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Waiver wire pickups, adds, and streamers for weekly head-to-head (H2H) leagues. Jason Katz identifies fantasy baseball category streamers for 2018.
I like to consider myself a pioneer of the streaming approach. I won a league about seven years ago completely ignoring saves and just stacking up the starts each week. While streaming is undoubtedly more directly associated with pitching, there's plenty of value in streaming for offense as well.
Maybe you have a stacked roster and you can't drop anyone. But for those of us with a couple of guys on the roster fringes, it's never too early to look into targeting a specific player or two to gain an edge in a particular category. This season, I will be making weekly recommendations for extreme short term category specialists every week in three offensive areas: speed, power, and average; and three pitching areas: strikeouts, wins, and ratios (ERA/WHIP).
Below are my Week 5 category streamers for fantasy baseball. All position eligibility and ownership percentages are based on Yahoo! fantasy leagues.
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Head-to-Head Category Streamers to Consider
Speed
Michael A. Taylor (OF, WAS) - 37% Owned
Finally, people are listening on Michael A. Taylor! He's been here for three weeks now, but his ownership percentage still isn't where it should be. Taylor was tied for the league lead in stolen bases with nine as of Wednesday, including three this past week. There's not much out there in terms of speed. This is the guy you need to have in your lineups.
Craig Gentry (OF, BAL) - 0% Owned
This one is digging wayyyyy deep. Craig Gentry is not particularly good at baseball. He struggles with the whole getting on base part. His .456 OPS is embarrassing. But, when he does get on base, he's been known to run. Gentry has five steals on the season, which ranks in the top 10. No one ever said finding cheap speed was easy.
Power
Yonder Alonso (1B, CLE) - 25% Owned
Power remains tough to come by on the waiver wire. Yonder Alonso just recently eclipsed a .200 batting average, but he is sporting a .720 OPS. He doesn't hit the ball in play often, but when he does, he's been known to hit it pretty far. He hit three home runs in just a week's span from April 17-24. 1B itself is pretty shallow this year so Alonso is a decent option for power and not much else.
C.J. Cron (1B, TB) - 16% Owned
Do you want to know my nickname for C.J. Cron? Doesn't matter because I'm going to tell you anyway: Mega Cron (so original, I know!). Cron has massive power and is finally getting regular playing time this season. Cron is the clear starter at 1B in Tampa and has been on fire the past week or so with four home runs and five multi-hit games.
Average
Joe Panik (2B, SF) - 30% Owned
It took him a little while to get going, but Joe Panik is hitting over .280 now and had two three-hit games last week. He's a career .282 hitter and BABIP and other peripherals suggest he will remain around there. You'll gladly take a free .280 if you're just looking for average.
Steve Pearce (1B, OF, TOR) - 10% Owned
Although Steve Pearce is a career .255 hitter, there is reason to believe his current .289 batting average is sustainable. Pearce's BABIP is right in line with his career average, but more importantly, his strikeout rate is down 6.5% from his career average. The only downside with Pearce is he doesn't play every day. You're looking at a minimum of two absences every seven games, so that's something to take into account. However, when Pearce is out there, he is producing.
Strikeouts
Sean Newcomb (SP, ATL) - 26% Owned
Sean Newcomb's scheduled start next week should come against the Mets. Newcomb's K/9 was sitting at a pristine 11.22 this season as of Wednesday. The Mets don't strike out a ton, but that hasn't mattered for Newcomb this season. Plus, you know Yoenis Cespedes is good for at least two.
Vince Velasquez (SP, PHI) - 19% Owned
It won't be the greatest matchup against the Nationals when Vince Velasquez takes the mound next week, but he's still a pitcher with a career K/9 of over 9.00, which was sitting at 10.38 as of Wednesday. The ratios may not be great, but strictly looking for strikeouts, the Nationals are in the top half in strikeouts per game as an offense.
Wins
Jhoulys Chacin (SP, MIL) - 7% Owned
The Brewers have a strong offense. The Reds are amongst the worst teams in baseball. Jhoulys Chacin will not make it pretty, but as long as he gets through five innings, he should exit with a chance to win.
Trevor Cahill (SP, OAK) - 9% Owned
Another team that is really struggling to start the season is the Orioles. That's who Trevor Cahill is slated to face off against in his second start next week. Cahill will have home field advantage and he actually pitches for a team with a winning record.
ERA/WHIP
Tyson Ross (SP, SD) - 37% Owned
The truth behind Tyson Ross is that outside of his near no-hitter against Arizona, he hasn't been all that impressive. However, his FIP is about a half run lower than his ERA, which isn't all that bad at 3.64. Against a Giants team that ranks second to last in runs scored, he should do just fine.
Zack Wheeler (SP, NYM) - 19% Owned
While Zack Wheeler struggled in his last start, he dominated against a weaker opponent earlier in the season in Miami. He faces a similarly weak offense (although not nearly as bad as Miami's) in San Diego next week at the lofty confines of PETCO Park. Wheeler's peripherals suggest he will remain a mid 4s ERA pitcher. That's about what he is. In a favorable matchup, though, he can be quite useful.
