s some intriguing options in good matchups that can be found on the waiver wire in more than 50% of ESPN leagues. Here’s our picks and how they’ve fared the past week.

The Picks

Jason Vargas – Sea: (48.5%) Vargas has been awesome lately and is the best widely available pickup although he’s probably going to cross the 50% mark by gametime. It’s understandable why he’d be such a good pickup as the Mariners welcome the Blue Jays to the West Coast. In his last six starts Vargas has logged 43.2 innings while allowing a total of eight runs. He’s gone 4-0 over that stretch to get his record to 11-7 to go with his 3.76 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP. He doesn’t strike out a ton of batters but has avoided getting shelled and will get to pitch in spacious Safeco Field Tuesday night against Aaron Laffey and Toronto.

Matt Harvey – NYM: (31.9%) Harvey has been a hot pickup since his MLB debut last Thursday. He struck out 11 D-Backs in 5.1 innings while giving up just three hits and walking three. He’s got the potential to be a top of the rotation starter for the Mets for years to come. Although there may be some bumps along the road, Harvey is a  great pickup for the rest of the year. Tuesday he’ll face the Giants in San Francisco as he goes up against the possibly-coming-around Tim Lincecum in what should be a fascinating late game (10:15 ET start).

Francisco Liriano – ChW: (33.3%) In his last start, Liriano was a member of the Twins going up against his division rival the White Sox. Tuesday he’ll be a member of the White Sox going up against his division rival the Twins. It could be either a great thing or a horrible thing, but Liriano had been pitching fairly well before being cranked by his then-foes now-teammates. He was due for a rough outing but has been solid after some early-season struggles. In the two starts before his last one, he has 25 K’s in 14 innings and he’s the rare waiver wire pickup who can rack up K’s. The White Sox lineup is mashing too (outside of Sunday Night’s shutout) and should give him a good chance to pick up the W.

Kris Medlen – Atl: (0.1%) If all the above options are gone in your super-deep league, go the more non-traditional route with Kris Medlen. The Braves host the  sliding Marlins on Tuesday and Medlen makes the move from the bullpen to the rotation. He has served as Atlanta’s long-reliever and has pitched 54.1 innings over 38 games. He hasn’t allowed a run in his last five appearances including a three inning no-hit outing last Wednesday against Miami. He struck out five in that outing and lowered his ERA to 2.48 with a 1.09 WHIP. If he can convert his recent success to the starting rotation he can be a boost to your fantasy team as well as to the Braves. He may not get lots of chances if the Braves acquire a starting pitcher through trade, but is worth a look as a spot starter.

The Past Week

Here’s our results from the past week: