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Welcome to another edition of our daily fantasy baseball streamers! Are you playing in leagues with daily moves and looking to beef up those rosters? We here at RotoBaller are there for you and all of your streaming needs. Whether you are just trying to get that elusive category win or you are trying to make up for Yu Darvish or Max Scherzer getting trashed before the break, we can help. Each day, RotoBaller will provide you with some of the best streaming options to consider in both shallow and deep fantasy baseball daily leagues. Streaming hitters and pitchers to exploit matchups are important to help you win your league.
It is important to know your league if you're going to stream. I'm not just talking about which teams your leaguemates root for. I'm talking about whether strikeouts count against you for hitters or if fielding stats are included. Most importantly, you need to know how many transactions you have per week. You don't want to blow your allotment within a couple of days. You can also use these recommendations to help build your DFS lineups. This article will use rostered percentages and position eligibility from ESPN leagues.
We have nine pitchers going that are owned in more than 90% of ESPN leagues. Seven more are owned in more than half of leagues. There are two double dippers today, so we have exactly half of the pitching pond to fish out of. Let's see what we can come up with.
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Hitter Streamers for 7/17 - Shallow Leagues
Eric Haase (C/OF, RHB, DET) - 45.5% Rostered
Matchup: vs. MIN RHP Kenta Maeda; vs. MIN LHP Charlie Barnes
You can plug in Haase at catcher even though he will likely play in the outfield in both games. We are going to get at least six at-bats from a guy with five homers and 13 RBI already in July. Not only that, but Barnes is making his major league debut and Maeda has trouble keeping balls within the walls. There's a lot of potential for Haase here.
Jed Lowrie (2B, RHB, OAK) - 34.1% Rostered
Matchup: vs. CLE RHP Cal Quantrill
Lowrie hit the break on a tear, riding a six-game hitting streak in which he hit .417 with two homers, six RBI, and three runs scored against the Rangers and Astros. He came out out the break with a walk-off homer, his third in the last three games. Lowrie is hitting .448 during his seven-game hitting streak with three homers, nine RBI, and four runs scored. This wont last forever, but Lowrie can provide a nice boost when he's this hot.
Luis Arraez (2B/3B/OF, LHB, MIN) - 31.9% Rostered
Matchup: at DET RHP Jose Urena; at DET RHP Matt Manning
Arraez gets to bat leadoff against not one, but two pitchers in the same day with an ERA in the mid to high 6's. It almost doesn't even matter that Arraez is hitting .359 with nine runs scored leading off for the Twins in July. Almost. Of course it matters! It matters more because both pitchers that the Twins get to tee off on today are struggling. We should see Arraez cross the plate at least once in these two games.
Garrett Cooper (1B/OF, RHB, MIA) - 26% Rostered
Matchup: at PHI RHP Vince Velasquez
Cooper should go on the IL more often. Since his return on June 25, Cooper is hitting .444 with four homers, ten RBI, and 14 runs scored. As our Jon Anderson pointed out yesterday, Cooper has a 19% barrel rate since June 1, which puts him among some elite names. Put that in a hitter-friendly park against a painfully average pitcher in Velasquez, and we have a recipe for Cooper having more success at the plate.
Hitter Streamers for 7/17 - Deeper Leagues
Leury Garcia (2B/SS/OF, SHB, CWS) - 15.1% Rostered
Matchup: vs. HOU RHP Jake Odorizzi
Garcia is hitting .366 with two of his three homers on the season, 11 RBI, and six runs scored so far in July. Garcia is mostly known for his speed, even though his steal numbers are down this year. Right now he is driving in runs, which is the hope here with a guy running hot that can fill in at three separate positions.
Michael Taylor (OF, RHB, KC) - 13% Rostered
Matchup: vs. BAL RHP Jorge Lopez
Taylor entered the break with a modest five-game hitting streak and is hitting .359 with three homers, seven RBI, two steals, and eight runs scored in the last fortnight. The Royals haven't hat a lot to feel good about this season, but this kind of resurgence from Taylor is one of the few bright spots. His hit streak ended last night, but Taylor still managed two walk twice and score a run for those of you in leagues that count OBP. He has a good matchup all weekend if you're looking for average help.
Albert Pujols (1B, RHB, LAD) - 5% Rostered
Matchup: at COL LHP Kyle Freeland
It's not often that you can get a guy with 675 career homers off of waivers for a game in Coors Field against a lefty. That is the case with Pujols. He is hitting .409 in 22 July at-bats with a pair of homers, four runs scored, and six RBI. When the Dodgers have called on Pujols, he has proven that he can still hit. I'll take a shot on him since he should be starting against the lefty tonight.
Trevor Larnach (OF, LHB, MIN) - 4.8% Rostered
Matchup: at DET RHP Jose Urena; at DET RHP Matt Manning
Yes, I'm loading up on Twins. Hey, we could get eight at-bats from all these waiver chums against two pitchers whose combined ERA is nearly 7 and statistically the worst bullpen in baseball behind them. Larnach has hits in eight of 11 July games with two homers, eight RBI, and six runs scored. I'll take that against a pair of struggling righties, especially since I don't have to pay anything for him.
Pitcher Streamers for 7/17 - Shallow Leagues
Zach Thompson (RHP, MIA) - 37.9% rostered
Matchup: at Philadelphia
Thompson has shown flashes of dominance in his first five major league starts. He holds a 2.25 ERA and 1.00 WHIP while striking out 31 batters in only 24 innings. This isn't against soft competition or due to his home park either. Thompson has faced the Braves twice, Washington, the Cubs, and Boston in those five starts. That makes his number all the more impressive. This isn't a great matchup against the Phillies, but it's better than most of the ones he has had so far and he passed those tests with flying colors.
Alex Cobb (RHP, LAA) - 23.2% rostered
Matchup: vs. Seattle
Cobb has only allowed one run in his last two starts, one of which was against this same Mariners team. Cobb has allowed one run or less in six of his last nine starts. He allowed five runs or more in the other three. I would like to see more consistency, but we also know he's giving up one or less here against Seattle because I don't see him giving up five.
Pitcher Streamers for 7/17 - Deeper Leagues
Tylor Megill (RHP, NYM) - 14.5% rostered
Matchup: at Pittsburgh
If you're in the market for a win, Megill probably isn't your guy. He has only gone five full innings twice in four starts. However, Megill has racked up 26 strikeouts in just 18 innings to start his career. He still has some control issues, but you usually can't find this kind of strikeout potential there on waivers. Megill struck out seven Pirates in just 3.2 innings in his last start before the break. We have to think he can come close to that output again.
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