RADIO
Dan's top hitter streamers and starts as fantasy baseball waiver wire adds for Week 8 of 2026 (May 18 - May 24). He analyzes streamers with favorable matchups, schedules.
Welcome back to my weekly fantasy baseball waiver wire column for hitters. I'm Thunder Dan, and I have the need to stream! Why hold marginal players week to week when we can hunt for the best matchups and find hitters emerging from the waiver wire?
My weekly hitters, streamers, fantasy baseball waiver-wire pickups column will identify hitters with favorable matchups who can be considered for waiver-wire pickups or streamers ahead of Sunday night's waiver-wire runs in leagues with weekly transactions. Because of format changes to Yahoo leagues this year, the players featured in this article are rostered in 30% or fewer leagues on Yahoo (yes, I'm increasing this number as the wire is already getting picked over pretty aggressively this season).
You can also check out the rest of our fantasy baseball streamer content here at RotoBaller. Now, let's see which hitters we should consider grabbing off the wire as we roll into Week 8 of the fantasy baseball season!
Featured Promo: Save 50% the regular price with discount code SPRING, for a limited time. Exclusive access to our Team Sync platform, DFS cheat sheets, Lineup Optimizers, betting/prop picks, and exclusive content from Nick Mariano and Eric Cross! GAIN ACCESS NOW
What Teams Offer the Most Streaming Value for Week 8?
While most MLB teams are playing six games this week, 12 teams are playing seven.
Seven-Game Weeks
ARI, ATL, CLE, COL, DET, LAA, MIA, NYM, NYY, ATH, TOR, WAS
Ballpark Upgrades:
- ARI (all seven games at home)
- LAA (all six games at home)
- NYY(all seven games at home)
- STL(three games at CIN)
- TEX (three games at COL)
Week 8 Fantasy Baseball Hitter Streamers
I'll recommend only players who are rostered in 30 percent or fewer leagues, and all roster percentages are from Yahoo!
Ezequiel Duran, 1B/2B/3B/SS/OF - TEX (30%)
Duran's rostership continues to grow, but for good reason, as he's remained productive for the Rangers and continues to find his way into the lineup every day. Starting the week with three games in Coors makes him a very appealing pick-up, in addition to his eligibility at five different positions.
Spencer Steer, 1B/OF - CIN (25%)
Sick of seeing Steer's name in this column yet? He ranks 23rd overall on the Yahoo player rater over the last two weeks with a .302 batting average and 11 runs scored! The public is finally waking up to the fact that he's a good hitter, in a good lineup, hitting in a great ballpark, and his surface stats are starting to catch up to his batted ball metrics.
Luke Raley, 1B/OF - SEA (25%)
Raley has now done this a few times already this year. He will go on these home run streaks where he's just mashing the baseball and racking up power stats.
Luke Raley hits his 10th home run of the season 💪 pic.twitter.com/sf4cmom9Bg
— MLB (@MLB) May 14, 2026
He could easily cool off again, but he has an improved lineup spot now with Cal Raleigh out, and he should be in the lineup against righties every day.
Nolan Arenado, 3B - ARI (25%)
The Snakes are home for seven games this week against the lowly Giants and Rockies, so I have a good bit of interest in Arenado. His power binge seems to be over, but he's still hitting at a .265 clip over the last two weeks and scored nine runs. He's a high-floor option who has some potential upside in the right matchups.
Angel Martinez, 2B/OF - CLE (25%)
Martinez has three home runs in his last four games and three steals to go with them.
Angel Martínez puts the @CleGuardians ahead in the 7th with a 2-run shot! pic.twitter.com/t1MQvuKFrZ
— MLB (@MLB) May 17, 2026
He's now at eight home runs and eight steals on the year, providing a very sneaky good power/speed combo that is unmatched by others on the waiver wire in this many leagues.
Brayan Rocchio, 2B/SS - CLE (24%)
Rocchio continues to be aggressive on the basepaths, swiping five bags over the last two weeks. That takes his steals count to eight on the season, and his 25 RBI this year, despite hitting in the bottom third of the lineup, is impressive. Don't sleep on him if you need help in the middle infield.
Henry Bolte, OF - ATH (18%)
The rookie has five hits in his first four games in the Athletics lineup and swiped a base. He was absolutely on fire in Triple-A before coming up to the big league team and deserves a hard look as a guy who can potentially hit for average and be a threat on the basepaths.
Carson Benge, OF - NYM (17%)
The Mets' youth movement is in full swing right now, and Benge is finally showing why he was so highly-regarded by the organization and scouts. He's led off for the Mets in the last five games, collecting multiple hits in four of those games and continuing to pile up steals, as he's up to eight now on the season.
Carson Benge in his last 10 games:
🔹 14-for-36 (.389 AVG)
🔹 1 HR
🔹 7 RBI
🔹 8 R
🔹 2 SB
🔹 .450 OBPHe has raised his season OPS from .498 to .639 pic.twitter.com/0LBg5sFK9O
— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) May 15, 2026
Zack Gelof, 2B/3B/OF - ATH (17%)
Gelof added third base eligibility this week and slugged two more home runs, giving him five now on the year. I'm inclined to buy into his revival, as he is only a year removed from a 17-HR, 25-STL season for the Athletics.
Ryan Waldschmidt, OF - ARI (15%)
The rookie is on my short list this week. As I mentioned earlier, Arizona has one of the best schedules this week, and Waldschmidt has shown that he can hit at this level so far, going .280 at the plate through his first eight games. The power is coming eventually, and you want to get out in front of those home runs while you can.
J.P. Crawford, SS - SEA (12%)
I am not sure where the power has come from lately, but Crawford has four home runs over the last two weeks and has pulled his average up over the Mendoza line to .216. The veteran shortstop is a decent option this week for run production, even if he's not a threat to steal many bases.
Mark Vientos, 1B/3B - NYM (9%)
The Vientos experience this year continues to be an interesting one. Put aside his horrible fielding gaffe the other day, and consider that he does have four home runs and 14 RBI over the last two weeks. He's hitting cleanup for New York and gets to square off against the Washington pitching staff to start the week, which is a matchup that bodes well for his production.
Jake McCarthy, OF - COL (5%)
McCarthy has been an underrated hitter this year in Colorado. He's hitting .291 with eight steals and has hit both of his home runs in the last ten days. We are diving deep here into the abyss of the wire, but you could do worse than rolling with McCarthy in the short term, as he has a decent power/speed profile.
Week 8 Deep League Fantasy Baseball Hitter Streamers
Some widely available hitters (under 5% rostered) could be worth a look this week due to hot starts at the plate or strong matchups.
- Miguel Andujar, 3B/OF - SDP (4%)
- Spencer Horwitz, 1B - PIT (4%)
- Cedric Mullins, OF - TBR (4%)
- Braden Shewmake, 2B/3B/SS - HOU (3%)
- Coby Mayo, 1B/3B - BAL (2%)
- Nick Castellanos, OF - SDP (2%)
- Yohendrick Pinango, OF - TOR (1%)
Good luck this week, and choose those streaming options wisely! As always, thanks for making RotoBaller your choice for fantasy baseball content all season long!
More Fantasy Baseball Analysis
Download Our Free News & Alerts Mobile App
Like what you see? Download our updated fantasy baseball app for iPhone and Android with 24x7 player news, injury alerts, sleepers, prospects & more. All free!
