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.
Cole Irvin (L), rostered in 44% of ESPN leagues, Oakland Athletics vs. Seattle Mariners: Irvin has everything going for him in his matchup today. He’s at home in a great pitching park, and this is the coldest game of the day at 57 degrees. All but two others are over 70, and no others are under 60. He also faces the weak, strikeout-friendly Mariners. Giddy up.
Vince Velasquez (R), 5%, Philadelphia Phillies at Miami Marlins: Velasquez is one of baseball’s most underrated pitchers, perhaps because he’s a flyball guy prone to blow-ups, but this matchup should help a lot in that regard. He gets a massive park upgrade into one of baseball’s premier homer-suppressing parks, and he faces a weak Marlins team that has been rolling out very strikeout-heavy lineups of late.
Rich Hill (L), 16%, Tampa Bay Rays vs. Kansas City Royals: Hill is old and usually has a short leash, but he’s still a very competent major league pitcher. A mediocre Royals offense takes a big park downgrade today, and Hill gets one of the AL’s better offense propping up his win chances.
Logan Gilbert (R), 30%, Seattle Mariners at Oakland Athletics: Gilbert is one of baseball’s premier prospects, and he gets to pitch in the same elite pitching environment as Irvin. He faces the stronger, less strikeout-heavy offense, but he’s still a quality stream today.
Bullpen: It should come as no surprise that the best game to stream relievers from is the Mariners/A’s game. Elite pitchers park. Best pitching weather. And a bottom five Seattle offense. Streaming from the Oakland side is ideal. Jake Diekman (rostered in 35% of leagues) is the top option, with Lou Trevino (42%) a distant second. Delois Guerra (under 1%) would be fine otherwise, or else one of the guys from the Seattle side (J.T. Chargois and Wyatt Mills grade out best and are both under 1%).
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 — Mitch Garver (R), 41%, Minnesota Twins vs. Baltimore Orioles (RHP Dean Kremer): Garver doesn’t play everyday, but he’s one of baseball’s top hitting catchers when he does. 80-plus degree weather and a below-average, home-prone pitcher make him the top option if he’s in there. Willians Astudillo would be the next best option if Garver isn’t in today, and Miguel Sano is an elite stream at first base.
First Base — Brandon Belt (L), 22%, San Francisco Giants at Arizona Diamondbacks (RHP Corbin Martin): Belt is perpetually underowned because he’s old a boring, but he’s a very good hitter getting a big park upgrade. Corbin Martin is a legit prospect, but he’s nothing amazing yet. Evan Longoria would also be a strong stream.
Second Base — Jonathan Villar (S), 18%, New York Mets vs. Colorado Rockies (RHP Chi Chi Gonzalez): The Mets are dealing with a ton of injuries, so Villar is playing everyday right now. He’s also been leading off, and while the park isn’t ideal for hitting, he gets to face the third-worst pitcher on today’s slate.
Third Base — Austin Riley (R), 59%, Atlanta Braves at Boston Red Sox (RHP Garrett Richards): Riley is rostered in more than half of ESPN fantasy leagues, but the matchup is good enough where he needs to be mentioned in case he’s available in yours. The Braves get a big park upgrade going into the third-best park in baseball, and they’ll add a DH in the American League, adding extra plate appearance, RBI, and run equity to the whole lineup. Throw in heavy winds blowing out to center, and Riley is a great option.
Shortstop — Amed Rosario (R), 7%, Cleveland Indians at Detroit Tigers (LHP Tarik Skubal): Skubal has been dreadful this year and projects as one of the slate’s weakest pitchers. Rosario will hold both the platoon and groundball-vs.-flyball advantage against him, and he’s also extremely easy to steal against. Rosario is the second-best overall stream today, after Polanco.
Corner Infield — Rowdy Tellez (L), 4%, Toronto Blue Jays at New York Yankees (RHP Corey Kluber): Kluber is coming off a no-hitter, but he’s nowhere near as good as all that. He’s a flyball pitcher in Yankee Stadium, so Tellez will get both the platoon advantage and the best side of the park for power. Kind of an all-or-nothing proposition, but if you’re hunting for homers, he could fit the bill.
Middle Infield — Enrique Hernandez (R), 26%, Boston Red Sox vs. Atlanta Braves (RHP Charlie Morton): Morton is a good pitcher, but this is more of a talent and environment play. Middle infield thins out quickly today, and Hernandez is the leadoff hitter for a solid offense in an elite park, and that’ll have to be enough if you need someone beyond Villar and Rosario.
Outfield — Gregory Polanco (L), 3%, Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Chicago Cubs (RHP Jake Arrieta): Polanco is the top overall stream today. It’s 83 degrees, and Arrieta is the second-worst pitcher on the slate. He gives up a lot of homers and he’s easy to steal against, giving Polanco several routes to delivering fantasy value.
Outfield — Joc Pederson (L), 46%, Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh Pirates (RHP Cody Ponce): The only pitcher worse than Arrieta today is Cody Ponce. It’s a tough park for lefty power, but Pederson has enough to overcome that with the platoon advantage against such weak opposition in high heat. He leads off against righties, giving him plenty of volume potential and a possible third-time-through-the-order AB against Ponce.
Outfield — Justin Upton (R), 21%, Los Angeles Angels vs. Texas Rangers (LHP Hyeon-Jong Yang): Yang wasn’t even all that great in Korea, posting a 4.70 ERA last year with a steady year-over-year stream of 7.0-ish K/9s. That does not bode well for his chances in MLB as he makes his second start today. Upton with the platoon advantage makes for a terrific stream.
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.