RADIO
I like to consider myself a pioneer of the streaming approach. I won a league about seven years ago by 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 20 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
Harrison Bader (OF, STL) - 7% Owned
The Tommy Pham trade opened the door for Harrison Bader to see regular playing time. He has just 11 stolen bases on the season, but he's also only started about two-thirds of the games. Bader has 30+ steal upside over the course of a full season and he is now an everyday starter.
Adalberto Mondesi (2B/SS, KC) - 9% Owned
It makes me feel really old to talk about the son of a player I used to draft. Adalberto Mondesi has a two stolen base game on his resume and has displayed strong speed throughout his minor league career. He's stolen six bases in his last nine games played. The speed is real and he deserves to be here for a second straight week.
Power
Hunter Renfroe (OF, SD) - 2% Owned
Once a trendy sleeper, Hunter Renfroe has failed to live up to the hype. He still has pop, though. He's got three homers in the past two weeks and faces the Angels and Diamondbacks next week. The Angels allow the fifth most homers while the Diamondbacks are 15th.
Josh Reddick (OF, HOU) - 30% Owned
Oakland and Colorado give up slightly fewer home runs than the league average, but Josh Reddick needs to be the power in the Astros lineup with George Springer, Jose Altuve, and Brian McCann all out. Carlos Correa is supposed to return to the lineup, but he hasn't played in over a month. Reddick still has 25-30 home run power in him and I sense a surge coming next week.
Average
Manuel Margot (OF, SD) - 30% Owned
Manuel Margot moves from the speed department to the average department simply because he's so hot right now. He was a popular breakout candidate before the season started and had a disappointing first half. But wow has he turned it on as of late. Margot is hitting .314 over the past two weeks with five multi-hit games.
Jeff McNeil (2B, 3B, NYM) - 15% Owned
The Mets' rookie is off to a blazing start at the plate, hitting well over .300. And it looks mostly legitimately. His .357 BABIP is not outrageous and he's making a ton of medium-hard contact. Bank on him keeping it up another week.
Strikeouts
Brian Johnson (SP, BOS) - 9% Owned
I can't guarantee Brian Johnson will pitch very well, but he strikes out about a batter per inning and will face the Phillies on Tuesday. The Phillies lead the league in offensive strikeouts.
Clay Buchholz (SP, ARI) - 48% Owned
The Padres are striking out the fourth most of all teams in baseball. Clay Buchholz will make a trip to PETCO Park next week with the hopes of continuing that trend. Given that he strikes out just under a batter per inning, I suspect he will.
Wins
Drew Pomeranz (SP, BOS) - 19% Owned
The Red Sox have the best offense in baseball. The Rays have a bottom 10 offense. The Red Sox will be heavy favorites when Drew Pomeranz takes the mound against the Rays next week in Boston.
Shane Bieber (SP, CLE) - 33% Owned
Shane Bieber has won six of his past nine starts, largely due to the quality run support he gets from the Indians offense. Not much should change in his road start against the hapless Reds next week. The Indians will be heavy favorites, giving Bieber a great shot to pick up a win.
ERA/WHIP
Ryan Borucki (SP, TOR) - 9% Owned
Ryan Borucki pitches well in favorable matchups. Avoid him against Boston, but when he's got a road date with the Royals, stream away. Borucki will bring a fully legitimate sub 3.00 ERA into Kansas City to face the league's worst offense.
Andrew Cashner (SP, BAL) - 3% Owned
If you can't stream against the worst offense in baseball, why not the second worst offense? That's who Andrew Cashner will face off against next week - the Mets. Cashner's 5.05 ERA is a bit deceiving as it is largely due to his dreadful outing in Texas last week. Otherwise, he's been serviceable. Against the Mets, he should be dominant.
