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.
Robbie Ray (L), rostered in 61% of ESPN leagues, Toronto Blue Jays vs. Miami Marlins: Ray comes in a bit above the usual threshold, but he’s the third-best pitcher overall today at any rostership, so he needs to be mentioned in case he’s out there for you. Sahlen Field is still a dangerous power park, but it’s nowhere near as hitter-friendly as Dunedin was, and the temperatures are a lot cooler (second-best pitching weather of the day). And while Miami adds a DH, they’re still a pretty hapless offense.
Eric Lauer (L), 1%, Milwaukee Brewers vs. Detroit Tigers: If Ray isn’t available in your league, don’t worry too much because Lauer is right up there with him today. He too faces a horrible offense, except instead of adding a DH, they lose one. Milwaukee also has some of the best pitching weather of the day.
Brady Singer (R), 22%, Kansas City Royals vs. Pittsburgh Pirates: Singer is in a similar spot to Ray; he’s just not as good of a pitcher and doesn’t come with as many built-in strikeouts. But he faces perhaps MLB’s worst offense, the Pittsburgh Pirates, albeit a Pirates offense that adds a DH.
Andrew Heaney (L), 55%, Los Angeles Angels at San Francisco Giants: Heaney moves into the National League where he will get to face a pitcher instead of a DH, and he gets a nice park upgrade going into Oracle. San Fran isn’t a horrible offense and they don’t strikeout a ton, but they are certainly over performing this year, and Heaney’s underlying talent and the rest of the matchup make this a strong stream.
Bullpen: If Eric freaking Lauer is one of the day’s top overall pitching options, you know the matchup must be good. If the Tigers played all of their games in the NL without a DH, they’d give the Rockies and Pirates a strong run for the title of worst offense in baseball. Devin Williams is one of the most talented relievers in baseball and is available in nearly half of all ESPN leagues (51% rostership), so he’s your man if he’s available. If not, you’d still be totally fine going with Brent Suter (2%) or Angel Perdomo (sub-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 innings completed after the fourth inning, and one point for a 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 at Baltimore Orioles (LHP Bruce Zimmermann): Garver is one of the best-hitting catchers in baseball, so it’s surprising he still doesn’t crack the 50% threshold. Today he faces both a lefty and the day’s worst pitcher (in a great power park no less), so not only is he the top catcher, he’s the top overall stream today. Miguel Sano would also be an exceptional pickup.
First Base — C.J. Cron (R), 51%, Colorado Rockies vs. Texas Rangers (RHP Dane Dunning): Cron is so freaking good, it’s amazing he’s straddling the 50% line. In Coors today against an okay pitcher, he’s one of the top overall plays.
Second Base — Jonathan Villar (S), 33%, New York Mets at Arizona Diamondbacks (LHP Caleb Smith): Villar has been playing every day and leading off with New York dealing with so many injuries, and today the Mets get a monster park upgrade and great hitting weather (open roof with near-100 degree temperatures and 7 mph wind out to right field).
Third Base — Maikel Franco (R), 9%, Baltimore Orioles vs. Minnesota Twins (RHP Michael Pineda): Pineda has always had problems with home runs, and today he goes into baseball’s second-best homer park in Camden Yards. Franco doesn’t do much besides whiff and homer, but the chances for the homer are certainly there today.
Shortstop — Willy Adames (R), 16%, Milwaukee Brewers vs. Detroit Tigers (LHP Matthew Boyd): Adames has been hitting second quite a bit since being acquired by the Brewers, and today he’ll get the platoon advantage against a flyball lefty in a positive power park (a much more homer-friendly one than the Trop).
Corner Infield — Christian Walker (R), 35%, Arizona Diamondbacks vs. New York Mets (LHP David Peterson): As mentioned with Villar, the weather here for hitting is great with the roof scheduled to be open despite 100-degree temperatures. Walker will hold both the home field and platoon advantages while hitting in the middle of the lineup.
Middle Infield — Starlin Castro (R), 15%, Washington Nationals at Atlanta Braves (LHP Max Fried): Lots of lefties today, which means good righty bats get a nice boost. Starlin is scuffling this season a bit, but the underlying talent is there. Fried is overrated an the forecast is for 80 degees, so this is a nice under-the-radar spot.
Outfield — Jordan Luplow (R), 5%, Cleveland Indians vs. Chicago White Sox (RHP Dylan Cease): While not another lefties, Cease is a reverse splits righty, which plays in Luplow’s favor. He’ll get to face him at home in perhaps baseball’s most underrated hitters park. Progressive is fourth-best in all of MLB for overall hitting.
Outfield — Tyler O’Neill (R), 57%, St. Louis Cardinals at Los Angeles Dodgers (Undecided): THE BAT X loves O’Neill’s power. 100th percentile Barrel%, 96th percentile exit velocity, 95th percentile launch angle on his hardest hit balls. We don’t know who’s pitching for LA yet, but it seems likely/possible we get David Price for at least a couple innings, giving O’Neill the platoon advantage in a much better park for power than Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
Outfield — Gregory Polanco (L), 4%, Pittsburgh Pirates at Kansas City Royals (RHP Brady Singer): Singer has a large platoon split, so Polanco’s advantage will be heightened in this regard. The Pirates will get a big park upgrade and add a DH today, so their top power threat makes for a solid 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.