Sometimes in fantasy baseball, people tend to over-think or over analyze the wire when deciding who to pick up. Owners will crunch numbers, dissect career averages against the opposing pitcher in a particular ballpark during the day when sometimes it’s just better to ride a hot streak. Simplicity overrules complexities when adding a player during a white-hot streak. Regardless of the name, age, ballclub, a hot streak at the right time can certainly assist players in a head-to-head format as one player having an incredible week can steal points easily in that format. In this edition of the wire, we’ll take a look at some hot streaks that are ripe for the picking in your local wavier pool.
Percentage of players available taken from Yahoo! Fantasy Baseball leagues
Thanks to Yahoo! adding an option to filter stats over a 14-day period, detecting hot streaks have become easier due to the smaller sample of stats available. All stats accrued below are taken from this 14-day time frame.
David Murphy (TEX-OF): 6 percent owned– Anyone playing in the heart of Texas in one of the most productive lineups in baseball is always worth a look. Enter David Murphy. Yankee fans now know the name as Murphy belted a walk-off single off of Mariano Rivera to cap off a 2-3 night with 3 RBI in the Rangers 4-3 win. Murphy extended his hitting streak to six games last night with Murphy stringing three multi-hit games in his last three contests. Over the last two weeks, Murphy has been 20th best fantasy option, ranking ahead of household names like Joe Mauer, Matt Holliday and B.J. Upton. At six percent owned, he’s waiting for someone to pick up on the hot stick Murphy has been swinging in Arlington.
The Hot Line: 14/40 5 R, 14 H, 4 HR, 12 RBI, 2 SB, .350 AVG
Dexter Fowler (COL-OF): 8 percent owned-Dexter Fowler has been one of the hottest players in baseball, ranking 21st among fantasy options in the last two weeks. The speedy outfielder has been lacing the baseball not only over the past two weeks, he’s been doing it for over a month and his ownership is not reflecting his efforts. At only eight percent owned, Fowler hit .287 in July with a .392 OBP, scoring 21 runs in 26 games in the month of August. Fowler carried his strong July right into August as he’s gone banana sandwich on National League pitching, hitting an absurd .390 over the last two weeks, channeling his inner Ted Williams. Fowler, sitting atop a lineup supported by NL MVP candidate Carlos Gonzalez and all-star Troy Tulowitzki, is a strong buy into runs and stolen bases. If you’re starved at either stat, Fowler is widely available at only eight percent owned in Yahoo! leagues.
The Hot Line: 16/41 12 R, 16 H, 1 HR, 8 RBI, 2 SB, .390 AVG
Daniel Hudson (ARI-SP): 9 percent owned– Hudson was dealt to Arizona from Chicago in exchange for Edwin Jackson and thus far, Hudson loves his time in the new league. In his first two starts in the NL, Hudson tossed 15.2 innings while letting up two runs and six hits against the NL-West leading Padres and the fumbling New York Mets. His next two starts come against NL Central foes, the Brewers (8/11) and the Reds this coming weekend. I advise against an immediate pick up against the Reds but his recent success indicates that NL hitters may take a while to get adjusted to Hudson’s stuff.
The Hot Line: 15.2 IP, 2 W, 0 L, 8 K, 1.15 ERA, 0.57 WHIP