2014 Fantasy Baseball: Best SP Streamers For July 1

Tim Lincecum Giants

Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

The waiver wire can be a goldmine for fantasy baseball players who are looking to boost their pitching stats. On most days, there is sure to be a starter (or three) just waiting to be scooped up who can help lead a fantasy team to glory. In today’s slice of fantasy advice, let’s take a look at some hurlers who should be in for a strong day on the hill on July 1 and are quite possibly available on a waiver wire near you.

Now hurry up and grab one of these pitchers before some other cagey owner gets to them first. (Ownership percentages based off ESPN standard leagues)

Henderson Alvarez: Miami Marlins (56 percent)

This fellow is finally garnering some respect from fantasy owners, as his ownership has drastically increased of late. It’s well deserved too, as Alvarez sports a tremendous 0.78 ERA over his last seven starts with a 3-0 record. While he’s not going to blow you away with his strikeout totals, the rest of his numbers certainly make up for that, and he should definitely be on your roster for today’s game.

Alvarez will face the Philadelphia Phillies for the fourth time already this season, and it will be the second for him at home. The right-hander has had plenty of success in those meetings, as his ERA sits at a tidy 1.88 in 19.2 innings pitched. To make this play even more intriguing, Philly has really struggled overall of late, as the team owns an 2-8 record over their past 10 games and managed only 2.6 runs per contest over that span.

Tim Lincecum: San Francisco Giants (45 percent)

Coming off his second career no-hitter, Lincecum will look to carry that momentum into today’s start at AT&T Park. While this former ace doesn’t exactly own the most impressive overall numbers this season, he has been quite dominant at home. As opposed to his ugly 2-3 record and 6.68 road ERA, he’s a much more sightly 4-2 with a 3.19 ERA at home, and batters are hitting a minuscule .209 against him in San Fran too.

The Giants will welcome in one of baseball’s lowest scoring offenses today in the St. Louis Cardinals. While the Red Birds rank just 28th in the league in runs per game at 3.70, that number gets even worse on the road, where it sits at a paltry 3.37. The Cardinals’ bats have gone near silent since a trip to Coors Field inflated their offensive numbers, as they’ve put up just four total runs in their past four games.

Mike Leake: Cincinnati Reds (43.1 percent)

After allowing 18 runs in 21.1 innings over a terrible four game stretch, this right-hander has steadied the ship once again. In his last two outings he’s given up a grand total of just two runs in 16 innings pitched and has struck out an impressive 18 batters to boot. Even with that bad stretch under his belt, Leake owns a solid 3.41 ERA on the season and is very likely to improve upon that number this evening.

Each time a starting pitcher sees the San Diego Padres on the schedule, they must feel like they’ve won the lottery. San Diego is last in baseball by a wide margin in both runs per game and team batting average, and they seem to somehow be getting worse as the season progresses. In the month of June the Padres managed to score an embarrassingly low 2.22 runs per contest, and with so much minor league talent on that roster, the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t getting brighter any time soon. Run, don’t walk, to your local waiver wire and see if Leake is available for today. Go!

Brian Davis is a fantasy writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @SportsGuyBrian, ”Like” him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google.


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