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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 a lackluster start by Framber Valdez against the hopeless Twins to start the weekend, 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 six pitchers going that are rostered in more than 90% of ESPN leagues. Seven more are owned in more than half of leagues. That leaves us with a shade more than half of the pitchers going today to choose from. Who are the best of the worst to finish off our week?
Editor's Note: Our incredible team of writers received five total writing awards and 13 award nominations by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association, tops in the industry! Congrats to all the award winners and nominees including Best MLB Series, NFL Series, NBA Writer, PGA Writer and Player Notes writer of the year. Be sure to follow their analysis, rankings and advice all year long, and win big with RotoBaller! Read More!
Hitter Streamers for 8/8 - Shallow Leagues
Kyle Farmer (2B/SS/3B, RHB, CIN) - 48.2% Rostered
Matchup: vs. PIT RHP Bryse Wilson
Few players on any team worldwide are hitting like Farmer is right now. Farmer has at least one hit in 14 of his last 15 games. He is hitting .477 with three homers, 10 RBI, and 14 runs scored in that span. The Reds have moved him right in front of Joey Votto, who homered in seven straight about a week ago. You can bet Farmer is going to keep getting a ton of pitches to hit in front of Votto as long as he stays hot.
C.J. Cron (1B, RHB, COL) - 43.5% Rostered
Matchup: vs. MIA LHP Trevor Rogers
Cron has become a strong play at home and against lefties. He has eight hits in 14 tries with two homers and nine RBI since the team returned home on Tuesday. Both homers, six RBI, and six runs scored have come against the Marlins staff since Friday. Expect more of the same tonight. Even if the Rockies don't get to Rogers, they will wreak havoc on this bullpen.
Rafael Ortega (OF, LHB, CHC) - 36.8% Rostered
Matchup: vs. CWS RHP Dylan Cease
Ortega's eight-game hitting streak came to an end last night against Carlos Rodon. There's no shame in that. He is still hitting .423 with four homers, nine RBI, and 10 runs scored in the last nine games. This is Ortega's easiest matchup of the series. I expect another hit streak to start here.
Amed Rosario (SS/OF, RHB, CLE) - 35.2% Rostered
Matchup: vs. DET RHP Wily Peralta
Rosario is hitting .400 with a homer, five RBI, five runs scored, and three steals over the last week. Steals are the great white unicorn of fantasy these days. When you have a guy that can hit like Rosario stealing you bags, you take notice. The extra eligibility is just a nice little bonus.
Hitter Streamers for 8/8 - Deeper Leagues
Rowdy Tellez (1B, LHB, MIL) - 13.4% Rostered
Matchup: vs. SF RHP Johnny Cueto
Rowdy has cooled off a little since his scorching start in a Milwaukee uniform, but not enough to explain this continued low rostered percentage. Rowdy is still hitting .351 in 22 games as a Brewer with five homers and 17 RBI. Come on aboard the Rowdy train! There's still plenty of room!
Brandon Belt (1B, LHB, SF) - 8.5% Rostered
Matchup: at MIL LHP Brett Anderson
As Lou Brown famously told his pitching coach in the classic Major League, "I think you can go get him now." Belt has slugged three homers in the last two games and is 5-for-12 with four runs scored and five RBI in the three games since his return from the IL. Don't wait to get Belt. He won't be around for free for very long.
Yadiel Hernandez (OF, LHB, WAS) - 7.6% Rostered
Matchup: at ATL LHP Max Fried
The Nationals made room for Yadiel just before the trade deadline. He rewarded their faith in him with a nine-game hitting streak in which hit .492 with two homers, seven RBI, and seven runs scored. Charlie Morton ended the streak last night and Yadiel has another tough draw today. Still, I like the potential, and that's what streaming is all about.
Darin Ruf (OF/1B, RHB, SF) - 5.6% Rostered
Matchup: at MIL LHP Brett Anderson
Ruf is on a bit of a heater right now. He is hitting .389 with a pair of homers and four RBI over the last week. The return of Belt is making it harder for Ruf to crack the lineup, but you can bet he'll be in there against junkballing lefty Brett Anderson. Hopefully it's not at the expense of Belt, but even if it is, we get to use at least one of these waiver freebies.
Pitcher Streamers for 8/8 - Shallow Leagues
Johnny Cueto (RHP, SF) - 44.7% rostered
Matchup: at Milwaukee
If you come into this with the knowledge that Cueto is not the pitcher that he was five years ago, you may be pleasantly surprised with what he can give. He's not a big strikeout guy anymore, but the veteran still knows how to get outs. After a rough start to July in which he allowed 11 runs in two starts, Cueto has only allowed six runs in four starts since the break. The 24 strikeouts in 20.2 innings during that time are more what we would expect, but Cueto will likely hurt your WHIP. Still, if you need strikeouts or ERA help, Cueto is a strong option.
Pitcher Streamers for 8/8 - Deeper Leagues
Luis Gil (RHP, NYY) - 15.6% rostered
Matchup: vs. Seattle
Gil dazzled by holding the Orioles scoreless over six innings in his major league debut last week. He struck out six in six innings and today gets a team that strikes out a lot more than the Orioles do. Yankee Stadium didn't intimidate Gil in his debut and it shouldn't here either. Expect another strong start from the rookie here.
Kyle Freeland (LHP, COL) - 9.3% rostered
Matchup: vs. Miami
Freeland hasn't allowed more than three runs in a game since June 16. That's a span of nearly two months. In that time he has faced the Dodgers twice and the Padres twice, so it's not like he's doing this against bad teams. The Marlins just might be a bad team. The knock on Freeland is that he doesn't rack up a lot of strikeouts. However, he excels at keeping the ball on the ground, which plays great at Coors Field. Freeland should be able to help the ratios here without hurting you.
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