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Baseball is back, and fantasy managers in daily leagues no doubt already have holes to fill with streamers. Fortunately, RotoBaller has you covered with daily streaming picks.
Each day, RotoBaller will provide you with some of the best streaming options to consider in fantasy baseball daily leagues. Additionally, these recommendations can be useful for fantasy managers setting DFS lineups.
We have a massive 15-game slate Wednesday, and it’s an unusual one in that all but two are afternoon contests. That naturally means lineup decisions have to be made early in the day, but fortunately, there are quite a few streamable players with 30 teams taking the field. This article will use rostered percentages and position eligibility from Yahoo! leagues.
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Hitter Streamers for 4/7 - Shallow Leagues
Randal Grichuk (OF, TOR) - 42% rostered
Matchup: @TEX RHP Kyle Gibson
Grichuk has hit safely in each of his first five games, leading to a .500 average and five RBI. The slugging veteran has slugged 94 of his 135 career homers off right-handed pitchers, while Rangers starter Kyle Gibson gave up a .283/.366/.434 line and .350 wOBA to right-handed bats last season before opening this year by giving up three earned runs to the first five right-handed bats he’s faced. Grichuk also happens to enjoy a fair amount of success against Gibson’s two most often-thrown pitches, the sinker and slider. Grichuk posted .339 and .341 wOBAs, respectively against those offerings in 2020, and he boasts respective .541 and .405 figures versus those pitches over a very small sample this season.
Jorge Polanco (SS, MIN) - 46% rostered
Matchup: @DET LHP Matthew Boyd
Polanco is a quality hitter who is simply off to a nightmarish start in the new season, as his slash stands at .091/.167/.091 through his first 24 plate appearances. However, he may find a cure for what ails him Wednesday in Boyd, who’s allowed 111 home runs and a .343 wOBA to right-handed hitters over his career, including 14 round trippers, a .304/.377/.608 slash and a .410 wOBA to that handedness last season specifically. The switch-hitting Polanco was excellent against lefties in 2020 as well, as evidenced by the .345/.351/.455 line and .344 wOBA he generated against southpaws, along with a massive 40.0 percent line-drive rate against that handedness on the road.
Akil Baddoo (OF, DET) - 27% rostered
Matchup: vs. MIN RHP Kenta Maeda
Baddoo is one of the unlikely stars of the early portion of the season, hitting safely in each of his first three career games, including a home run on the first pitch he saw in the bigs and a grand slam in his second contest. On the surface, the matchup against Maeda is hardly one that looks exploitable, but the veteran right-hander has had trouble with left-handed bats over the course of his career. Maeda has already given up a .446 wOBA to the first 13 lefty hitters he’s faced in 2021, and before his career-best 2020, he’d given up .319, .348 and .331 wOBAs to left-handed batters in his three previous seasons. Baddoo is going to slow down eventually, but his early batted-ball profile of a 40.0 percent line-drive rate and 60.0 percent hard-contact rate underscores how well Baddoo is seeing and squaring up on the ball.
Kolten Wong (2B, MIL) - 26% rostered
Matchup: @CHC RHP Kyle Hendricks
Wong’s Brewers career is off to an inauspicious start, as he’s hitting just .133 over his first five games. The veteran infielder does have a .381 OBP thanks to a discerning eye at the plate that’s already led to four walks, and Wednesday, he faces a pitcher he knows extremely well in Hendricks. While individual batter vs. pitcher history should always be looked at with some caution and only used as one piece of the puzzle, Wong has logged a robust 46 plate appearances against Hendricks and has struck out just five times while posting a .310/.370/.452 slash that includes three doubles and a home run. Additionally, Wong posted a .400 wOBA versus right-handed pitching outside his then- home park of Busch Stadium last season, and he posted a .316/.400/.525 slash with a .385 wOBA against righties on the road back in the larger sample of 2019. Wong is an excellent contact hitter as well, and his ability to recently thrive against Hendricks’ trademark sinker (.366 and .342 wOBAs against the pitch the last two seasons) make him an appealing streaming candidate.
Hitter Streamers for 4/7 - Deep Leagues
Joey Votto (1B, CIN) - 20% rostered
Matchup: vs. PIT RHP Chad Kuhl
Votto checked into Tuesday’s game against the Pirates being held back by an atypically low .200 BABIP despite a solid 20.0 percent line-drive rate and 46.7 percent hard-contact rate across his first 18 plate appearances. Matters didn’t get much better, as despite the Reds exploding for 14 runs, Votto went just 1-for-4 and is still waiting on his first extra-base hit of the campaign. The veteran had between 42 and 71 extra-base knocks from 2015-19, so this drought isn’t going to last much longer. It could well end against Kuhl, who’s allowed a .361 wOBA, 1.4 HR/9 and .852 OPS to left-handed hitters in his career. Votto already has a 27.3 percent line-drive rate and 45.5 percent hard-contact rate against right-handed pitching specifically in 2021, and he owns a .406 wOBA and 151 wRC+ versus righties at home during his career.
Jurickson Profar (2B, OF, SDP) - 18% rostered
Matchup: vs. SFG RHP Kevin Gausman
Profar cooled off a bit Tuesday with a 0-for-3 night against the Giants, but he’d hit safely in three straight before that contest and has struck out just once thus far in his first 18 plate appearances. The switch-hitting Profar also boasted a .292/.426/.500 slash and .400 wOBA against right-handed pitching at home last season, while Gausman allowed a massive 1.013 OPS and .411 wOBA to left-handed hitters on the road back in his last normal-length season sample in 2019. Finally, consider Profar has historically done very well against Gausman’s trademark four-seam fastball, which the veteran pitcher allowed wOBAs of between .347 and .386 on over the last four seasons. In turn, Profar owns a .351 wOBA for his career against the four-seamer, including a .404 wOBA in 2020.
Andrelton Simmons (SS, MIN) - 5% rostered
Matchup: @DET LHP Matthew Boyd
Simmons has hit the ground running in his new Minnesota digs, and he should be refreshed after only serving as a pinch hitter Tuesday. He hit safely in each of his first four starts, compiling a double, three RBI, five walks and five runs over that span. The veteran shortstop will be in position to similarly thrive against Boyd as his teammate Polanco, as Simmons has hit left-handed pitchers well throughout his career. He also owns a career .307 average, .374 OBP and .341 wOBA against the four-seam fastball, Boyd’s most often-thrown pitch and one he’s yielded a .367 wOBA and 75 home runs with when deploying it over his career.
Joey Wendle (2B, 3B, SS, TAM) - 17% rostered
Matchup: @BOS RHP Nathan Eovaldi
Wendle has hits in three of his first four games and has already compiled four RBI thanks to an early .429 average with runners in scoring position. The lefty-hitting infielder is an above-average contact hitter who’s had sub-20.0 percent strikeout rates in each of the last three seasons, which certainly makes him more appealing against a power pitcher like Eovaldi. Wendle owns a career .293/.335/.438 line and .329 wOBA versus right-handed pitching on the road in his career, while Eovaldi has allowed a .340 wOBA and .783 OPS to lefty bats over his time in the majors. Finally, also consider Wendle may benefit from facing a tired bullpen whenever Eovaldi exits – Boston relievers have now logged 32.2 innings for the season following Tuesday’s 12-inning affair, one in which six pitchers were deployed behind starter Martin Perez.
Pitcher Streamers for 4/7 - Shallow Leagues
Madison Bumgarner (SP, ARI) - 24% rostered
Matchup: @COL RHP Antonio Senzatela
Bumgarner knows this Rockies squad he’ll see Wednesday extremely well, and it’s actually one he’s held his own against in recent seasons, even at Coors. He’ll also have the benefit of facing a likely sluggish group that just logged 13 innings Tuesday night and now has to turn around and play a late afternoon contest (local time) Wednesday. Bumgarner did struggle in his first start of the season against the Padres, but he’s held current Rockies bats to a cumulative .151/.158/.227 line over 173 total plate appearances and has gone 6-2 against Colorado the last five seasons.
Pitcher Streamers for 4/7 - Deep Leagues
David Peterson (SP, NYM)- 11% rostered
Matchup: @PHI RHP Aaron Nola
Peterson was impressive last season as a rookie with a 6-2 record, 3.44 ERA, 1.21 WHIP and 0.9 HR/9 across 10 appearances (nine starts). He did actually have his worst outing of the season against these Phillies, but Philadelphia has opened 2021 struggling versus lefties to the tune of a 37.0 percent strikeout rate and .294 wOBA over 54 plate appearances. Peterson did a very good job overall limiting the damage last season against some talented lineups – he allowed three ER or less to the Braves (twice), Yankees and Blue Jays – and he makes for a potentially rewarding streaming option on a day when the pool of non-elite pitchers is particularly risky.
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