2017 Fantasy Baseball SP Streamers: Week 7

Week 7 doesn’t offer a lot of upside in terms of streamers. As always there are a few guys you can grab going up against Kansas City, San Francisco, Toronto, Pittsburgh, etc. But there will also be some focus on guys who are pitching well despite poor matchups for next week.

10-12 Team Leagues

Alex Wood (LAD): Really didn’t think Wood would make the Streamers piece this week, but he’s still only about 50-55% owned. He has a tough Week 6 road matchup on May 13th against Colorado so it’s possible he gets dropped by the uninformed owners if he gets lit up. His Week 7 matchup isn’t great; the Marlins are one of the best teams in terms of offensive road production. However, Wood loves pitching in Dodger Stadium and this is a good spot to stream him if he’s available. Here’s a tip: if he’s available in your league and you stream him next week, no matter the outcome DO NOT DROP ALEX WOOD. He’s severely under owned and is too good of a pitcher to be featured in this piece in back-to-back weeks. He possesses a 2.35 ERA (0.61 FIP) at home with a 23:3 K:BB ratio and opponents have a .155/.197/.172 slash line against Wood when he’s at home. This should really be the last time he makes this piece. Ownership numbers should only increase from here on out for Wood.

Chase Anderson (MIL): Anderson gets two starts next week: on the road in San Diego and then in Wrigley to face the Cubbies. Obviously you want to stream him for the start against Los Padres (that’s Spanish for “the Padres”). Anderson has failed to generate 5 innings of work in either of his last 2 starts, but if he had recorded 1 more out in his last outing against Boston he would’ve gotten a win. Anderson doesn’t possess overpowering stuff as his fastball sits around 92-93 mph with a nice changeup that’s about 7-9 mph slower. The Padres rank in the bottom 3 in the league in terms of AVG, OBP, and SLG at home (.208/.284/.346). The Padres have hit the 5th-most HR’s this season off RHP’s, but Petco Park is the 10th-most pitcher friendly ballpark in terms of HR’s given up and Anderson’s HR-FB ratio is currently sitting at around 4.8% on the year. He seems like a safe and popular streamer early in Week 7.

Jose Berrios (MIN): It’s very rare that a guy makes the list as a streamer without having yet pitched in the big leagues in 2017, but Berrios makes his debut against the Indians on May 13th. If he gets rocked he may get dropped and you should pick him up because he’s one of Week 7’s winners in the Kansas City Royals Sweepstakes! (Don’t worry, there’s a Royals Sweepstakes winner in the Deeper League section too!) Target Field is a middle-of-the-road ballpark in that it caters slightly more to offense, but Berrios still gets a nice matchup in Week 7 against Kansas City who is still the worst offense in baseball. Here’s an update on the Royals slash line in 2017: .217/.279/.340 all of which are the worst in their respective categories. Berrios has really shown some progress from his 2016 struggles. He boasts a 1.13 ERA with a K/9 of 8.85 and the most impressive number is the 4.7% HR/FB ratio. Sure it’s just the minors, but the Royals have hit the 5th fewest HR’s in 2017 so they don’t pose much of a threat to the young promising star.

Hector Santiago (MIN): It’s a mystery that Santiago hasn’t been lit up more often than he has. He boasts a 2.76 ERA with a 3.80 FIP so he’s been the beneficiary of good fortune thus far. An implosion could be looming as teams are picking him apart a little more. Check out the table below:

So why would a guy who is due for regression make the Streamers list? Well, like Berrios, Santiago draws the Royals at home next week. The Royals are a Bottom-3 offense against lefties hitting .205/.271/.295. The Royals have also hit the 4th-fewest HR’s off LHP’s so despite regression being imminent for Santiago, it might come after his Week 7 tilt against KC.

Vince Velasquez (PHI): Velasquez makes the list despite some serious struggles early on. If you’re desperate and nobody else listed above is available then give Vinny V a shot. He’s similar to Francisco Liriano in that there is a wide range of possibilities to how his outings could go. For example, he’s had 3 outings so far on the year with 7+ strikeouts, but he’s also had 3 outings with 4 or fewer K’s. He also carries an ERA of 5.94 with a FIP of 5.63 so he has been pretty bad so far on the year. If you’re desperate and find yourself down late into Week 7 then give Velasquez a look as he has a Friday night road matchup against Pittsburgh. Velasquez gives up 2.16 HR/9, but luckily the Pirates rank 27th in HR’s at home. Pittsburgh is also slashing .244/.325/.377 at PNC which all rank in the bottom half of the league. The Bucs aren’t striking out at the rate they did in 2016, but Velasquez has performed well enough on the road to the tune of a 3.27 ERA and he’s only given up 7 hits in 11 innings of work on the road so far.

Deeper Leagues

(The Deeper League options this week aren’t that great so tread carefully as this has potential to be a rough week in deeper formats.)

Jordan Montgomery (NYY): J-Money (horrible nickname, I know) is this week’s deep league winner of the Kansas City Royals Sweepstakes! Montgomery is only about 15% owned across the industry so he might be available in your deeper league. He got roughed up Friday night to the tune of 4 earned runs in 6 innings of work. But he still struck out 7 while only walking 1. If his start against KC came in the Bronx there may be some cause for concern, but alas it comes in pitcher-friendly Kauffman Stadium against the worst offense in baseball. Montgomery is a significantly better road pitcher than home pitcher as evidenced below:

The splits on the road aren’t stellar, but they do trend better away from Yankee Stadium and with Montgomery drawing the Royals on the road it’s a great spot for him to bounce back after struggling in Week 6.

Josh Tomlin (CLE): It was a bit painful including Tomlin in this section, but he is a bit of a streaky pitcher and over his last two starts he’s compiled 10 strikeouts, to 1 walk and collected a 1.20 ERA. In his last 15 innings of work he’s only surrendered 9 hits. Yes these last two starts came against the Royals and the Twins (on a bad night), but he draws Tampa Bay at home in his next start. On the road Tampa is hitting just .216/.310/.369 and the Rays are only averaging 3.5 runs per game on the road. Hopefully Tomlin can avoid a disaster and keep his nice little run going.

Eddie Butler (CHC): Butler’s an interesting option because he’s 26-years-old, a former top pitching prospect with the Rockies, and he’s made 1 start on the year. On Friday night he pitched 6 scoreless innings and gave up two hits, both of which were singles. He did walk 3 batters, but managed to strike out 5 hitters as well. Butler should be considered a nice streaming option in points leagues as he could be an innings eater that gets some win opportunities with the Cubs offense. What benefits Butler is that teams don’t have a full scouting report on him. Yes he draws the Reds in Week 7 who boast a strong offense, but in a deeper league the hard-throwing righty should draw some consideration from fantasy owners. If he does well against the Reds his ownership will likely rise in deep leagues.

Mike Foltynewicz (ATL): This is a tough spot because Folty has potential to get lit up in any outing and he gets the Blue Jays in hitter-friendly Sun Trust Park in Week 7. The Jays aren’t the struggling offense they were when the season started. However, against RHP’s they’re still only hitting .231/.291/.381 all of which rank them in the bottom-third of the league. There is also the possibility that Josh Donaldson and Troy Tulowitzki re-join the lineup in time for the series in Atlanta. There’s still reason for optimism with Foltynewicz. In 4 of his last 5 appearances he’s gone at least 6 innings and in 2 of those starts he completed 7 innings of work. He did get blown up for 7 earned runs in 4 innings two starts ago and he’s also given up 5 home runs in his last 3 appearances. It’s not perfect, that’s why he’s owned in less than 20% of leagues. He still has a nice 95+ mph fastball, but control is a big concern. Keep an eye on how Donaldson and Tulo progress throughout the week. If they don’t look like they will play in this series then stream Folty if you’re desperate in deeper leagues.