Wednesday, June 11th. We will talk BVP. There will also be mentions of Bigfoot and dog doody. Yes, we hit it from all angles with Fantasy Alarm. From the mundane to the classy, we've got you covered.
* NOTE: Players are listed in alphabetical order for the sake of making them easily sortable/findable. The matchups are also generated based on Batter vs. Pitcher data. Just because a player is not listed does not mean that he is a bad or good play. The players listed below are mentioned merely because of the BVP data for the matchup.
DISH DIAMONDS – The Best Hitting Matchups of the Day
Ian Desmond is rolling the past few weeks and he's hit .417 with a homer in 12 at-bats against Matt Cain.
Edwin Encarnacion is hitting .378 with a homer and six RBIs over 37 at-bats against Phil Hughes. Jose Reyes has taken the hot pitcher deep twice and is batting .400 over 10 at-bats. Jose Bautista is also batting .308 with a homer and three RBIs over 23 at-bats.
Josh Hamilton has hit .450 against Tommy Milone over 20 at-bats. He's also gone deep twice for five RBIs. He's not the only one that beats up Milone, not by a long shot. Erick Aybar has nine hits in 22 at-bats (.409). Howie Kendrick is hitting .385 with two homers and seven RBIs over 26 at-bats. Albert Pujols hasn't had an RBI over 19 at-bats but he has hit .421 while stroking six doubles.
The Dodgers may not love Matt Kemp right now but he loves to face Johnny Cueto. Check out the 6-for-12 line with two bombs.
Cameron Maybin has hit .346 with a .885 OPS over 26 plate appearances against Cole Hamels. He's also swiped three bags.
Dustin Pedroia have yourself a career against Wei-Yin Chen. In 24 at-bats the mighty might doesn't have a homer or steal, but he's batting .500 with five doubles and five RBIs. Daniel Nava, don't know how you could trust him at this point, has seven hits in 13 at-bats (including a homer). David Ortiz has also gone deep with five RBIs and a .400 batting average over 15 at-bats.
In honor of Pedroia, who like myself is a fan... is this the voice of Bigfoot?
Eric Sogard has gone 7-for-17 against Jered Weaver (.412).
Ichiro Suzuki is hitting well over .300 and playing against righties. He faces righty Chris Young Wednesday. They have faced off 22 times and Ichiro has hit .364 with two homers and six RBIs. He's also walked eight times leading to a .500 OBP and he's stolen seven bags.
DISH DISASTERS – Worst Hitting Matchups of the Day
Coco Crisp has 10 Ks and the following slash line against Jered Weaver: .167/.196/.222. That's over 56 plate appearances by the way. Jed Lowrie has a homer and six RBIs but that .250 average and .238 OBP doesn't inspire confidence (20 plate appearances). And then there is a litany of stragglers. The following Athletics have one hit: Yoenis Cespedes (7 ABs), Brandon Moss (11 ABs), Josh Donaldson (11 ABs), Nick Punto (12 ABs) and John Jason (14 ABs).
Adam Dunn Ks a lot, we all know that, but seven in 10 at-bats against Drew Smyly? That's a wee bit too much. Alejandro De Aza has only three Ks in nine at-bats but he's also got only one hit.
Jonny Gomes, noted pugilist, has hit .211 with a .654 OPS against Wei-Yin Chen over 21 plate appearances. He's struck out in a third of those PAs.
Chase Headley hasn't been good this year. He's also never figured out Cole Hamels hitting .240 with a .560 OPS over 25 plate appearances.
Adam LaRoche is batting .214 with seven Ks in 28 at-bats against Matt Cain. Ryan Zimmerman is batting .250 with a .290 OBP in 30 plate appearances.
Adam Lind hasn't figured out Phil Hughes. In 42 at-bats he has two homers and six RBIs but he's also hit .238 with 15 Ks in 42 at-bats.
Brian McCann is struggling this year and he's got a .133 average with one RBI against Chris Young over 15 at-bats. Mark Teixeira has one hit in 11 at-bats, Derek Jeter one in 10.
Andrew McCutchen hasn't looked like himself against Jason Hammel. He's gone deep once in 15 at-bats but he's also hit just .200 without a walk.
Yadier Molina leads the hit parade against Erik Bedard. Get ready for some fireworks. Molina is hitting .545 with two homers and five RBIs in 11 at-bats. Allen Craig has hit .417 with two homers and four RBIs in 12 at-bats. Matt Holliday has hit .391 in 23 at-bats. Pretty heady stuff, no?
Mike Trout has a .500 SLG against Tommy Milone over 20 plate appearances but he's also hitting .222 with six strikeouts.
Bookmark the following three sources to check daily after you read this piece.
Batter Versus Pitcher
Daily Projections – For every single day of the season.
MOUND MAVENS – Starting Pitchers to Target
Matt Cain has made 13 starts against the Nats and posted a 3.12 ERA and 1.11 WHIP. Over his last four starts, around an injury, he's allowed six runs. He's also got a 2.91 ERA and 0.92 WHIP pitching at home this year.
Jason Hammel faces a Pirates club he's had a lot of success against. In 91 career at-bats the current Pirates roster has hit .187 with a .237 OBP and .633 OPS. That's pretty bad hitting / good pitching. Hammel has also tossed 14 shutout innings in his last two outings and in seven road starts this season he's got a 2.76 ERA and 0.88 WHIP.
Masahiro Tanaka has allowed 19 earned runs in 12 starts. Over his last five outings he's allowed five runs. He pitches on the road against the Mariners.
Julio Teheran pitches in Colorado and that's never good. But the Rockies are without Cargo and Cuddyer, and that's a big hit. He's also allowed four runs in his last four starts, all wins. Not much to recommend not starting him.
Jered Weaver has pretty much dominated the Oakland Athletics. In 191 at-bats against the current roster the Athletics have hit .204 with a .525 OPS. They have one homer. One. I'm willing to overlook the outing he had against them on June 1st (six runs, five earned, over six innings). Are you?
MOUND MESSES – Starting Pitchers to Avoid
Phil Hughes versus the Blue Jays in Toronto. Hughes allowed three homers in his last outing after 5-straight without a big fly. Count on more homers being hit in this one as no team has more homer than the Jays. Hughes has also never pitched well in Rogers Centre: 2-4, 5.69 ERA, 1.51 WHIP over 49 innings.
Where's a dump when you need one?
Brandon McCarthy takes on the suddenly hot Astros in Houston. He's won only one game in 13 starts, has a pathetic 5.13 ERA, and just can't seem to consistently produce (he slumping again having allowed 13 runs over his last three starts leading to a 6.75 ERA).
Wily Peralta faces the Mets in New York. Wily has slowed after a hot start with just one win in five starts. He's also failed to reach six innings in three of his last four outings and the last two times out he's really struggled (10 ER, 3 HRs, 5 BBs, 10.2 IP).
Rubby De La Rosa faces the Orioles in Baltimore. After a strong first outing he looked a bit over matched in outing two against the Tigers (9 H, 2 HR, 4 ER, 5.2 IP). Over 85.1 innings for his career the ratios are blah (4.01 ERA, 1.39 WHIP) and the Orioles are 7th in baseball in OPS against righties.
Chris Young has to implode soon. Has to. He walked five guys last time out and failed to complete six innings for the first time since April 29th (6-straight starts). Folks, he's also got 33 Ks and 30 walks. You just can't have long term success doing that. Can't. He's also allowed six homers in his last five starts. He faces the Yankees in Seattle.
Make sure you tune in to the Fantasy Alarm's Daily Game Show at 6 PM EDT, Monday through Friday on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius210, XM87) as Jeff Mans and Ted Schuster will help you to set your daily lineups.