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Top daily fantasy baseball streamers and waiver wire adds for 5/21/21. Mike Marteny identifies MLB hitters and starting pitchers to stream based on matchups.
Welcome to another edition of our daily fantasy baseball streamers! Are you playing in leagues with daily moves and looking to beef up those rosters? We here at RotoBaller are there for you and all of your streaming needs. Whether you are just trying to get that elusive category win or you are trying to give your pitching staff a lift because Gerrit Cole got smoked earlier this week, we can help. Each day, RotoBaller will provide you with some of the best streaming options to consider in both shallow and deep fantasy baseball daily leagues. Streaming hitters and pitchers to exploit matchups are important to help you win your league.
It is important to know your league if you're going to stream. I'm not just talking about which teams your leaguemates root for. I'm talking about whether strikeouts count against you for hitters or if fielding stats are included. Most importantly, you need to know how many transactions you have per week. You don't want to blow your allotment within a couple of days. You can also use these recommendations to help build your DFS lineups. This article will use rostered percentages and position eligibility from ESPN leagues.
Only 11 pitchers are owned in more than half of ESPN leagues, so we have plenty of guys to choose from tonight.
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Hitter Streamers for 5/21 - Shallow Leagues
Ian Happ (OF, SHB, CHC) - 48.4% Rostered
Matchup: at STL RHP Carlos Martinez
This is going to be a short run in this column for Happ. By the time you read this, he could be over 50% considering he homered twice yesterday. That's four homers in five games for Happ with seven RBI and five runs scored. The Cubs bats have woken up and CarMart hasn't fared all that well against Happ either. Happ is 5-16 with two homers and four RBI against Martinez. If by some miracle he's still out there in your league, rectify that immediately.
Joc Pederson (OF, LHB, CHC) - 44% Rostered
Matchup: at STL RHP Carlos Martinez
The power's coming. Any day now. His power will come back. That's what was echoed by me in this piece most of the last week. Spoiler alert: it hasn't. Pederson is still hitting a strong .333 over the last ten games, but it mostly rings hollow. He only has four RBI and two runs scored in that span. Still, Pederson can help your batting average at the very least, and with the Cubs as a whole getting going, the RBI and runs should come even if the power doesn't. Pederson just went 4-10 in the series against Washington that ended yesterday. I have room for that off the wire.
Austin Nola (C, RHB, SD) - 32.3% Rostered
Matchup: vs. SEA RHP Chris Flexen
Yes, Nola's monster game against the Cardinals on May 15 is skewing his stats a little, but he still has a hit in each of his last four starts. Righties hit Flexen very hard and always have. Flexen has allowed righties a .313 batting average over the course of his career, and it's right around that mark again this year. The metrics are showing a breakout might be coming for Nola. He is only striking out 4.3% of the time and he has the highest walk rate and exit velocity of his career right now. He's worth picking up while he's running hot.
Josh Fuentes (1B/3B, RHB, COL) - 25.7% Rostered
Matchup: vs. ARI RHP Riley Smith
Fuentes has a hit in eight of his last nine games. He didn't do much else besides get on base in the spacious Petco Park, but Chase Field is Coors Field south. The ball flies there as well. Like most of his teammates, Fuentes has massive home/road splits, but this is still a decent park to run him in. The metrics don't support Fuentes in the long term, but he's hitting well right now and has a pitcher with with a 6.83 ERA opposing him. Smith doesn't strike anyone out and has allowed three homers in his last three starts. I don't mind a couple of Rockies tonight, even on the road.
Hitter Streamers for 5/21 - Deep Leagues
Jonathan Villar (2B/SS/3B, SHB, NYM) - 20.7% Rostered
Matchup: at MIA TBD
Yes, this is a huge ballpark, but Villar's hot streak is still going and almost no one has picked him up. Villar has homered in back-to-back games and has at least one hit in seven of the last eight contests. Villar has that power and speed combo that is coveted in fantasy circles, but the low average pushes many away. Villar's average hasn't improved much during this stretch, but along with the homers and a couple of steals, he has also scored six runs. He can help you out quite a bit right now.
Mike Zunino (C, RHB, TB) - 14.8% Rostered
Matchup: vs. TOR TBD at Dunedin
It's not so much the opponent as the park right now. Zunino has three homers in the last week, and only Coors Field is more hitter-friendly as far as ballparks go right now. We've only got 10 more days until the Blue Jays fly north for the summer. Not to Toronto, but to Buffalo where they played last year. I plan on taking full advantage of the games the Jays (and their opponents) have left in Dunedin. Zunino is seeing the ball well right now. Put him in a very homer-friendly environment and we should see one or two more leave the yard before the Rays leave town.
Yandy Diaz (1B/3B, RHB, TB) - 14% Rostered
Matchup: vs. TOR TBD at Dunedin
Diaz is hitting in the middle of the Rays order and comes in hitting a robust .429 in the last week. He hasn't homered during this heater yet, but the four RBI and five runs scored are still helping us out. I don't think Toronto can trot a pitcher out there that I'm scared of going against in a park like this. There are some really good stack spots across baseball tonight, but Tampa might be the only one where you can pluck the cleanup hitter off of waivers, even in leagues as deep as 15 teams.
Willy Adames (SS, RHB, TB) - 8% Rostered
Matchup: vs. TOR TBD at Dunedin
Let's just push the chips all into the middle for this weekend, shall we? I can't stress how great of a spot the Rays are in regardless of who takes the mound. Out of the three Rays listed here though, Adames might have the most staying power. His recent hot streak isn't just a hot streak. It's backed up by metrics. His hard-hit percentage, exit velocity, and barrel percentage are way up over his career averages. It's easy to forget that Adames is just 25 years old. This is his natural progression, not just some random hot streak. Adames is hitting .333 with a homer, four RBI, and five runs in the last week. The power is starting to come around and he's not striking out nearly as much.
Pitcher Streamer for 5/21 - Shallow Leagues
Mike Minor (LHP, KC) - 18.4% rostered
Matchup: vs. Detroit
I'll save my rant on why Minor isn't higher owned for another today. Today is the day to celebrate that he is still widely available for our streaming needs. Yes, the Tigers bats are warming up lately, but that's mostly against right-handed pitching. They are still struggling against lefties. The Tigers are only hitting .201 against southpaws on the season, and that's down four points from a week ago. They are scoring, just not on lefties. On top of that, they have just four homers in 338 at-bats against lefties this year while striking out at a staggering 37.3% clip. Minor fanned nine Tigers at Comerica back on April 23 in a win. I would expect another strong start out of Minor here.
Pitcher Streamers for 5/21 - Deep Leagues
Chris Flexen (RHP, SEA) - 11.5% Rostered
Matchup: at San Diego
It's time to take a look at Flexen, at least in favorable matchups in favorable parks. He boasts a 4-1 record with a solid 3.46 ERA. The xERA of 4.23 suggests that there is a little regression coming, but not much. Flexen has had this strong start because he has slashed his walk rate all the way to 4.9%. And let's be honest, he needed to. Opponents are still hitting his fastball and cutter, his two most common pitches, at well over a .300 clip. The xBA suggests that opponents have been getting a little lucky, especially against the fastball. And we can deal with the cutter getting hit because it isn't getting hit hard. The launch angle on his cutter is just 4 degrees and he hasn't given up a homer off that pitch. Use caution here though if you can't take a hit to WHIP. Flexen has nasty reverse splits throughout his career that haven't improved this year and San Diego has a lot of right-handed bats.
James Kaprielian (RHP, OAK) - 2.2% Rostered
Matchup: at Los Angeles Angels
What do we know about Kaprielian? Not a whole lot. He looked the part at UCLA and has a 3.00 career ERA in the minors with good strikeout numbers and a low walk rate. He was solid against Boston in his 2021 debut, allowing one run and striking out six through five innings. The three walks are suboptimal, but let's not forget that this is far from the team that the Angels started the season with. Mike Trout (calf) and Albert Pujols are gone. Justin Upton can't hit his weight and David Fletcher has been evicted from the leadoff role. This is the time to be taking on the Angels. It looks like Kaprielian should put up solid numbers here, but don't expect him to go deep into the game.
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