Our weekly fantasy baseball podcast topic on Tuesday night was gaining ground in a rotisserie league. It was a good listen, as most Cram Sessions are, but a topic that I wanted to expand upon today is streaming hitters into your lineup on Mondays and Thursdays. We've all heard of streaming pitchers, in fact if you've listened to R.J. White in his Stream Team column every day since the All-Star break you now have an extra 17 wins on your fantasy team. R.J. has streaming pitchers down to a science. It's really no different to stream in hitters. You just only need to do it two days a week.
On Thursday there are only four teams with the day off. So, you're likely only going to be missing a player or two. But, if you have any of the big-time hitters from Detroit, Tampa Bay, Toronto and Minnesota, you may want to find a daily replacement. Especially, if you're nowhere close to your innings limit at the particular position you're streaming in.
James Loney, Dodgers - Loney isn't having the best month, and recently he's been hampered by flu-like symptoms. But, he returned to action Tuesday night and more importantly he loves facing Jorge De La Rosa, his opposing pitcher on Thursday. In 11 lifetime at-bats, Loney has seven hits (.637 batting average). Loney is owned in 60% of fantasy leagues.
Andrew McCutchen, Pirates - Over the last week McCutchen is batting .353 with three stolen bases. He's also proven he can hit J.A. Happ, his opposing pitcher on Thursday, going 1-for-3 in their only meeting. McCutchen is owned in 40% of fantasy leagues.
David DeJesus, Royals - DeJesus is only owned in 7% of fantasy leagues and is batting .478 with two home runs over the last seven days.
Matt Diaz, Braves - Diaz may be performing better at the plate right now than at any other time in his career. And, he absolutely murders left-handed pitching. Fortunately for Diaz, he's facing Clayton Richard on Thursday -- a lefty. Diaz is 11-for-22 over the past week and only owned in 5% of fantasy leagues.
Franklin Gutierrez, Mariners - Over the last week Gutierrez is batting .296 with two stolen bases. As icing on the cake, he's facing Kyle Davies on Thursday whom he's 6-for-10 lifetime against. Gutierrez is only owned in 26% of fantasy leagues.
