Fantasy baseball daily notes: Pitcher and hitter rankings for Sunday
A pair of NL Cy Young award contenders top the card with Max Scherzer visiting the Mets and Freddy Peralta taking the hill in Pittsburgh. Elsewhere, there are some intriguing options for those needing to squeeze another start or two onto your Week 18 ledger while there is the usual array of bats for hire.
Good luck as another scoring period ends. Here are Sunday’s picks to click, all available in over half of all ESPN leagues.
Kris Bubic (L), rostered in 8% of ESPN leagues, Kansas City Royals vs. St. Louis Cardinals: Bubic strung together four straight quality starts before a hiccup against the Cardinal last time out where he walked four in only 4 2/3 frames. Look for Bubic to revert to previous form in the home rematch as the Cardinals sport a below average offense with a lefty on the hill.
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Triston McKenzie (R), 35%, Cleveland Indians at Detroit Tigers: Cal Quantill’s second half success is getting most of the attention, but don’t overlook some of the strides McKenzie has made since his early July recall. Most notably, the 23-year-old righty has exhibited much better control, walking only seven in his last 34 innings. Unfortunately, he’s surrendered eight homers in that span, bloating his ERA. The Tigers are not easy pickings, but Quantrill should be able to keep them in check.
Drew Smyly (L), 22%, Atlanta Braves at Washington Nationals: Just as you’re ready to give up, Smyly brings you back in with a solid six inning effort against the Reds, limiting Cincinnati to just two runs on two hits, fanning seven along the way. Smyly has a chance to make fantasy managers smile again with a tilt against the depleted Nationals lineup.
Elieser Hernandez (R), 18%, Miami Marlins vs. Chicago Cubs: After impressing last season, albeit in just 25 2/3 innings, Hernandez made only two April starts before succumbing to a calf injury. He’s slated to return on Sunday with the ideal matchup as the new-look Cubs wrap up a series in South Beach. In three rehab efforts, Hernandez fanned 18 without issuing any free passes in 11 2/3 frames. His last outing featured 10 in five frames, requiring just 62 pitches to finish. He should be able to log at least five innings in his return.
Kolby Allard (L), 2%, Texas Rangers vs. Oakland Athletics: Oakland is a tough matchup but coming off two consecutive quality starts, Allard is worth consideration in deep formats. The Athletics offense is league average versus lefthanders so if he can keep the power bats in check, Allard can make it three straight solid efforts.
Bullpen: Staying with the Rangers, Joe Barlow notched his first save with Texas on Friday night. Barlow was groomed as a closer, collecting saves at every level, including seven with Triple-A Round Rock before being called up.
For the latest team-by-team closer situations, please consult our Closer Chart.
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.
Catcher — Mike Zunino (R), 32%, Tampa Bay Rays at Minnesota Twins (LHP Charlie Barnes): Through Friday’s action, Zunino was one long ball away from matching his career high of 25 set in 2017. His average is also it’s highest since that season. Zunino homered in three straight heading into Saturday’s action. Facing an inexperienced lefty on Sunday, he could conceivably leave Minnesota with a new personal best number of dingers.
First Base — Frank Schwindel (L), 2%, Chicago Cubs at Miami Marlins (RHP Elieser Hernandez): Schwindel is the beneficiary of Anthony Rizzo donning pinstripes. He’s taken advantage with .423/.464/.885 slash over his prior eight games before Saturday’s schedule.
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Second Base — Josh Rojas (L), 30%, Arizona Diamondbacks vs. San Diego Padres (Undecided): Rojas was in process of posting a breakthrough season before being shelved almost three weeks with a dislocated left finger. It took a game to get going again, but Rojas was 6-for-8 in two games before taking a seat on Sunday. With the Padres likely to use a bullpen game with righthander Miguel Diaz soaking up bulk innings, Rojas should be back in the lineup.
Third Base — Aledmys Diaz (R), 21%, Houston Astros at Los Angeles Angels (LHP Reid Detmers): The Astros offense hasn’t missed Alex Bregman as much as feared as Diaz has filled in admirably. The veteran infielder’s 133 wRC+ is by far a career best. Diaz should build on it facing a promising, but still raw rookie with Detmers on the hill.
Shortstop — Luis Urias (R), 41%, Milwaukee Brewers at Pittsburgh Pirates (LHP Steven Brault): Apparently, Urias didn’t want to lose playing time after the Brewers acquired Eduardo Escobar as he’s slashed .588/.588/.1.353 Even so, he won’t play every day, but there is a strong chance he’s in the lineup with a lefty on the hill.
Corner Infield — Brandon Belt (L), 25%, San Francisco Giants vs. Colorado Rockies (RHP Jon Gray): Belt has been an everyday player for most of his career, but with the success of the platoon-happy Giants, he’s fine with playing against just righthanders. Since coming off the IL in early August, Belt has contributed three homers and a double.
Middle Infield — Tyler Wade (L), 5%, New York Yankees at Chicago White Sox (RHP Lucas Giolito): Getting on base could be a chore with Giolito on the hill, but as Wade exhibited in the Field of Dream game, he’s not bashful about taking off. It also helps the White Sox as a team are terrible at controlling the running game.
Outfield — Connor Joe (R), 7%, Colorado Rockies at San Francisco Giants (LHP Alex Wood): Joe is in play solely due to enjoying the platoon edge. However, featuring a Rockies batter avails the opportunity to point out Colorado is home for six games next week so it could pay dividends to load up on Rockies before your league mates are aware.
Outfield — DJ Peters (R), under 1%, Texas Rangers vs. Oakland Athletics (LHP Sean Manaea): Peters is in a rut, but he’ll have a chance to snap out of it as he enjoys the platoon edge. For those looking at pick Yohel Pozo, he is catcher-eligible and has been added to the system, but he may have to clear through your league’s waivers.
Outfield — Bradley Zimmer (L), 1%, Cleveland Indians at Detroit Tigers (RHP Drew Hutchison): Zimmer has shown signs of gaining consistency but has yet to maintain a long stretch of solid play. Even so, all Cleveland batters are in play against Hutchison. The righty was a highly regarded prospect around 10 years ago, but injuries derailed a promising career. He’s on the comeback trail with Detroit but had 40 walks in 84 1.3 innings with Triple-A Toledo.
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.