April 20, 2017

Brad Johnson's fantasy baseball daily streaming picks for April 21th. Pitcher and hitter streamers for MLB DFS games, and head-to-head (H2H) waiver wire targets.

Welcome back to Streaming Wars, your daily source of waiver wire and streaming advice. This is your one stop guide to address lineup holes, stream pitchers, or target categories of need.

Below are your pitcher and hitter streaming targets for Friday, April 21st.

Let's get to it.

Agenda

1. Judging Stanton
2. Today's Weather and Updates
3. Tomorrow's Picks

1. Judging Stanton

Let's talk about this statcast video of Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge hitting mammoth home runs. This is nothing new for Stanton. However, I'm very encouraged by what I've seen from Judge. Not that Dylan Covey is a quality opponent, but it's reassuring to see Judge recognize and turn on a hanging curve ball. As a minor leaguer, he had a reputation as somebody who struggled to identify pitches. That wasn't the case yesterday.

I'm buying Judge wherever he's available, which, by now, is almost nowhere.

2. Today's Weather and Updates

Cincinnati is looking like a storm risk tonight. The game will start, but will it finish? Monitor accordingly. Denver, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York may be at risk tomorrow  per my not-so-handy weather map.

3. Tomorrow's Picks - Friday, April 21th

Pitchers to Use

A trio of very veteran pitchers are the top streaming options. My preferred target is crafty Bartolo Colon versus the Phillies. The use case for Colon is straightforward. He's a good bet for a quality start and a chance for a win. Sometimes he'll hand you positive ratios. Sometimes they're negative. Such is the way with known quantities on the waiver wire. Colon is evenly matched against Jeremy Hellickson.

CC Sabathia is not back, but he does look a little better. At least to my eye. He's improved as a pitcher over the last few seasons - necessitated by losing his elite stuff. He's done a great job keeping hitters off balance through three starts. Like Bartolo (in both size and usage), Sabathia is best targeted for his chance at a victory. He may receive a ton of run support.

The other veteran, Hector Santiago, is the riskiest of the bunch. He has a history of posting solid numbers over long stretches. He also melts down with all too much frequency. Although Santiago has strong numbers through three starts, the peripherals point to at least a 4.00 ERA going forward. He has a rough matchup against Justin Verlander.

I'm a big fan of Alex Wood as a pitcher. In his first start of the season, he exited with a perfect game intact. Did I mention he only threw 3.1 innings? Wood is working his way back up to a starter's workload. Expect another start of five or fewer innings.

Other Targets: Adam Conley

Pitchers to Exploit

There are a lot of pitchers like Alec Asher around the league. They walk few because they work in the strike zone. They also strike out few because they're predictably over the plate. Given time an opportunity, they might learn to become a Brandon McCarthy or a Scott Feldman. The Orioles picked up Asher off the Phillies scrap heap. The Red Sox should feast.

Tyler Glasnow is obviously a promising prospect. Everybody says as much. The command just isn't there. He's walked seven batters in 6.2 innings. If the Yankees do one thing well, it's take pitches. Keep betting against Glasnow until it backfires a few times.

I was bullish about an Adam Wainwright rebound entering the season. There was talk of a rediscovery of his curve ball. The curve does look improved, but his fastball no longer plays. He allows too much loud contact. And the Brewers are known for hitting it hard or whiffing.

Other Targets: Tim Adleman, Mike Fiers, Nate Karns, Wily Peralta, Mat Latos, Alex Meyer, Trevor Cahill

Homers on the Wire

I keep saying Matt Joyce will be fine. His plate discipline is normal, he just isn't making good contact. It's easy to see in his .167 BABIP and .105 ISO. His hard contact rate remains a robust 38.7 percent. The top sluggers settle around 40 percent hard contact. Keep using Joyce, and he'll eventually reward you. His teammate Yonder Alonso is already reaping the benefits of his freshly updated swing path. They face Hisashi Iwakuma.

Travis Shaw still bats third or fourth for the Brewers, and he's still available in 55 percent of Yahoo leagues. Shaw has four home runs. He'll have a chance for another versus Wainwright. Keon Broxton's ownership has fallen below 50 percent, and for good reason. He's been a disaster. The upside remains tantalizing in sufficiently deep leagues. Domingo Santana is the better pick off the wire. He's more widely available too. Santana does have some trouble with right-handed pitching.

If you can afford to take a risk on a player who might sit, Aaron Hicks is about due for a spot start. He already has four home runs and a ridiculous walk rate, making him a smart matchup for Glasnow. Greg Bird is pressing at the plate. He's less desirable versus Glasnow. The game is at notoriously pitcher friendly PNC Park.

Other Targets: Justin Smoak, Danny Valencia, Brandon Guyer, Josh Reddick, Logan Morrison, Corey Dickerson, Aaron Hicks, Greg Bird, Aaron Altherr, Pablo Sandoval

Steals on the Wire

I feel like a Kevin Kiermaier truther even though I valued him well-below consensus during draft season. Kiermaier has speed and just enough punch to be a viable four category threat. His batting average is the lone weak category. The Astros have been picked on for stolen bases in the early going.

Brett Gardner should take advantage of Glasnow's erratic command and the Pirates inability to hold base runners. Gardner may swipe a couple bags.

Other Targets: Cameron Maybin, Andrew Toles, JaCoby Jones, Ender Inciarte

Skill Positions

Austin Hedges has shown some signs of life. He'll face a southpaw with poor command tomorrow. The Brewers catchers are a better bet for production, but it's hard to tell which will start. See who plays tonight of Manny Pina or Jett Bandy then claim the other one.

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