Wednesday's Fantasy Baseball Pitcher Streamers: Hurston Waldrep, Tyler Wells, and More

I heard a stat the other day that no batter had ever hit under .260 and still had at least 50 home runs. We are about to get two guys matching those numbers in 2025: Cal Raleigh and Kyle Schwarber.

It's a different MLB, where batting average isn't seen as a real important metric, but I can't fully move past it: the point of batting is to not make outs, and the guys who get on base most help that goal. Hitting a bunch of home runs but getting out more than 75% of the time just doesn't sound as good as the guy who has the same power while batting near .300.

The MVP races might come down to that argument in both leagues. Raleigh and Schwarber are being chased in the home run race by Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, respectively, and the two stars have much better batting averages, on-base percentages, slugging percentages, and OPS's. It's tempting to want to give new guys MVP awards, but it appears the status quo is still the best in each league.

Let's look at five starting pitchers in action on Wednesday who are widely available in fantasy leagues and have good matchups. Most stats are from MLB.com, as are the probable starters. The full streamer rankings are listed at the bottom.

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Martin Perez, Chicago White Sox vs. Baltimore Orioles

Tyler Wells, Baltimore Orioles @ Chicago White Sox

We'll start today with two teams who are out of the playoff race but still producing decent streaming targets for our fantasy baseball purposes. The Orioles have won two very different games so far in the series, first taking Monday's game 4-1 then yesterday winning a higher-scoring affair 8-7. Both teams are bottom-10 offensive groups or very close to it, setting up nicely for the opposing pitchers.

Perez is generally average with walks and below average with strikeouts. He has been a little higher in both areas in 10 appearances (nine starts) this year but has done well limiting hitters, giving up just 35 hits in 52 1/3 innings and a home run every 10.5 innings.

Wells missed nearly two full seasons after undergoing elbow surgery and has made just two starts in his return. He has looked good in that short time: 11 2/3 innings, six hits, three runs, one walk, and 10 strikeouts. Wells has been average with strikeouts in his career and better than average with walks, setting himself up nicely.

Perez is a low-to-mid-level streamer and Wells a mid-level streamer. The former has done fine, but Wells has a higher ceiling and has looked good in a small sample.

Luis Gil, New York Yankees @ Minnesota Twins

Gil is a good strikeout pitcher who walks way too many guys. He does really good limiting hitters, allowing just 160 hits in 226 1/3 career innings and a homer every 9.4 innings. Gil has made only eight starts this season because of a lat strain, and in that time, he gave up five runs in the first game and two or fewer runs in the other seven starts. Gil will be a more notable fantasy player next year if he stays healthy.

The Twins are a below-average offensive team who never really bottomed out this year. Most teams we go after often on the streaming list have stretches as one of the worst teams in baseball or just a long slog of bottom-10 offense, but Minnesota generally stayed above that very bottom level this season, instead just never looking good and then trading guys at the deadline. They are OK streaming targets on the right days.

Gil is a mid-level streamer. The control issues are real, but Gil has looked good otherwise, and his strikeouts give him a nice ceiling that not a lot of streamers have.

Hurston Waldrep, Atlanta Braves @ Washington Nationals

Waldrep made a two-start debut last season that was pretty disastrous, but he has looked much better in his short 2025 stint. In 45 1/3 innings, Waldrep has allowed just 35 hits and 14 runs with 18 walks and 42 strikeouts. That's a great stretch and probably enough to earn him a spot next year unless the Braves come back stacked in the rotation. Waldrep was a first-round pick and looks ready to prove that status.

The Nationals are one of the worst offensive teams in the league, ranking in the bottom 10 (or very close to it) in runs, hits, home runs, walks, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS. The only thing that doesn't help our streaming purposes is that Washington doesn't strike out much, ranking in the bottom five.

Waldrep is a mid-level streamer. He has found plenty of success this year, and the matchup is right for another good day. The lack of strikeouts from Washington is the only thing holding him back, but Waldrep is still set up for a nice day.

Ryan Weathers, Miami Marlins @ Colorado Rockies

This game is at Coors Field, hurting the value of our pitcher a little bit. Over the full season, Colorado is in the bottom 10 in runs, hits, home runs, walks, strikeouts (most), batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS. When looking only at games teams played at home, they're only in the bottom 10 in walks and strikeouts. Even with the big bump at home, they are still bad enough to fall clearly into that bottom group.

Over his full career, Weathers is average with walks and a little below average with strikeouts. He has looked better in just over 100 innings in 2024-25, though, holding a walk rate several percentage points better than average and a K rate right at average. That profile would raise his fantasy value if he can keep it up and gives him a little more intrigue.

Weathers is a low-to-mid-level streamer. The game taking place at Coors Field brings him down a notch, and the lower strikeout work over his career keeps him from bumping up to that next level.

Wednesday's Streamer Rankings

1. Luis Gil, NYY
2. Hurston Waldrep, ATL
3. Tyler Wells, BAL
4. Ryan Weathers, MIA
5. Martin Perez, CWS