The first few weeks of the regular season are tough on deciding who can be a quality two-start pitcher. It’s not just the pitchers who are unknown. It’s also the opposing offenses.
Of the teams that have scored the fewest runs this season, I’m pretty sure Detroit and Cincinnati will remain in that category for much of the year. However, what about slow starters Cleveland and Colorado?
Is now the time to try to get some cheap victories while their offenses are starting slow? Or is it wise to continue to avoid them?
Brett Anderson, SP, Oakland A’s
There’s not a lot to choose from with the odd MLB season during the early portion of the season.
So while I don’t love Anderson, I don’t mind his matchups this week. Anderson will square off against Baltimore and Texas this week, both bottom-half offenses in terms of batting average so far this season.
The Orioles have been worse than the Rangers, batting a meager .230 during the season.
Don’t look too much into the Orioles putting up big numbers on Monday. This offense is not consistent, so Anderson should be able to get through Baltimore’s offense, before having a solid chance against the Rangers.
Anderson has allowed just three earned runs this season. He won’t light the world on fire with strikeouts, but he can produce quality starts.
Derek Holland, SP, San Francisco Giants
The Giants offense has been atrocious this season. That doesn’t mean Holland can’t have success against two less-than-average offenses for 2019 this week.
Holland will toe the rubber against San Diego and Colorado this week. As mentioned before, the Rockies are usually one of the best offenses in Major League Baseball. However, the Rockies have limped out of the gate, batting just .216 as a team so far this season.
The Padres haven’t been much better with a .237 batting average.
Holland has been pretty good so far this season, generating 12 strikeouts in two outings and giving up five earned runs. We’ll back Holland once again this week.
