Fantasy Baseball Starting Pitchers to Pickup for August 16

Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Kris Medlen. Anthony Gruppuso-US PRESSWIRE

Thursday is a lighter day on the baseball schedule with 11 games instead of the typical 15. If you need a mid-week pitching boost though, there are some options to be found among the scheduled starters for Thursday who can be found on most waiver wires across ESPN leagues.

Here’s the three options that I’m the highest on before first pitch:

Pitchers to Consider

Kris Medlen-Atl: (owned in 35.8% of ESPN leagues) Medlen is the top option among the pitchers owned in less than 50% of leagues. In his three starts he’s allowed a total of three runs in 16.2 innings. He’s shown the ability to pick up strikeouts as well with a solid 16:4 strikeout to walk ratio. He’s even forced manager Fredi Gonzalez to go with a six-man rotation based on his success. He’ll face the light-hitting Padres as they visit the Bravos in the conclusion of their four-game set. San Diego counters Medlen with Jason Marquis who has also been solid of late but will have trouble navigating the Braves lineup.

August 8, 2012; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Dan Straily (67) pitches the ball against the Los Angeles Angels during the fourth inning at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-US PRESSWIRE

Dan Straily- Oak: (8.4%) Straily will be looking to bounce back from getting knocked around by the Angels his last start. He looked good in his MLB debut on August 3 holding the Blue Jays to a run in six innings but struggled his last start giving up four home runs and five earned runs in 4.2 innings. He’ll face the Royals in his third career start still in search of his first Major League decision. He was the Minor League strikeout leader and has 10 in his 10.2 innings so far in the Majors. He will give you some K’s at least and appears to have a favorable matchup against Luke Hochevar who is 7-10 with a 5.32 ERA on the year.

Trevor Cahill- Ari: (23.2%) Cahill is an option only when he’s away from home which he is for his next start Thursday against St. Louis. He is 5-4 on the road with a 2.88 ERA (compared to 4-7, 4.97 at home) and he’ll look to continue that trend and even his record at 10-10 as he and the D-Backs face Kyle Lohse and the Cardinals.

Past Results

Here’s the way our picks have fared over the past week: