Catchers to Stream for Week 4 (4/23 – 4/29)

(Photo by Tony Quinn/Icon Sportswire)

For some background on this article and the list of ineligible catchers, check out Week 2’s article. Francisco Cervelli is at 51% owned in Yahoo, which means he’s no longer eligible for this article.

Reviewing Last Week

It’s only Sunday so the week is not yet complete, but let’s look at how I did with last week’s streamers.

James McCann (Detroit Tigers): 5/16, 4 R

I would’ve liked a homer or an RBI to make the line look a bit better, but there’s no arguing with the .313 average this week. I’m taking the W. McCann will get you solid playing time but I don’t think he’ll ever be someone you rely on week in and week out.

Jorge Alfaro (Philadelphia Phillies): 1/11

Oof. This one hurts and it came out of nowhere as he had a slate of righties against him, whom he has dominated thus far in his career. Maybe he has a big day today to salvage this somewhat, but this is rough. Alfaro has a high ceiling but he just didn’t show it this week.

Francisco Cervelli (Pittsburgh Pirates): 3/15, 2 R, 1 RBI

No way around it; gotta take the loss here. This what you accept when you pick up Cervelli, he’s going to have weeks like this.

Streaming Record: 4-2

Looking Forward

Before we get to this week’s streamers, a few injury notes:

• Salvador Perez is expected back this coming week. Drop your non-existent shares of Drew Butera.
• Buster Posey was scratched yesterday with a back issue. Nothing serious here. If Posey ends up going to the DL at any point, however, Nick Hundley could be streamer worthy. Again, no need to worry about Posey right now.
• Tyler Flowers is expected to start his rehab assignment tomorrow, playing at least 4 games, at which point the Braves will re-assess him. Enjoy the Kurt Suzuki ride while you can.
• Manny Piña could be back tomorrow, as he ran the bases successfully. He’ll be in streamer consideration next week.

And now to the recommended streamers this week:

Austin Hedges (San Diego Padres)– Hedges went 4 for 11 in his last trip to Coors, and he’s poised for more success there this week. After that, the Padres get Zack Wheeler, Jason Vargas, and Steven Matz, managing to avoid the elite duo of Thor and Jacob deGrom. Ride the Padres backstop this week.

Kurt Suzuki (Atlanta Braves)– Check out Alex Fast’s article on Suzuki’s hot start. He’s been killing it lately and the Braves have a very easy week ahead. They get the Reds who send out Sal Romano, Tyler Mahle, Brandon Finnegan, and Homer Bailey. The Braves face Aaron Nola but then get Nick Pivetta, and Vince Velazquez. As stated earlier, Flowers is expected back late this week, but Suzuki should get most all the starts between now and then.

Christian Vazquez (Boston Red Sox)– Yesterday notwithstanding, the Red Sox are still among the best offenses in baseball. The schedule ahead is pretty light, as they face J.A. Happ, Aaron Sanchez, Marco Estrada of the Jays and Yonny Chirinos, Jake Faria, and an unnamed 5th starter of the Rays. He’s not going to give you a ton of power, but he dominates starts.