We’re officially past the halfway point of the 2023 MLB season, and injuries and surprise disappointments have turned plenty of top draft picks into drags on your fantasy baseball roster. Everyone loves swinging a big trade to plug holes, but sometimes you just need a player who will give you a solid week of production — which is where our weekly hitter streaming recommendations come in. Here are three guys we recommend targeting on the waiver wire.
Fantasy baseball waiver wire: Week 15
Hitters to stream
Kerry Carpenter, OF, Detroit Tigers — Any time you can start a hitter against the Oakland Athletics’ league-worst pitching staff, you absolutely have to take it. Carpenter is back healthy after a lengthy IL stint and has been hitting well in his return, slashing .290/.353/.613 over the past two weeks. Detroit gets six games this week on their homestand, three against Oakland and three against Toronto, and while he’ll have to face Blue Jays ace Kevin Gausman, he’ll also get the platoon advantage against three lefty starters.
Will Benson, OF, Cincinnati Reds — The Reds have a full seven-game week this week, and just about all of them should come with a profitable pitching matchup: Cincy starts with four games against the Nationals, who own the third-worst team FIP in the league, and close with three games against the Brewers, who own the sixth-worst team FIP in baseball. There are scheduled to be five righties in that group, meaning that the lefty-swinging Benson — who’s slashing .397/.493/.655 over his last 17 games and .311/.410/.478 against righties this year — could feast.
Travis Jankowski, OF, Texas Rangers — Texas finishes up their wrap-around four-game set against Cristian Javier and the Houston Astros on Monday. But after that, their schedule eases up considerably, with three games against the Boston Red Sox’ sketchy starting staff at hitter-friendly Fenway Park followed by a weekend set against a Tigers squad with among the worst team ERAs in all of baseball. Jankowski is starting just about every day for Texas against righties, so he should see the field plenty with five right-handed starters on tap, and he’s been an elite source of speed, average and counting stats in the Rangers’ loaded lineup.
