Fantasy Baseball Spot Starter For 3/31/11

Every good fantasy baseball player knows the value of the spot starter.  In head to head leagues, good spot starts can help you win four categories a week and in roto leagues you need to use spot starters to accumulate more stats when your starting pitchers either have bad days or are injured.  That's why I'm going to offer daily recommendations for spot starter pickups.  Obviously I'm only going to offer guys that are readily available in most leagues but I haven't decided on the official ownership cut-off yet.  Also, the plan is to offer these spot starters a day or two in advance so you have time to put in the pickup and get the player starting on your roster before the day that it happens.

Derek Lowe - Atlanta Braves - At Nationals @ 1:05 PM Thursday 3/31/11 - 22.3% ESPN Ownership

It is a rough day for spot start pickups, but fantasy owners who drafted injured pitchers will need someone to start for them.  It's opening day and there are just twelve teams playing and because it's opening day it's all staff aces.  Of the twelve players who are starting, eight of them are owned in 100% of leagues.  The four available pitchers are Derek Lowe, Tim Stauffer, Luke Hochevar and Livan Hernandez, and of the four Lowe is the obvious choice.  Lowe plays for the best of the four teams and is playing against the lowly Nationals Thursday.  He should be good for a win and a few strikeouts and give you a good day in ERA and WHIP.

Of the other options, the only one I would be willing to play is Stauffer.  Stauffer should get you a similar stat line to Lowe, but he probably won't get the win going up against the Cardinals and Chris Carpenter.  Hochevar and Hernandez shouldn't be starting for any reason, if you need a starter and Lowe and Stauffer are unavailable just wait until Friday when you have better options.