Starting Pitcher Pickups for June 28-Spot Starter Selection

Depending on how your fantasy baseball week has started, you may find yourself in need of some serious starting pitching help. Fortunately, there’s still plenty of baseball to be played including a fairly full Thursday with 12 games on the schedule and just six teams taking the day off.

Here’s three pitchers who have been showing positive signs and are in good matchups for a spot start for Thursday. As with all our picks, these pitchers are owned in less than 50% of ESPN leagues.

Jun 23, 2012; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Franklin Morales (46) pitches against the Atlanta Braves during the first inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Mark L. Baer-US PRESSWIRE

The Pickups

Franklin Morales – Bos: (6.8% owned) Morales has been a huge find for the Red Sox in the starting rotation and is now forcing discussion of a six-man rotation depending on Clay Buchholz’s condition. Morales has made two effective starts for Boston spanning 11 innings allowing 11 hits, four earned runs, a walk, and 17 strikeouts. He’s been able to overcome the inconsistency that made the Rockies move him to the ‘pen earlier in his career and has become a nice strikeout/win option if you need help in those categories. He’s matched up with the light-hitting Mariners and their ace Felix Hernandez, so he’ll need to bring his best to beat King Felix but should be able to have a solid start even if the W eludes him.

April 18, 2012; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Jair Jurrjens (49) pitches in the second inning against the New York Mets at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-US PRESSWIRE

Jair Jurrjens – Atl: (11.4%) After getting crushed early in the season and getting demoted to Triple-A Gwinnett, Jurrjens bounced back and dominated Boston at Fenway in his first start back in the Bigs. He pitched 7.2 innings allowing just a run on three hits while walking one and striking out four. He hasn’t demonstrated the consistency to make this a sure-thing, but he took a huge first step last start. He’ll start at home against Arizona at 7:10 on Thursday against D-Backs callup and top prospect Trevor Bauer. Bauer has been great at Triple-A but he’s just making his MLB debut. I think Jurrjens makes a better pickup for a spot start.

Chris Young – NYM: (1.1%) Young has made four starts and allowed just nine earned runs while striking out 12 in 23.2 innings and posting a 1-1 record. The Mets are on the West Coast facing the Dodgers and former teammate Chris Capuano as they open a four-game set Thursday behind Young.

The Payoff

Here’s our results for the last week. It’s been inconsistent as usual with spot starters, but you can see our overall track record for the past week.