2015 MLB Fantasy Baseball Weekly Preview: Week 15

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At the traditional midpoint of the baseball season, we fantasy owners received some well-deserved time off. Hey, we need it just as bad as the players do, right? We scour over our seasonal league(s) and analyze the DFS Playbook Pro, trying to create the optimum lineup to turn our Abraham Lincoln into a crisp Benjamin Franklin. Whether you look like a genius for your A.J. Pollock pick in the 10^th round or DJ LeMahieu in the 23^rd, it’s in the past. If your first round pick was Robinson Cano or you made an Anthony Rendon selection in the second round, it’s in the past. After a few days of reflecting, it’s time to get back into it, taking it week-by-week, starting right here with a 10-day scoring period.

This is the oddest week in fantasy baseball, since many of our leagues operate on a 10-day scoring period in week 15. Also, many teams haven’t provided a full layout of their rotation, making it a bit tougher to rank pitchers and figure out matchups. The regular season of fantasy leagues are starting to dwindle down and each matchup becomes more and more crucial to owners. If Miguel Sano is available go pick him up. Kyle Schwarber is rejoining the Cubs Friday, and if he is available, go pick him up. It’s extremely important that you leave it all out on the fantasy field.

Let’s run through another edition of the MLB Weekly Preview for MLB Week 15:

GAME BREAKDOWN GRID

For week 15, here are the cold hard facts that you need to know and consider. These are applicable to both your seasonal leagues and daily lineups.

1. Through 11 big league games, Miguel Sano is hitting .378 with two home runs and eight RBI. He should continue to serve as the cleanup hitter in the Minnesota lineup.
2. Even though his first half numbers weren’t where owners expected them to be, Andrew McCutchen is right near his pace in recent years. Expect a big second half for the superstar and it starts Friday.
3. Only five of Chris Davis’ 19 home runs have come on the road, while his .205 road average is considerably lower than his .263 average at Camden Yards.
4. Shin-Soo Choo is hitting .260 with five home runs when playing at home. That’s respectable, however, the team is on the road all nine games this week. He does have six homers on the road, but his .194 batting average is alarming.
5. Joc Pederson has homered off righties 17 times this season, compared to his three round trippers off southpaws. Pederson and the Dodgers face eight righties this scoring period.
6. Alex Rodriguez ranks in the top 20 in all of baseball in slugging percentage, on-base percentage and OPS.
7. Chris Carter and Luis Valbuena are the only two players in baseball who have 15 or more homers and a batting average below the Mendoza line. They are on the same team.

NOTE: For some teams, the numbers against opposing starters might not add up and that is due to the uncertainty of team’s rotations at time of publishing.

INTERLEAGUE OUTLOOK

The Cleveland Indians play nine games this week with five coming in National League ballparks. With the loss of the designated hitter, Ryan Raburn and David Murphy are affected the most. Of the two, Raburn seems to be the better play. Of his 118 bat-bats in the first half, just 16 came against right-handers. The team faces four lefties this week, but he is the team’s top pinch-hitting option when the opposing team has a southpaw on the bump. Raburn is hitting .314 against left-handers on the season, as opposed to a .188 clip against righties.

Even though Mitch Moreland has been a great asset for the Rangers (.286 with 16 HR) expect him to be on the bench for the majority of the series in Colorado. Fielder has been better than Moreland this season, and given the team’s usage history in prior interleague affairs, Fielder will start at least two, if not all three games in Colorado. Moreland won’t be a fantasy asset in Colorado, but once Texas heads back to an American League park, Moreland will be started in most lineups.

The Cardinals will welcome back All-Star Matt Holliday to their lineup. His return couldn’t come at a better time, seeing as the Cardinals will have two games in Chicago to get Holliday in the lineup without having to put that extra stress his quad. Holliday’s return to the St. Louis lineup signifies a return to your fantasy lineup as well.

STARTING PITCHER RANKINGS

We are still waiting on an announcement from the Giants on what their plans are, while the Pirates and Cardinals have only proclaimed their first two post-break starters. The rankings list the players who have known, or highly probable, matchups, but some weekly top-60 pitchers aren’t listed. Pitchers like Gerrit Cole, Madison Bumgarner, Carlos Martinez, and Michael Wacha aren’t listed, but it goes without saying that they should be started.

Noah Syndergaard has erupted on the scene and has become one of the better strikeout pitchers in the game. However, the strikeouts can be a bit inconsistent. In his last seven starts, he has recorded three double-digit strikeout games, but also has two outings in which he struck out less than four batters. In week 15 he goes up against the Cardinals and the Nationals, teams that have punched out the 11^th and 20^th most times respectively in the first half of the season. His strikeout potential is too high to sit in either outing, deeming him a must-start across the board.

Carlos Rodon has all the makings of a highly productive week. Albeit being ranked 51^st in this week’s pitcher rankings, he has extremely high upside. He squares off against the Cardinals and Indians this week and both of them are susceptible to lefties. Through the first half of the season, the Indians and Cardinals both ranked in the top five in strikeouts against southpaws. Even though the Indians managed to hit .261 against southpaws, the Cardinals hit a porous .229 through the first half of the season when facing a left-hander. Rodon has all the characteristics of a sneaky good DFS play this week. The only thing that could hurt Rodon is that both teams also rank in the top five in walks, something Rodon has struggled with in his rookie season.

What’s the Verdict?

Last week, predictions were made at the end of this article. However, week long predictions don’t have the same significance that DFS now has on us fantasy owners. Here is the verdict on a few players in week 14 and whether or not you should play them:

Erasmo Ramirez—Sat- @TOR (Dickey), Fri- BAL (Tillman)

Ramirez is 8-3 with a 3.63 ERA and 1.11 WHIP thus far in the 2015 season. While those are very respectable numbers, his recent success is worth examining. Ramirez has won six of his last eight starts and has allowed just six earned runs in his last 44 innings pitched. In that same span, he has accrued a 37:10 K/BB ratio and has quietly been one of the better pitchers in baseball over the last month and a half. The Toronto matchup is frightening, but if there was any time to run him out there, it’s now. VERDICT: Yes to both.

Kyle Schwarber—

With Miguel Montero heading to the disabled list, the Cubs will recall uber-prospect Kyle Schwarber to the big league roster. In six games with the team earlier in the season, he hit .364 with one home run and six RBI. He was the designated hitter for five games, but he will be one of the three catchers in the catching platoon the Cubs will implement for the time being. When he is in the lineup, he needs to be in yours. VERDICT: Yes.

Best of luck in week 15.