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Baseball is back, and fantasy managers in daily leagues no doubt already have holes to fill. The easiest way to do that is with streamers. Fortunately, RotoBaller has you covered with daily streaming picks.
Each day, RotoBaller will provide you with some of the best fantasy baseball streaming picks - options to consider in fantasy baseball daily leagues. Additionally, these recommendations can be useful for fantasy managers setting DFS lineups.
Wednesday brings us a big slate with the majority of games unfolding in the evening, but with a pair of afternoon tilts in White Sox-Twins and Rockies-Padres. Both games happen to feature a vulnerable pitcher that I’ll be picking on with a couple of my selections, and there is also a TD Ballpark game on the docket that actually yields both a hitter, and surprisingly, a pitcher selection for today’s array of streamers. This article will use rostered percentages and position eligibility from Yahoo! leagues.
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Hitter Streamers for 5/19 - Shallow Leagues
Kyle Schwarber (OF, WAS) - 49% rostered
Matchup: @ CHC RHP Jake Arrieta
Schwarber faces a former teammate he should know well in Arrieta, who’s pitched to a 4.81 xERA and 5.01 xFIP, along with a 41.1 percent hard-hit rate surrendered. Arrieta has also yielded a 23.6 percent line-drive rate, .267 average and .329 wOBA to left-handed hitters, while Schwarber has a .350 xwOBA, .480 xSLG, 11.5 percent barrel rate and 24.4 percent line-drive rate overall. He’s also been lethal against right-handed pitching on the road, generating a .365 wOBA and .255 ISO over a sample of 50 plate appearances, and he went into Tuesday’s action with a .400 average, three homers and seven RBI over the previous five games.
Evan Longoria (3B, SFG) - 20% rostered
Matchup: @ CIN LHP Wade Miley
Miley had a rough go of it at Coors in his first start following his no-hitter, allowing eight runs on 11 hits over three innings. The southpaw is still doing a good job limiting hard contact overall, but he’s allowed a .480 slugging percentage and .318 wOBA to righty bats in his hitter-friendly home park. Meanwhile, Longoria sports an impressive .388 xwOBA and career-highs in both barrel rate (13.8 percent) and hard-hit rate (60.0 percent), with his .543 xSLG further supporting how well he’s squaring up. For what it’s worth, Longoria also has three career homers against Miley (40 plate appearances), and he’s battered lefties for a .400 average, 1.461 OPS and .583 wOBA across 41 plate appearances this season.
Nick Madrigal (2B, CWS) - 44% rostered
Matchup: @ MIN RHP Matt Shoemaker
Madrigal’s teammate Adam Eaton (22% rostered) is another viable White Sox streamer to consider, as Shoemaker has been hit hard by both handedness of hitter. Madrigal is a more reliable contact hitter at the moment, even though he doesn’t offer much in the way of power. However, he’s been a better hitter overall on the road with a .286 average and .343 OBP, and although he’s only hitting .242 versus righties thus far in 2021, Madrigal punished that handedness for a .372 average and .827 OPS during his rookie 2020 campaign. Meanwhile, Shoemaker has been taken to task by right-handed hitters at home, where they’ve touched him up for a .912 OPS, .380 wOBA and 3.1 HR/9 over a 48-batter sample.
Omar Narvaez (C, MIL) - 42% rostered
Matchup: @ KC RHP Brad Keller
Keller has been better over his last two starts after a difficult start to the campaign, but he’s still carrying an abysmal 7.34 xERA and 4.3 BB/9 while also yielding a 1.4 HR/9. He’s also giving up career-highs in barrel rate (12.2 percent) and hard-hit rate (47.8 percent) per Statcast, and he's yielded a .355/.447/.548 slash and .426 wOBA to left-handed hitters at home. For his part, Narvaez’s career-best season includes a .359 average, .965 OPS and .422 wOBA, as well as a modest 12.9 percent strikeout rate and career-high 10.4 percent barrel rate. He’s been particularly impressive in opposite-handed matchups, especially on the road, where he’s punished righties for a .500 average, three home runs and .599 wOBA in 33 plate appearances. To top it off, Royals relievers have given up a 7.84 ERA and .417 wOBA to the 96 left-handed bats they’ve faced at home in the last month.
Hitter Streamers for 5/19 - Deep Leagues
Matt Beaty (1B, 3B, OF, LAD) - 8% rostered
Matchup: vs. ARI RHP Merrill Kelly
Beaty continues to draw a solid share of starts in place of AJ Pollock (hamstring) and went into Tuesday night’s action with a trio of multi-hit efforts in the last eight contests. He’s earned his regular playing time by generating a .321/.429/.415 slash and .381 wOBA, and he’s impressively struck out at just a 15.9 percent clip while smoking righties to the tune of a .429 average and .482 wOBA in 29 plate appearances against that handedness at home. Kelly has fared poorly in opposite-handed matchups on the road, where lefty bats have punished him for an .879 OPS, .368 wOBA, 2.0 HR/9, 5.44 xFIP, 29.5 percent line-drive rate and 47.7 percent hard-contact rate. Arizona relievers also present a good matchup for Beaty, as they’ve surrendered an .826 OPS and .359 wOBA to the 85 left-handed hitters they’ve faced on the road in the last month.
Hunter Renfroe (OF, BOS) - 8% rostered
Matchup: @ TOR RHP Ross Stripling
A right-handed hitter with a prodigious history in the very hitter-friendly TD Ballpark against Ross Stripling certainly sets up as a recipe for potential fantasy success, and that’s precisely how Renfroe’s Wednesday outlook shapes up. TD ranks No. 1 in ESPN’s Park Factor metric (1.337 runs) and Renfroe has belted four of his five homers against right-handed pitching while posting a .250 ISO and 18.2 percent HR/FB rate versus that handedness when traveling. Stripling has pitched to a 1.7 HR/9 and .308 BAA overall while yielding a career-high 12.3 percent barrel rate, and he’s been pounded by the 28 right-handed hitters he’s faced at home for a .385 average and .437 wOBA, with the latter figure rising to .456 when looking at his total body of work versus righty bats. Stripling is also surrendering an elevated 19.0 HR/FB rate to right-handed hitters, which dovetails almost perfectly for fantasy purposes with Renfroe’s aforementioned elevated figure in his splits against righties.
Jurickson Profar (2B, OF, SD) - 17% rostered
Matchup: vs. COL RHP Chi Chi Gonzalez
The switch-hitting Profar has been markedly better when operating from the left side, posting a .286 average and .334 wOBA versus righties, with those figures bumping up to .298 and .362, respectively, when looking at his home splits against that handedness. In turn, Gonzalez, whose 5.93 xERA and 4.88 xFIP are both red flags, has actually been a much poorer pitcher outside his home park of Coors Field and has been touched up by left-handed hitters for a .364 average, 1.020 OPS and .439 wOBA when traveling. Gonzalez has also allowed a massive 35.0 percent line-drive rate against lefty bats on the road, while Rockies relievers have been eviscerated by left-handed hitters for a .919 OPS and .396 wOBA over an 82-batter sample on the road in the last month.
Corey Dickerson (OF, MIA) - 9% rostered
Matchup: @ PHI RHP Zach Eflin
Dickerson headed into Tuesday night’s action mired in a 2-for-19 slump over his previous five games, but the veteran outfielder still sported a solid .288 average and .359 on-base percentage. Dickerson’s work against right-handed pitching on the road includes a .298 average, .796 OPS and .354 wOBA, along with an impressive 26.6 percent line-drive rate. Meanwhile Eflin has been showing some signs of vulnerability of late, allowing five earned runs in two separate starts over his last four and also giving up 10 hits in a quality start against the Mets in another outing during that sample. Statcast has him allowing a career-high 44.7 percent hard-hit rate as well, and left-handed hitters have gotten to him for an .840 OPS, 1.8 HR/9 and .361 wOBA across an 87-batter sample. When Eflin exits, Dickerson then gets a crack at a Phillies bullpen that’s facilitated a .264/.357/.403 slash and .338 wOBA to 84 left-handed hitters at home in the last month.
Pitcher Streamers for 5/19 - Shallow Leagues
Garrett Richards (SP, BOS) - 19% rostered
Matchup: @ TOR RHP Ross Stripling
There’s a true dearth of viable streaming options at pitcher Wednesday, and Richards is arguably about as good as it’s going to get for shallow leagues when considering arms rostered under 50 percent. He’s actually not a stretch option by any means, although the extremely hitter-friendly conditions at TD Ballpark in Dunedin are worrisome. Richards will actually come into Wednesday with a three-start winning streak and an excellent 2.16 ERA and 26:5 K:BB over his last four trips to the mound overall. He’s also held current Blue Jays bats to an anemic .203 average and .253 slugging percentage over a sample of 39 total encounters, and he’s currently yielding a career-low 4.0 percent barrel rate. Richards has also been at his best on the road by far (2.48 ERA, .289 wOBA allowed), offering at least some hope he’ll be able to squeeze out a solid outing working around the landmines that the antagonistic pitching environment will present.
Pitcher Streamers for 5/19 - Deep Leagues
David Peterson (SP, NYM) - 11% rostered
Matchup: @ ATL RHP Charlie Morton
Peterson seems to progressively be leaving a forgettable start to the season in the rearview mirror, having come just an inning short of posting three quality starts in his last four trips to the mound. The young southpaw has coaxed his ERA down from 6.75 to 4.86 during the latter span and draws a matchup Wednesday that could certainly contribute to him shining that number up even further. The host Braves have a 31.9 percent strikeout rate, .157/.209/.287 slash, -8.5 wRAA and .220 average over 116 plate appearances against lefties at home in the last month. Peterson’s road ERA stands at a bloated 5.49 (19.2 innings) primarily due to a poor start against the Phillies in his first outing of the season, but it’s worth noting he’s bounced back to hold Philadelphia and the Rays to a combined three earned runs on eight hits and four walks over 12.1 innings in his last pair of away starts while also posting a 17:4 K:BB.
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