When you embark on setting your lineup each week, it is truly a process. Reviewing your existing roster is one step, but taking a look at the options on the waiver wire is also a necessary step. There is so much time spent looking at pitching matchups, and there is nothing wrong with that considering I wrote a whole article about Two Start pitchers, but let us give some respect to the bats as well. Hitters can have both good and bad matchups and situations as well which could provide some advantages to exploit. With that being said, let us take a look at 5 hitters to stream for the coming week of fantasy baseball.
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2023 Hitting Streamers: Five Hitters to Stream
Edouard Julien, Minnesota Twins, 2B
Julien is back in the majors with the Twins and ready to take advantage of a favorable week ahead. Minnesota has seven games in front of them and five of those are slated to be against right-handed pitching. When the left-handed hitting Julien has the platoon advantage, he generally hits out of the lead-off spot and the rookie has been faring well in those situations.
Through 72 at-bats against right-handed pitching, Julien is hitting .278 with four home runs and eight RBI. In his time at the big league level, Julien has generally only been in the lineup against right-handed pitching, but the good news is that it helps from the batting average department. When not in the big leagues, Julien continues to rake in the minor leagues, and with a 9.8% barrel rate, this is likely the last opportunity to acquire him with any kind of cost-benefit.
TJ Friedl, Cincinnati Reds, OF
While Friedl is hitting over .300 against both left-handed and right-handed pitching, the outfielder does have an advantage in the upcoming week as he is expected to have the platoon advantage in all six of Cincinnati’s games. Things are favorable for the Reds’ offense this week as they begin the week against three sub-par Colorado starters.
Friedl has returned from injury which could help from an availability perspective in a lot of leagues. Batting average has seemingly gone by the wayside in a lot of instances so it is no small feat that Friedl is batting .307 on the season while striking out just 18.6% of the time. We also get some speed here as Friedl has stolen eight bases while driving in 22 runs and scoring 20 times. Cincinnati will continue to utilize Friedl on a daily basis and fantasy managers should too.
Cavan Biggio, Toronto Blue Jays, 1B/2B/OF
While Biggio may no longer be a top prospect, the utility player has appeared to find a role with Toronto and settled into a groove as of late. Brandon Belt being sidelined certainly helps here as well as the fact that Toronto is facing five right-handers in their six games this week in what is a favorable schedule for the Blue Jays’ offense.
Biggio’s positional eligibility also helps from a roster construction standpoint, but a .267 batting average with two home runs, four RBI, and four runs scored also helps. A .230 BABIP is not doing Biggio any favors and based on his 14.9% barrel rate this season, he is certainly someone to watch as the quality of his contact is present.
Gerardo Perdomo, Arizona Diamondbacks, SS
We like to target hitters whose teams have seven games in a particular week, and that is the case for Perdomo. After playing in 10 games so far at second base as well as 47 at shortstop, Perdomo could have value at either spot depending on your league settings.
So far in June, Perdomo is hitting .361 through 12 games which brings his batting average for the season up to .296. Perdomo does a great job of getting on base as he is walking 12.8% of the time compared to a 17.9% strikeout rate. Through 48 games, Perdomo has shown some power and speed with five home runs and seven stolen bases while driving in 30 runs and scoring 30 times. He certainly has earned more playing time based on the results, but his 2.3% barrel rate and 19.8% hard-hit rate do temper the optimism as well. For this week though, Perdomo is worth a look.
Manuel Margot, Tampa Bay Rays, OF
From a matchup perspective, things are quite favorable for Tampa Bay this week and that obviously benefits Margot. The outfielder has been on a tear as of late, hitting ..421 with five runs scored over the last seven days. He has emerged as a relatively steady contributor and a consistent piece of Tampa’s lineup and in 12 games so far this month, Margot is hitting .324.
While Margot has not stolen a base yet this month, he does have seven stolen bases on the season to go along with a hard-hit rate of 45.7%. Margot still puts the ball on the ground a ton, but the fact that he only strikes out at a rate of 16.1% certainly helps. We have seen a substantial increase to Margot’s chase rate this year as it dropped from 36.9% to 29.3% which makes him a solid option.