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Jeff Kahntroff analyzes hitter streamers and starts for Week 23. These bats are potential fantasy baseball waiver wire adds to stream for head-to-head leagues.
Welcome back to my hitting streamers column for Week 23, taking a look at hitters to add or stream off the waiver wire for this week's scheduled games.
To keep things simple, I pick from players who are 50% owned or less and who play at least seven games in the week. If someone jumps off the page at me as a less than seven game player, I may make an exception, but otherwise, the advantage in a number of games dictates my choices.
Streaming can be a valuable tool, by allowing you to feast on favorable pitching matchups and simply have your hitters play more games than your opponents' hitters. If you have the roster space, streaming a hitter can be useful not only to fill a vacant lineup spot but also to fill in for someone who has five games that week or faces tough matchups. In 5x5 leagues, four of the five hitting categories are counting stats, making the value of extra games significant. Streaming also can allow you to target a specific category of need. This week there is a shallow pool of seven-game streamers, so I have added in a couple six-game options. The streaming options overall are not great this week, but we dive in nonetheless.
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Bats to Stream and Start in Week 23
Scott Schebler (OF, CIN) - 10% owned
Schebler whacked 30 homers in just 473 at bats last year, and in half a season of games this year (81), he has a line of .266/12/42/38/3. That is a fairly impressive fantasy line, and this week he should continue his production with decent matchups. He faces five righties, against whom he has shown more power throughout his career, but he has actually maintained a better average against lefties. Expect good power and run production without much of a contribution in the average department. He has an outside chance to steal you a base.
Hunter Renfroe (OF, SDP) - 20% owned
Renfroe is a great power source. In 224 career MLB games, he has 47 homers. In 91 games this year, he has a line of .256/17/39/51/3. He faces decent pitching matchups this week. Even though he only has six games, he is a good option for power and run production with the possibility of a stolen base.
Avisail Garcia (OF, CHW) - 28% owned
Garcia is really rocking and rolling this year, with a line of .232/15/37/37/3. Yes, the average is not pretty. But, he has only played in 73 games. That is a 162-game pace of .232/33/82/82/7. Last year, he had a line of .330/18/75/80/5. He is worth a buy and hold. Even though he only has six games and faces just one lefty, he is worthy of a start this week nonetheless.
Jason Kipnis (2B/OF, CLE) - 29% owned
Kipnis started the year slowly, but his numbers (aside from batting average) are actually stomachable on the year: .229/13/55/56/6. While I do not expect him to bounce back to his elite fantasy days at the age of 31, he has a combination of power and speed and can produce some runs. Facing good matchups and in a good lineup, this is a decent week to start him.
Yonder Alonso (1B, CLE) - 47% owned
After finishing 2017 with a line of .266/28/72/67/2, Alonso is providing similar production this year: .247/22/56/76/0. Alonso does most of his damage against righties (.255 with 18 homers), and he will only face four of them this week. However, given his run production and power, he can be a good option nonetheless. If you need homers and RBIs, he is not a bad choice.
Willy Adames (2B/SS, TB) - 32% owned
Adames will turn 23 by the start of the week, but the 22 year-old has a line of .255/8/30/23/6 in just 59 MLB games. That is a 162-game pace of .255/22/82/63/16. While he only has six games this week, he faces decent matchups. He also has prospect pedigree and has shown a mix of power and speed in the minors. He is a buy and hold option who you should play this week.
Others To Consider
Johan Camargo - (2B/3B/SS, ATL) - 36% owned - Camargo faces tough pitching matchups this week, but the 24 year-old has seven games and a line of .275/14/50/63/0 in 113 games.
Greg Allen (OF, CLE) - 16% owned - Allen is the best stolen base option this week, with 13 in 67 games. However, the Indians face three lefties, which moves him down the list.
Franmil Reyes (OF, SDP) - 2% owned - Reyes has great power with 16 homers in 58 AAA games this year and 12 in 61 MLB games. However, he only gets to face two lefties this week.
