We’re officially more than two months into the 2023 fantasy baseball 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, including a replacement for those of you out there who may be mourning the recent loss of Yordan Alvarez to an oblique strain.
Fantasy baseball waiver wire: Week 12
Hitters to stream
Corey Julks, OF, Houston Astros — Julks has held his own in a part-time role for Houston this year, with five homers and 10 steals to go with a .262 average across his first 175 plate appearances. But with Alvarez out for at least the next couple of weeks, part-time is about to become very much full-time, making him a nice value add in the near term. He and the Astros will spend this week teeing off on the Washington Nationals’ and Cincinnati Reds’ abysmal pitching staffs, and hitting behind Jose Altuve, Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman will give him plenty of RBI opportunities. (Plus, the Nats have been among the easiest teams to run on all year, making Julks a sneaky source of speed if you need it.)
Orlando Arcia, 2B/SS/OF, Atlanta Braves — Arcia has two things going for him right off the bat: 1) he’s triple-eligible, making him a solution to any number of roster holes you might have; 2) anyone who has a regular piece of the Braves’ devastating lineup is worth consideration, and Arcia is more or less locked into the everyday shortstop job (even if he consistently bats in the bottom third of the order). He’s been swinging the bat well of late, with an .897 OPS over the last week, and Atlanta gets a pair of friendly matchups against the Detroit Tigers and Colorado Rockies (at home, but still).
Jose Siri, OF, Tampa Bay Rays — This one is strictly a platoon play for those of you in leagues with daily moves. Siri continues to struggle (and struggle for playing time) against righties, but he’s slugging a whopping .621 against lefties this year — and Tampa just happens to have four southpaws on tap this week as they take on the San Diego Padres and Oakland Athletics.
