Fantasy Baseball: 5 Pitchers to Stream for Week 1

Kendall Graveman, Oakland Athletics

ESPN ownership: 10.8 percent

Yahoo! ownership: 8 percent

The only nominal number one starter in the streamer wheelhouse in this opening week (and thus one of the few widely available pitchers with two starts on the docket over that span), Kendall Graveman is about as unassuming as a staff "ace" can get.

No, his 5.55 career strikeout-per-nine rate isn't going to raise any eyebrows, nor will a career xFIP of 4.38 that has improved only very slightly to a career 4.08 career ERA thanks to the spacious confines of his home ballpark at Oakland Coliseum.

Still, Graveman's first start at home against what should once again be a middling, top-heavy Los Angeles Angels squad makes for a serviceable one-off for fantasy owners who have been bitten early by the starting pitcher injury bug.

That said, owners facing weekly lineup locks should be appraised that Graveman faces a much more daunting task over the weekend, with an away tilt against a formidable Texas Rangers lineup.

Granted, Graveman's groundball-reliant approach could keep him competitive against a Rangers offense that was league average in terms of groundball percentage and slightly worse than average in terms of soft contact last year. Graveman's OPS-against splits (.695 at home and .788 away) should give streamers pause, though -- you'd need to be in pretty dire straits in terms of starter depth to run Graveman out for that Texas start.