Fantasy Baseball: Waiver Wire Pitching Pickups, 4/22/13

One of the best starting pitchers who is on many waiver wires and scheduled to start Monday is Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Mike Leake shown here during a spring training game at Tempe Diablo Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

Monday’s the start of a new week and time to get your pitching staff lined up for success. One of the best ways to do that is to get some solid two-start pitchers to pug in an boost your numbers with both starts if possible. Monday doesn’t have any must-grab options, but there are four solid pitchers to consider all of whom have upside in certain categories.

All the pitchers highlighted in our daily post (archive here) are available in at least half of ESPN leagues. If you’re on the waiver wire looking for pitching help, check these guys out and add according to the needs your team has.

Possible Pickups

Mike Leake-Cincinnati Reds: (0.2%) Leake had shown little promise in his first two outings of the season allowing nine runs in 12 innings to the Nats and Pirates. His last start changed all that as he went seven shutout innings limiting the Phillies to just three hits while striking out seven and walking none to get his first decision of the year moving to 1-0. Monday, he faces the Cubs at home in Cincinnati matched up against Travis Wood who has gotten off to a nice start for Chicago. Facing the Reds offense though, I’d pass on Wood and go with Leake although his Saturday start against the Nats isn’t all that attractive of a matchup. Leake makes a solid pickup based on his results his last time out.

April 08, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; Minnesota Twins pitcher Kevin Correia (30) delivers a pitch against the Kansas City Royals during the first inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

Kevin Correia-Minnesota Twins: (0.6%) Another starter with an attractive first matchup is Correia who faces the Marlins Monday before drawing the Rangers on Saturday. He’s started the year with three solid starts going at least seven innings in each and allowing no more than three earned runs. He doesn’t pile up strikeouts but should be able to get a win against the Marlins and help your ERA and WHIP as well.

Felix Doubront-Boston Red Sox: (3.3%) Doubront is the best widely-available strikeout option that you can get for Monday’s start. In two starts this season, Doubront has 13 strikeouts in 10 innings pitched. His biggest downside is that he’s only been able to make it five innings in each of those starts. He’s 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA, but did fare better against Cleveland last time out than against Toronto in his first start of the season. He’ll make his first Fenway start of the year Monday against Oakland and then on Saturday he gets an even better matchup as the Sox host the Astros. He needs to be more efficient and limit damage, but Doubront can contribute K’s

Dylan Axelrod-Chicago White Sox: (0.1%) A more off the radar choice, Axelrod has had two strong starts this season although he was knocked around by the Nationals in Washington in his second start of the season. He doesn’t have a win yet, but his 4.70 ERA doesn’t reflect his two good starts. He limited the Blue Jays to two runs on seven hits in his six innings of work his last time out and went 5 2/3 without allowing an earned run to Seattle his first start of the season. Monday, he’s lined up to get the start against the Indians who hadn’t scored much at all before breaking out big-time Saturday. If the week goes according to play, he should bounce back to face the Rays at US Cellular in Chicago on Saturday. Axelrod won’t give you K’s or sheer dominance but can contribute in wins, ERA, and WHIP in good matchups which I think he has a pair of this week.

Past Results

Saturday was the good, the bad, and the injured in my five starters that I picked. Wei-Yin Chen and Jorge De La Rosa-my top two picks-pitched well and got wins. On the bad side, Rick Porcello and Phillip Humber who I said were high-risk were highly hittable and got crushed. Nick Tepesch was cruising until he was forced to leave the game early. Overall, my ERA took a pretty big hit, as you can see in my results for the past week: