Early Week Streamers for July 21st – July 24th

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  • By Anthony Kates

    Last Updated on July 20, 2025 5:28 am by Anthony Kates | Published: July 20, 2025

    This year, we’ve decided to do two streaming articles a week for our premium subscribers. The podcast only provides one day of streamers at a time (a day ahead), whereas the streamer articles will provide three and four day streaming outlooks, giving you a leg up on those non-premium Sports Ethos members (and those in your league who don’t use Sports Ethos at all…even though they should).

    The articles will come out every Sunday and every Thursday. You will notice that I have very few single digit percentage rostered players during the early part of the week and that’s because I do not want to assume a ton of risk early in the week. There is zero reason to be desperate before Friday, at the earliest, so there is zero reason to take on any kind of high risk stream. But, if you DO want to have risk on a daily basis with your streams, I will highlight the low-rostered and/or high risk streams that might have a modicum of upside, but I wouldn’t personally start, after I’ve discussed the streams I do recommend.

    **All stats for Monday and Tuesday streamers are through Friday’s games, Wednesday’s and Thursday’s are through Monday’s games.**

    Monday – July 21st – Probable Starters

     

    **Five teams currently have a TBD for their Monday starters – Houston, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, Texas & Washington. Keep an eye on the official Twitter feeds of these teams throughout the weekend and early Monday for an update. I will be on the road all day Sunday so I will not be able to update this article on Sunday or Monday.**

    Jacob Lopez – ATH – @ TEX – 21%

    Ever since the Athletics placed Lopez into the rotation full time, he has been performing pretty well. He made the move on June 8 and has made seven starts since then, throwing 35.2 innings, allowing just 10 earned runs, three home runs and 11 walks while striking out 43. That’s a 10.85 K/9, 2.78 BB/9 and 0.76 HR/9. Those numbers will work. He’s allowed more than two earned runs in only two of the seven starts, walking more than one in only three of the starts. His BABIP of .287 is close to the league average, which is around .300 or so, but his 80.4% strand rate is about 10 points higher than league average, so he has had some luck in the that department. I know that the three home runs seems low when you consider he has a 46.1% fly ball rate, but when you have just a 3.3% barrel rate and 35.6% hard-hit rate, those fly balls won’t exactly fly out of the park. He’s done a wonderful job limiting contact, with just a 70.6% rate, which sounds even better when you realize he has a 69.1% first pitch strike rate and a 51.6% zone rate, so he is pounding the zone but getting plenty of swing and miss. His swinging strike rate is 13.6%, which is pretty, and he has a 27.4% chase rate, which could be better.

    Over the past month, when facing left-handed pitching, the Rangers have been one of the 10 worst offenses in the league. They have an 84 wRC+, the seventh lowest in the league, with a .289 wOBA, a .654 OPS, and a .121 ISO, all three also seventh in the league. They have a 19.6% strikeout rate, fourth lowest, and an 8.5% walk rate, 14th highest. They have hit into the third most ground balls and the sixth fewest fly balls, with the seventh lowest line drive rate and fourth lowest HR/FB. They have the fourth lowest hard-hit rate and the eighth highest soft hit rate, resulting in just six home runs, the fourth fewest in the league, tied with the Rays and Mets, even though the Rangers have the 13th most plate appearances against lefties over the past month. They’ve scored the 11th most runs, 35, tied with the Cardinals, and have the eighth fewest base hits, 20, tied with the Padres.

    So we have a high strikeout, low walk lefty who is limiting runs and home runs, facing a team struggling to hit for power, that doesn’t elevate the ball often, but doesn’t strikeout much. Give me the arm that is performing well over the poor performing bats.

    Michael Liberatore – STL – @ COL – 34%

    While Liberatore has been a bit up and down over the season, he has been up far more often than down and has feature in our streaming guide on many occasions. He’s made 18 starts this year and has allowed more than two runs only six times all year. Over his most recent five starts before the All Star break, he allowed two earned runs or less in four of the five outings, with the fifth outing an unfortunate six earned run, no strikeout, three inning outing against the Braves. Overall though, he performed very well. He was able to weather his two worst walk outings of the season, five against the Guardians and four against the Cubs, just the second and third times he has walked more than one batter in a game, by limiting the team to just seven hits combined and one home run. He’s had some slight BABIP luck, with a .286 BABIP, and his strand rate of 76.9% is above league average, but neither have been outrageously so. He has an elevated barrel rate, of 9.2%, though it and his 39.1% hard-hit rate are both lower than his season long rates, which is encouraging. Liberatore has allowed slightly more fly balls than ground balls, but just an 18.6% line drive rate and an 8.3% HR/FB.

    Teams tend to face left-handed pitchers far less than they do righties, obviously, but I am not a fan using their home/road splits over a 30 day sample because you do get such a small sample of plate appearances. But in the case of the Rockies and Coors Field, I will, just because we know how that stadium affects offenses. So, over the last month at home against left-handed pitching, the Rockies have a 99 wRC+, which is 16th in the league, tied with the Pirates, and five points lower than their road wRC+. They have a .349 wOBA, which is eighth in the league, an .818 OPS that is eighth in the league and a .193 ISO that is ninth in the league. Their 21.8% strikeout rate is in the middle of the league, but their 4.8% walk rate is the worst mark in the league. They have hit more ground balls than fly balls, have a middle of the pack hard-hit rate and have the third highest soft hit rate. They have the 14th most plate appearances at home against left-handed pitching over the past month and have hit five home runs, tied for 13th with six others, scored 20 runs, tied with the Angels and Twins for ninth most, and have the second most extra base hits, with 16.

    In a battle of middling pitching versus a middling overall offense, I tend to lean towards the arm. I think the Rockies are playing over their head, with a .347 BABIP carrying them to a .296 batting average (their BABIP versus lefties at home prior to June 15th was a whopping .276) and will come crashing down to earth soon.

    High-risk: Davis Daniel vs Giants, Walker Buehler @ Phillies, Sean Burke @ Rays, Brady Singer @ Nationals, Austin Gomber vs Cardinals, Michael Lorenzen @ Cubs, Kyle Hendricks @ Mets, Randy Vasquez @ Marlins, Hayden Birdsong @ Braves, Tomoyuki Sugano @ Guardians

    Tuesday – July 22nd – Probable Starters

    **A whopping six teams currently have a TBD for their Tuesday starters, after five teams had one for Monday. Both the Rangers and the Pirates have a TBD for Monday and Tuesday, with Seattle, Miami, Detroit and Arizona joining the two on Tuesday. Keep your eyes on the official team Twitter feeds for updates on who is pitching on Tuesday, as I will be on the road and out of town until Thursday, so I will be unable to update this article on Sunday or Monday.**

    With six teams TBD and a bunch of tough matchups for some of our regular streamers (Noah Cameron, Ryan Gusto, Shane Smith, etc.), I couldn’t find any arms I truly trusted to stream on Tuesday. So take a break that day and look at what we have on Wednesday and Thursday.

    High-risk: Brad Lord vs Reds, Hurston Waldrep vs Giants, Stephen Kolek @ Marlins, Cam Shlittler @ Blue Jays, David Festa @ Dodgers, Carson Fulmer @ Mets, Noah Cameron @ Cubs, Ryan Gusto @ Diamondbacks, Bradley Blalock vs Cardinals, Shane Smith vs Rays, Richard Fitts @ Phillies, Joey Cantillo vs Orioles, Landeon Roupp @ Braves, Frankie Montas vs Angels


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    July 20, 2025, 5:28 am