Start: August 22nd vs. Cincinnati Reds
ESPN ownership: 30.1%
Everything we like about Freddy Peralta can be reduced to the column labeled "K". The 22-year-old's strikeout upside is clearly through the roof; his 60-grade fastball has won him a 30.5% strikeout rate in 62.1 frames this season. But besides that, it's one wart after another, from the 13.9% walk rate to the 40.7% hard contact allowed.
All of which is to say that the Milwaukee Brewers youngster is as high variance as they come, but as far as lottery tickets go, he offers a tantalizing payout. Thrill-seeking streamers might give Peralta a whirl this week against a Reds offense that has declined sharply of late, scraping together a .130 team ISO against righties over the last 30 days. It doesn't hurt that the walk-prone Peralta gets to miss out on facing Cincy's DL-bound Joey Votto either.