Fantasy baseball daily notes: Pitcher and hitter rankings for Monday
Here are the players in the best spot to fortify your Monday lineup and start the week off in a strong manner.
Luis Garcia (R), rostered in 4% of ESPN leagues, Houston Astros vs. Los Angeles Angels: The Astros are being careful with Garcia’s innings, but he should be able to pitch the requite five frames needed for a win. Garcia uses a deceptive motion to throw five pitches lead by a 93-mph four-seam fastball. The pitch mix has generated 14 strikeouts over his past 9 2/3 innings.
Martin Perez (L), 3%, Boston Red Sox at Baltimore Orioles: Perez is a below-average pitcher with a favorable matchup. He’ll be taking the mind in a wraparound game as the Red Sox try to return the favor and sweep the four-game series in Camden yards. Baltimore began the season sweeping Boston in Fenway park.
Luke Weaver (R), 7%, Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Miami Marlins: Like Perez, Weaver isn’t a good pitcher, but the matchup is worthy of a spot start. The Marlins are in the bottom third of the league in run scoring and weighted on-base average and are one of the easiest lineups to strike out.
Bullpen: On a day where you likely have holes in your rotation, but not a lot of help out there for pickup, turning to dominant setup man is a great way to squeeze out some points or fortify ratio categories in roto-scoring. Garrett Whitlock was not needed by Boston on Sunday, making him one of the top options for Monday as he’s capable of working multiple innings and with Adam Ottavino and Matt Barnes both pitching on Sunday, Whitlock may even happen upon a save.
For the latest team-by-team closer situations, please consult our Closer Chart.
Note: W-L, ERA and WHIP are 2021 statistics
Catcher — Dom Nunez (L), 11%, Colorado Rockies vs. San Diego Padres (RHP Dinelson Lamet): Despite being a considerably weaker lineup than past seasons, the Rockies are third overall in average runs per home game. The problem is there aren’t a lot of options to pick up with Nunez being one of the few likely available.
First Base — Marwin Gonzalez (S), 6%, Boston Red Sox at Baltimore Orioles (RHP Jorge Lopez): Gonzalez was cited in this spot on Sunday on the strength of leading off for a potent lineup against a weak pitcher in a great hitting park. The same holds true on Monday. Oh yeah, on Sunday, Gonzalez went 3-for-5 with a run.
Second Base — Jurickson Profar (S), 41%, San Diego Padres at Colorado Rockies (RHP Jon Gray): Profar is one of the few Padres below the 50% rostership limit to be considered in this space. His power metrics are down as he’s hitting fewer fly balls and his 4% HR/FB is well below his norm. That said, Coors Field has jump-started a lot of power surges.
Third Base — Maikel Franco (R), 14%, Baltimore Orioles vs. Boston Red Sox (LHP Martin Perez): While it has yet to manifest this season, Franco historically hits right handers for power and the ball is beginning to carry out of Camden Yards.
Shortstop — Miguel Rojas (R), 34%, Miami Marlins at Arizona Diamondbacks (RHP Luke Weaver): Rojas is the perfect example of ignoring platoons and leveraging a good hitter against a mediocre pitcher. Yes, Rojas deserves the good hitter label as he is showing last season’s breakthrough was not a short-season anomaly. He’s also swiped three bags in four tries.
Corner Infield — Charlie Culberson (R), 2%, Texas Rangers at San Francisco Giants (LHP Alex Wood): OK, sometimes the platoon edge is a factor, especially if it means the player will be in the lineup. Though, Culberson has been productive as each component of his .299/.338/.478 slash would be a career best.
Middle Infield — Jose Rojas (L), under 1%, Los Angeles Angels at Houston Astros (RHP Luis Garcia): The Diamondbacks Josh Rojas has been getting the headlines lightly, while the Angels Rojas has been quietly productive as well. The 28-year-old infielder has been filling in for Anthony Rendon and took a modest three-game hitting streak into Saturday’s action.
Outfield — Nick Senzel (R), 30%, Cincinnati Reds at Pittsburgh Pirates (RHP Mitch Keller): All the signs are there for Senzel to turn things around. He’s walking more and fanning less than usual. His Statcast xBA and xSLG are both significantly above his actual mark which can be a harbinger of future success.
Outfield — Myles Straw (R), 12%, Houston Astros vs. Los Angeles Angels (Undecided): One of the wisest ploys on short schedules is finding players to use with a great chance at a steal. Straw is 5-for-7 in that department. Meanwhile, the Angels are one of the easiest teams for base stealers to show off their ability.
Outfield — Hunter Renfroe (R), 7%, Boston Red Sox at Baltimore Orioles (RHP Jorge Lopez): Renfroe, along with Bobby Dalbec have enjoyed the long series in Camden Yards. That said, Renfroe has been productive in May, pounding three homers this month to fuel a .314/.314/.600 slash.
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. A “*” means that the pitcher lacks requisite career major league data to produce an accurate hitter rating; these are the author’s ratings.