When it comes to fantasy baseball, we often discuss streaming starting pitchers but rarely talk about streaming hitters. In most instances, it makes sense. We like to give hitters more than one week to show us what they’re capable of, and we more often are playing pitchers because of matchups and not hitters.
However, in the final weeks of the season, most full-season strategy goes out the window.
With just three weeks to go in the fantasy baseball season and championships on the line, we need to make sure we’re fielding the best lineup possible each scoring period. That will mean we need to make some tough cuts on hitters who have bad schedules or haven’t been performing and we need to prioritize adding hitters who may not be great overall but have an upcoming stretch that could win us weeks in head-to-head or help us make up ground in roto categories.
With that in mind, below you’ll find a look at some of my favorite hitting streamers based on the upcoming schedule. To put this together, I looked at team pitching stats since August 1st (ERA, ISO, K%, HR/9) and identified the teams we most want to target (Miami, Cincinnati, Boston, Colorado, Washington, Chicago White Sox). Then I went through the projected starters for the next two weeks and made a table with the hitters I like who are rostered in under 50% of Yahoo! leagues. Hopefully, the charts below will give you some shallow-league adds and deep-league adds and the team context should allow you to search your individual waiver wire in case some players have slipped through the cracks in recent weeks, like a Dansby Swanson or Lawrence Butler, etc.
Now let’s dive in.
There’s a lot to like in the Twins’ upcoming schedule. They’re in the middle of a series against the Angels right now and then get the Reds. We don’t love the matchup against the Guardians, but then the Twins get a struggling Red Sox rotation after that. Another thing we love to see is just one left-handed pitcher for this whole schedule, which means guys like Matt Wallner, Edouard Julien, and Trevor Larnach are going to be in the lineup often. Given that all three of them have been performing well, that added playing time is a great perk.
Both of Jose Miranda and Brooks Lee have been starting pretty much every day for the Twins, and while Lee in particular has struggled since coming off the IL, the playing time mixed with solid pitching matchups makes him a solid deep-league add if you’re looking for a MIF option over the next two weeks.
Let’s kick it off with the Cubs, who are one of the hottest offenses over the last month and have an elite schedule with not one starter we want to avoid over the next week and a half. There’s an argument to be made that every Cubs hitter should be rostered over this stretch, including Isaac Paredes, who is hitting .172 over his last 34 games. He has just a 19% strikeout rate and an 11% walk rate, so that level of contact should lead to some success against the pitchers above. Same for Miguel Amaya, who has cooled off of late, but is still hitting .267 in 26 games since August 1st with four home runs and 23 RBI. He’s a must-roster in two-catcher formats and worth a roll of the dice in one-catcher leagues.
Michael Busch is already rostered in plenty of places, and his .230 average in 32 games since August 1st isn’t ideal, but he has four home runs and the ability to have a huge series in Colorado this weekend. If you need power, I love taking a gamble on him.
None of these guys is overly enticing, but the schedule above is pretty great (except for two games against the Dodgers), and the Braves offense remains one that we want pieces of. Luke Williams is the least enticing of the bunch, but he has been playing 2B regularly, so he could be worth a shot in deeper formats. We know Orlando Arcia plays every day, and he has six home runs in 37 games since August 1st, so there is some value even though his batting average has tanked. I might just prefer Gio Urshela of this trio because he’s hitting .266 in 18 games since coming to Atlanta, and I believe that the counting stats will tick up if he continues to get on base as he has been.
We also need to keep an eye on Ramon Laureano. He has simply been better than Jarred Kelenic, and if the Braves ever decide to let him play regularly again, he would immediately be worth an add.
There are some recognizable names in the chart above, but Paul Skenes is really the only pitcher we worry about the Cardinals facing. Yes, Kevin Gausman has been better of late and Jose Berrios isn’t bad, but they’re also both not pitching at their previous levels, and so the matchups don’t scare me. Lars Nootbaar, Jordan Walker, and Masyn Winn are everyday starters and deserve to be rostered in far more leagues based on their upside and upcoming schedule. Walker is hitting just .214 in 12 games since August 1st, but we know he has power and some speed, so I think he’s worth a gamble, and we’re finally seeing Nootbaar healthy, which is leading to solid results of late.
It gets trickier for Michael Siani and Brendan Donovan, who will likely sit against lefties. Donovan has also been hurt, and the Cardinals are reportedly calling up infield prospect Thomas Saggese, so it’s possible Donovan will land on the IL, which is something to keep an eye on. UPDATE: DONOVAN WAS NOT PUT ON THE IL, AND MASYN WINN SAT THE FIRST GAME THAT SAGGESE WAS UP, SO THIS IS A SITUATION TO MONITOR.
You may not want to roster Pirates hitters, and I understand it, but they get only one matchup we want to avoid over the next week and a half. Maybe you be generous and say two because Michael Wacha has been good, but the rest of those arms are either below average or just average. That’s good news for Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who is hitting just .230 since August 1st but has 18 runs scored and six steals in 34 games over that span and leads off every day for the Pirates. IKF has gone 8-for-30 in eight games in September so perhaps he can provide a solid batting average, runs, and steals over the next week.
Nick Gonzales has also been good since being recalled, hitting .321 in 13 games with eight runs scored. The power and speed upside here isn’t high, so it’s more of a deep-league play, but the average and runs could be there. Joey Bart is also back off the IL, and he has been great since August 1st, hitting .284/.341/.543 in 23 games with six home runs, 18 runs scored, and 17 RBI. You should be adding him in all formats while Rowdy Tellez is more of a deep league option since he’ll likely sit against Brandon Williamson but he is hitting .267 with four home runs over his last 33 games, which isn’t bad.
There aren’t many streaming hitters in the Dodgers’ lineup, but the few of them at exist are worth adding for the upcoming schedule. I think you can avoid them this week, but then pounce next week when they get the Marlins and Rockies. Miguel Rojas may sit the odd game here or there, but Gavin Lux has been starting against most lefties even though he has struggled a bit against them which gives me a bit of pause. Tommy Edman hasn’t been great since coming off the IL, but he plays basically every day and is hitting .282 in 19 games, so if he’s going to get on base that often, he’s going to score and steal bases against these weak pitchers.
Yes, I’m recommending you add White Sox hitters. Most of this is for deeper leagues only, but that’s a pretty solid stretch of opposing pitchers. I like Andrew Vaughn most of the bunch because I trust him as a solid if unspectacular hitter; however, Andrew Benintendi has been the best of the bunch over the last month or so. Since August 1st, Benintendi is hitting .276/.361/.552 with eight home runs, 19 runs, and 22 RBI. I don’t buy it, but I trust it enough against these pitchers. Meanwhile, Gavin Sheets is hitting .311/.354/.387 in 31 games since August 1st with one home run, six runs, and 10 RBI. I expected more power from him, but he gets just two lefties overall, which means he has five good matchups over the next week, and so I’m OK targeting him in deeper formats. UPDATE: OSVALDO BIDO WAS PLACED ON THE IL, SO THE A’S SHUFFLED THEIR ROTATION AND NOW SHEETS WILL FACE TWO LEFTIES, WHICH MEANS HE’LL LIKELY SIT IN BOTH OF THOSE GAMES.
There is a lot of red on this chart, so the A’s pick-ups are really just for this weekend’s series against the White Sox. None of these guys is somebody we want to target against Garrett Crochet and both Seth Brown and JJ Bleday are at risk of sitting in that game. However, Crochet will likely pitch only four innings, and we can certainly attack this White Sox bullpen. You also love to have hitters facing Flexen and Nastrini, so the A’s guys could each be good adds for this weekend and then you can move on, unless you wanted to keep Jacob Wilson for the Cubs series considering Brown and Bleday will also likely sit against two lefties there too.
I was going to include lefties Pavin Smith and Adrian Del Castillo but they will likely sit in three starts this week, including two in Colorado, which is not ideal since they would only face the Milwaukee pitchers who are not elite but solid. However, that means Randal Grichuk will start two games in Coors Field next week. If you need power, that could make him a strong option for the first half of the week, but keep in mind that he may sit against all righties in Milwaukee. Lastly, Geraldo Perdomo has been good enough to be added regardless of schedule, but there is only one pitcher on his upcoming schedule that can be truly over-powering, and Perdomo will likely start all three games in Coors, which you love to see.