Fantasy baseball daily notes: Pitcher and hitter rankings for Friday
On the fantasy side, there are a handful of reasonable spot starters along with the typical slew of bats, fortified by a weekend set in Coors Field.
Good luck this weekend. Here are Friday’s candidates to point you in the right direction, with everyone rostered in more than 50% of all ESPN leagues, most a lot fewer.
Miles Mikolas (R), rostered in 7% of ESPN leagues, St. Louis Cardinals vs. Pittsburgh Pirates: Mikolas is slated to make just his second start of the season on Friday. His debut was delayed until May 22 with shoulder soreness, and then he missed almost three months with forearm tightness. Mikolas hurled five rehab assignments, the last two extending 7 and 5 2/3 innings so he should not incur any workload restrictions. The righty returns to face the lowest scoring team in the league in a cushy home matchup.
Jaime Barria (R), 5%, Los Angeles Angels at Cleveland: Barria sported a 2.29 ERA and 0.97 WHIP in his first three starts after the break before running into the Astros last time out. Houston roughed up Barria for seven hits in three frames, resulting in three earned runs. Next up is a less daunting Cleveland offense, albeit on the road, who check in with the fifth poorest wOBA versus righthanders over the second half.
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Nestor Cortes (L), 11%, New York Yankees vs. Minnesota Twins: Recently, the Yankees rotation welcomed the returns of Gerrit Cole and Jordan Montgomery from the COVID-19 IL. Cortes was integral in their absence, so much so he’s remaining in the rotation. Since July 28, Cortes has spun a 3.32 ERA and 1.20 WHIP in four starts. The Twins won’t be a pushover as they’ve responded well since dealing Nelson Cruz, but Cortes yielded a combined two runs in 11 innings to the potent Rays and White Sox in his recent stretch.
Elieser Hernandez (R), 30%, Miami Marlins at Cincinnati Reds: The Reds at home are certainly potent as they’ve been the most productive lineup against righthanders since the break. That said, if Hernandez didn’t miss time with a quadriceps issue, his rostership would be well north of 50%. The righthander returned to hurl 5 1/3 stanzas against the Cubs, limiting them to four hits and one earned run. It’s a risk, but Hernandez is certainly playable against the Reds. However, it may be worth grabbing him now since his nest outing lines up to be a juicy home tilt with the Nationals.
Bullpen:
Drew Steckenrider may be in the mix with Diego Castillo and Paul Sewald for Seattle’s saves, but he’s been a useful fantasy asset even when not handling closing duties. Over his last five outings, he’s notched two saves, two wins and a hold.
Calculating Bill James game scores: A pitcher starts with 50 points, gets a point for each out, two points for each inning completed after the fourth, and one point for each strikeout. He is docked two points for each hit, four points for each earned run allowed, two points for each unearned run allowed, and one point for each walk.
Note: In 2019 and 2020, the average game score was 50.
For the latest team-by-team closer situations, please consult our Closer Chart.
Catcher — Sean Murphy (R), 46%, Oakland Athletics vs. San Francisco Giants (LHP Alex Wood): After hitting 13 homers over the first four months of the season, Murphy went deep in August for the first time in Thursday’s matinee with the White Sox. That said, he’s been crushing the ball lately, so he was due. Over his last eight games, including Thursday, Murphy stung 10 balls over 95 mph, three eclipsed 100 mph. In this span, Murphy was credited with five hard outs. He has a good chance to keep the momentum as he enjoys the platoon edge on Friday.
First Base — Christian Walker (R), 28%, Arizona Diamondbacks at Colorado Rockies (LHP Austin Gomber): You know the deal. All hands on deck in a Coors Field game. Carson Kelly is an alternative behind the dish as he’s been batting cleanup against southpaws. Walker is experiencing a down campaign, but there’s no better elixir than a weekend series in Colorado, especially when benefiting from the platoon edge.
Second Base — Nicky Lopez (L), 7%, Kansas City Royals at Chicago Cubs (RHP Zach Davies): Lopez has been batting second against righthanders for a couple of weeks. In this span, he’s a tidy 7-for-7 in steals. On Thursday, he decided to muscle up and poked his first homer of the season. The homer aside, so long as Lopez continues to run, he will be a huge fantasy asset down the stretch.
Third Base — Carter Kieboom (R), 6%, Washington Nationals at Milwaukee Brewers (LHP Brett Anderson): Kieboom continued his impressive August with his second homer this month on Wednesday night, helping fuel a .304/.375/.500 slash for the month. His numbers against lefties have been down, but that’s just a sample size blip. It’s always advantageous to take advantage of the platoon edge for young players.
Shortstop — Luis Urias (R), 40%, Milwaukee Brewers vs. Washington Nationals (LHP Patrick Corbin): Urias has been a frequent visitor for the past few weeks. So much so, there have been a couple of instances where I opted to eschew him for someone else, even though Urias was a worthy suggestion. I can’t do that this time as the matchup with a struggling Corbin is too good to ignore. The Nationals lefthander’s ERA is 7.83 with a 1.53 WHIP over his previous six outings. Meanwhile, Urias has recorded a .911 OPS since July 5, around the time he was supposed to lose playing time.
Corner Infield — Miguel Sano (R), 47%, Minnesota Twins at New York Yankees (LHP Nestor Cortes): Overall, 2021 has been a disappointment for Sano, much like it has for most of his teammates. The slugger is showing signs of turning things around as he’s posted a .275/.398/.565 line for the past three weeks. Most importantly, he’s reduced his strikeout rate to 24% in this stretch, 10 points lower than his season-long mark.
Middle Infield — Brendan Rodgers (R), 17%, Colorado Rockies vs. Arizona Diamondbacks (LHP Tyler Gilbert): C.J. Cron‘s recent exploits have blasted him over the 50% barrier, but Rodgers has yet to take full advantage of his home digs. Don’t let that sway you, over time Rodgers numbers will improve at home.
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Outfield — Tyler Naquin (L), 49%, Cincinnati Reds vs. Miami Marlins (RHP Elieser Hernandez): Naquin was a stalwart in this space for most of the first half of the season. It took a while, but his rostership vaulted over the cutoff. A second half swoon dropped Naquin below the limit and since he seems to be back on track, it’s time to pick the outfielder up. Naquin carried an eight-game hitting streak into Thursday’s contest, slashing 419/.471/.677 along the way.
Outfield — Phil Gosselin (R), 14%, Los Angeles Angels at Cleveland (LHP Sam Hentges): Gosselin is about a week away from setting a new personal best for plate appearances, as the 32-year-old utility man will soon best the 240 plate appearances accrued in 2016. Gosselin is also pacing towards a 100 wRC+, the second highest of his career thus only the second time he’s been a league average hitter. This season and for his career, Gosselin has been more productive with the platoon edge, which he holds over a middling Hentges.
Outfield — Ian Happ (S), 33%, Chicago Cubs vs. Kansas City Royals (RHP Brad Keller): Maybe this is confirmation bias as I was high on Happ coming into this season, but he appears to have righted the ship with three homers over the last week, buoying a .333/.391/.810 line. If you prefer to view this as picking on a pitcher with a 5.62 ERA and 1.69 WHIP, hey, that works too.
Hitter ratings account for the opposing starting pitcher’s past history (three years’ worth as well as past 21 days) as well as ballpark factors. “LH” and “RH” ratings account only for left- and right-handed batters, respectively. Weighted on-base average (wOBA) is the primary statistic used in the calculation. Ratings range from 1-10, with 10 representing the best possible matchup, statistically speaking, and 1 representing the worst. So, for example, a 10 is a must-start rating, while a 1 should be avoided (if possible); a 1-2 is poor, 3-4 is fair, 5-6 is average, 7-8 is very good and 9-10 is excellent.