Fantasy baseball daily notes: Pitcher and hitter rankings for Tuesday
Here are Tuesday’s choices to bolster your fantasy squad, with everyone available in at least half of all ESPN leagues.
Adrian Houser (R), rostered in 5% of ESPN leagues, Milwaukee Brewers vs. Miami Marlins: The Marlins are one of the weaker offenses in baseball and are also among the most strikeout prone. With the roof likely open, this will be one of the colder games of the day. Houser hasn’t been great to start the year and can have a short leash, but between his history and the matchup, he projects as the top streaming option today.
David Peterson (L), 6%, New York Mets vs. Boston Red Sox: The Red Sox have gotten off to a hot start, but they are overperforming their true talent level, and they lose their DH spot going into the NL today. They also take a massive park downgrade going from the No. 2 hitters’ park in baseball to one of the worst. Peterson is sneakily an above-average pitcher and is a fantastic stream here.
Jose Quintana (L), 4%, Los Angeles Angels at Texas Rangers: The Rangers are one of the worst teams in baseball and are also an above-average strikeout matchup. Their best hitters (Joey Gallo, David Dahl, Nate Lowe) are all left-handed, so Quintana will hold the platoon advantage against them.
Aaron Sanchez (R), 7%, San Francisco Giants vs. Colorado Rockies: The Rockies project as the absolute worst offense in baseball and the most strikeout-prone, so anytime you can stream a decent pitcher against them outside of Coors, you should jump at the chance. Sanchez certainly fits that bill, even if his leash has been a bit short this year. Plus, this is the only game under 60 degrees today.
Bullpen: The Rockies outside of Coors in a pitchers’ park with the best pitching weather is clearly the premier spot of the day. Tyler Rogers is just 16% rostered and is the safest bet. If you’re looking for strikeout upside, Camilo Doval isn’t rostered anywhere. He’s not a household name yet and has control issue, but he throws 97 and is a big-time K pitcher and one who projects quite well via THE BAT.
For the latest team-by-team closer situations, please consult our Closer Chart.
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.
Catcher — Mitch Garver (R), 40%, Minnesota Twins at Cleveland Indians (RHP Aaron Civale): Civale is fetch… people want him to happen, but he’s just not as good as people want him to be. His 2.42 ERA belies a 4.16 xFIP, buoyed by a ridiculous .177 BABIP. Most widely-available catchers are weak hitters, btu Garver is a legitimately good hitter by catcher standards and gets a better matchup than most will assume, particularly given the park upgrade.
First Base — Rowdy Tellez (L), 2%, Toronto Blue Jays vs. Washington Nationals (RHP Max Scherzer): Picking on Scherzer is never ideal, but hear me out. He’s a flyball pitcher with a wide split, and if he has one weakness, it’s power to lefties. That’s Tellez’s profile. Plus, this game is in the great hitting environment of Dunedin with 82 degree temperatures (hottest game of the day).
Second Base — Starlin Castro (R), 13%, Washington Nationals at Toronto Blue Jays (RHP Trent Thornton): Starlin is an underrated hitter to begin with, and he faces one of the day’s weakest pitchers in the same great hitting environment as Tellez. Thornton is also a flyball pitcher, and a MUCH worse than Scherzer. (Duh.)
Third Base — Evan Longoria (R), 41%, San Francisco Giants vs. Colorado Rockies (RHP Chi Chi Gonzalez): Chi Chi is one of the worst pitchers today, and like Starlin, Longo is an underrated and under-rostered hitter. He’s old and boring, but he can still hit a baseball.
Shortstop — Amed Rosario (R), 6%, Cleveland Indians vs. Minnesota Twins (RHP Kenta Maeda): Rosario has been off to a slow start, but samples are still small. Most don’t realize Progressive Field is a top 3-5 hitters park in baseball, and eventually this massive upgrade over Citi Field will start to help him.
Corner Infield — Maikel Franco (R), 19%, Baltimore Orioles vs. New York Yankees (RHP Corey Kluber): Kluber isn’t the pitcher he used to be, and especially on a day with many good pitchers going, he’s easily bad enough to pick on, especially in a home run park like Camden Yards.
Middle Infield – Ha-Seong Kim (R), 8%, San Diego Padres at Arizona Diamondbacks (RHP Merrill Kelly): Kim’s big-time KBO power hasn’t quite translated to MLB yet, but there are positive signs, like his 87th percentile max exit velocity. He also has 82nd percentile sprint speed with plenty of speed upside, and he hits in one of baseball’s best lineups. You could do a lot worse than a middle infielder with that profile against the likes of Merrill Kelly.
Outfield — Avisail Garcia (R), 30%, Milwaukee Brewers vs. Miami Marlins (LHP Daniel Castano): Garcia is the clear best streaming option on today’s slate, and it’s amazing he isn’t higher rostered yet … 92nd percentile exit velocity, 92nd percentile HR Zone Launch Angle, 85th percentile Barrel%. Dude can mash and he faces a bad lefty today. Pick him up and keep him.
Outfield — Aaron Hicks (S), 45%, New York Yankees at Baltimore Orioles (LHP Bruce Zimmermann): Zimmermann is the worst pitcher of the day, and while Camden Yards isn’t quite as homer-friendly as Yankee Stadium, this is still a great spot to for a guy like Hicks to hit and for you to hunt for homers.
Outfield — Justin Upton (R), 31%, Los Angeles Angels at Texas Rangers (RHP Mike Foltynewicz): Sometimes it’s as simple as good hitter and against weak pitcher. Upton is still a solid power bat, and Folty and is a pretty extreme flyball pitcher with big-time homer problems.
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.