RADIO
I like to consider myself a pioneer of the streaming approach. I won a league about seven years ago completely ignoring saves and just stacking up the starts each week. While streaming is undoubtedly more directly associated with pitching, there's plenty of value in streaming for offense as well.
Maybe you have a stacked roster and you can't drop anyone. But for those of us with a couple of guys on the roster fringes, it's never too early to look into targeting a specific player or two to gain an edge in a particular category. This season, I will be making weekly recommendations for extreme short term category specialists every week in three offensive areas: speed, power, and average; and three pitching areas: strikeouts, wins, and ratios (ERA/WHIP).
Below are my Week 11 category streamers for fantasy baseball. All position eligibility and ownership percentages are based on Yahoo! fantasy leagues.
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Head-to-Head Category Streamers to Consider
Speed
Travis Jankowski (OF, SD) - 17% Owned
It's time to take kickers seriously! Sebastian Janikowski is one of the best kickers of all time. Oh. Wrong sport. Sorry. Well, if you remove the first "i" from Janikowski and completely change the first name, you'll find yourself staring down at Travis Jankowski. His total stolen base numbers aren't that high because he wasn't playing to start the season. Jankowski has since become a regular starter and over the past month, only Mookie Betts (10) has more steals than Jankowski (9). Of the top 10 base stealers over the past month, the second lowest ownership rate is 92%. Jankowski is, by far, the best speed option available.
Jarrod Dyson (OF, ARI) - 2% Owned
Jarrod Dyson has never played more than 120 games in a season. Yet he still has four professional 30+ steal seasons and another three in the minors. With Steven Souza out indefinitely, Dyson is an everyday player and he's on pace for another 30+ steal season.
Power
Franmil Reyes (OF, SD) - 18% Owned
Somehow, Franmil Reyes has been with the Padres since 2012 despite being just 22 years old. He was recently promoted to the big leagues and all he's done is hit the ball far. The kid has six home runs in just 63 plate appearances. Extrapolated for a full 600 plate appearance season and we get over 50 home runs. Obviously Reyes is not going to do that, but it proves the power is legit. The Padres also spend all of next week on the road, which means away from the lofty PETCO Park.
Scott Schebler (OF, CIN) - 11% Owned
I was doing research for this section and I noticed that Scott Schebler hit 30 home runs last year. I had no idea he had that kind of power. Turns out his career ISO is .219. He's also currently experiencing a bit of a power surge with three home runs over a week span. The Reds only have five games next week, but Schebler still makes for a nice option while he's hot in those five games.
Average
Yuli Gurriel (1B, HOU) - 25% Owned
The Astros' 1B is a career .290 hitter that is currently hitting .290. He's as reliable as they come for empty batting average. He's got no power with just one home run on the season and no speed, but he gets on base.
Joe Panik (2B, SF) - 10% Owned
Joe Panik had back to back to back two hit games in his return from injury. He's a career .282 hitter and right around there this season. There's actually room for some improvement, too, as his .273 BABIP is about 25 points below his career average. It also doesn't hurt that the Giants open next week against the Marlins.
Strikeouts
Steven Matz (SP, NYM) - 19% Owned
Steven Matz has a K/9 near 9.0 and will travel to Arizona next week for a start against a team that strikes out the fifth most in the league. Matz is a strong option to make a few bats miss.
Tyler Anderson (SP, COL) - 6% Owned
Tyler Anderson's K/9 is a hair below 8.0. While that's less than ideal for a strikeout target, streaming pitchers against teams that strike out a lot is generally a good idea. Anderson should start against the Phillies next week, who currently strike out the fourth most in the league. Anderson's 11.9% swinging strike rate is above league average. Combine that with a team that strikes out a lot in general and you want to use Anderson next week.
Wins
Alex Cobb (SP, BAL) - 19% Owned
It's not often that a pitcher with a 2-7 record to start the season is recommended for a win, but it's not often that an American league pitcher faces a National league team. Next week, Alex Cobb has a home start against the Marlins. As I indicated very early in this weekly column, streaming against the Marlins will be a recurring theme. Cobb has actually been better recently, posting a quality start in five of his last seven starts. A quality start should be good enough to get a win against Miami.
Chris Stratton (SP, SF) - 16% Owned
Streaming against Miami? You bet. Chris Stratton has a road start at Miami next week. The Giants are an average to above average team while the Marlins are terrible. Stratton will be favored in this game and has a great shot to pick up the win.
ERA/WHIP
Nick Kingham (SP, PIT) - 16% Owned
Nick Kingham is very good at pitching. I am not sure why his ownership percentage is so low. Be that as it may, you should take advantage of it. Kingham has a 4.03 ERA and 1.00 WHIP to start his major league career. While Ivan Nova remains on the DL with a finger issue, Kingham will remain in the rotation. His scheduled start next week is at home against the Reds, who currently rank 19th in runs scored. Kingham is an above average pitcher against a below average offense.
Matt Koch (SP, ARI) - 9% Owned
Matt Koch is expected to start against the Mets next week. The Mets are third to last in runs scored while Koch is carrying a sub 4.00 ERA and sub 1.20 WHIP. While Koch is certainly pitching over his head as indicated by his 5.04 FIP, the Mets are not the team to start the reversion.
