HOMER SUNDAY
All the following players hit at least one home run Sunday.
Danny Valencia, well, you can learn more about him in the video listed below. He hit three homers Sunday but you know he isn’t that guy, right?
Brandon Guyer hit two homers and drove in five runners Sunday. Don’t get too excited though unless you’re in an AL-only league. Guyer is crushing the ball with a 1.026 OPS over 23 games and 87 plate appearances. Still, the guy owns a .762 career mark, a level that he nearly matched identically last season at .771. The 30 year old outfielder has hit 18 homers with 69 RBI over 816 career plate appearances giving more weight to the ‘he’s just a guy’ sentiment.’ A nice fill-in is Guyer, but that is different than being someone you can trust in the fantasy game in a mixed league. Just nothing that stands out.
Corey Seager had over the moon expectations. You know that is the case when folks are upset at a guy who is on pace to hit .289 with 26 homers, 85 RBI and 98 runs scored. So stop your belly aching if you rostered Seager. Everything is going to be just fine. Patience was all that was required.
Adrian Beltre is on pace for 25 homers and 100 RBI. The last time he hit triple-digits in RBI was back in 2012 and the last two years he’s hit 19 and 18 homers. The RBI seem like more of a stretch than the homers, but the bottom line with Beltre is that while others come and go Beltre just does the same thing year after year – produce.
Chris Carter only has a hit in one of his last eight games. He’s also struck out 10 times his last six games. So it’s all doom and gloom, right? Nope. Carter is on pace for a career best 45 homers after going deep yet again Sunday. He’s also on pace for a career best 110 RBI and 95 runs scored. Those are all elite numbers that would put him in the Chris Davis class. He’s also batting .254 which isn’t a good number, but for a guy with a career rate of .220, it’s smoking. You know what you get, and you should know that the run producing rate will slow as the average dips as well. Power yes. The rest… not so much.
Chris Coghlan has appeared at 14 games at second base. He’s appeared at 17 games at third base. Last season he was an outfielder 120 times. He basically qualifies everywhere which, in theory, brings him tremendous value in fantasy leagues that are deep. After going 16/11 last year for the Cubs he’s stunk this year. The homers are coming, he’s up to five, but he’s barely hitting at all with a .174/.250/.339 slash line and only one theft. Keep an eye on him, but for now, he’s an AL-only asset at best.
Ian Desmond has two homers, 10 RBI and a .370 batting average his last seven games. Wow is right. After a slow start how many of you realize that Desmond is currently on pace go to 20/30 this season? Seriously. He’s also 7th in the AL in runs scored (28). His demise was overwritten this offseason. He isn’t going to be losing playing time when Shin-Soo Choo returns.
Adam Eaton hit 14 homers last season. He’s not that guy. Easton is on pace for nine this season, a more ‘Eaton-like’ total, though his slash line is impressive at .303/.396/.421. If he keeps getting on base like that he’s likely to score more than the 81 times he’s projected to cross home plate this season.
Jason Kipnis is batting .400 the last seven days to bring his season long mark up to .287. Kipnis is on pace to go 20/10 this season, actually a bit more than that, while scoring 95 times. It’s pretty much all about health with Kipnis. If he has it there’s a good chance he will finish the year as a top-5 performer at second base.
Evan Longoria is a player everyone just looks past. Never living up to expectations will do that. I also know he’s hitting a mere .248 with a terrible .296 OBP but really, are you really complaining if you own Longoria? Actually I know that folks are despite the fact that he’s on pace to hit 30 homers with 85 RBI and 85 runs scored. Are you still complaining after reading that sentence?
J.D. Martinez has three homers the last seven games. The power is coming. Patience.
Eugenio Suarez is hitting just .227 the last week and .213 in may dragging his batting average down to .250 overall. His power though has been pretty impressive as he’s hit seven homers putting him on pace to push 30 big flies. I can’t see him getting there and still think that he’s more of a 20 homer bat as I’m pretty convinced he’s not going to hold on to his current 17.1 percent HR/FB ratio.
Ryan Zimmermann has three homers the past five games putting him on pace to reach about 20 for the season, a totally doable number for him. Zimmerman is also hitting just .234 though as he’s pretty much failed to get going to this point. A veteran at the dish, if he can stay healthy you know he will hit, right?
DAILY DIVE VIDEO
Danny Valencia is smoking hot at the plate. Giancarlo Stanton has holes in his game and they are starting to show. Evan Gattis returns from the minors ready to catch for the Astros. What does that do for his fantasy value? Check out the video.
DFS DIAMONDS
*The following list of players are guys that Ray recommends as daily plays.
CATCHER: Tucker Barnhart is a switch hitter who will bat left-handed against Cody Anderson. The Indians’ righty has been annihilated by lefties this season with a .348/.378/.622 slash line.
FIRST BASE: Eric Hosmer has gone 9-for-26, a .346 average, against Rick Porcello with two homers. He’s also produced a hit in 5-straight games including at least two hits three times. He’s also hitting .388 against righties.
SECOND BASE: Jung-ho Kang has four homers, eight RBI an a 1.232 OPS in eight games this season. For his career Kang has a .294/.356/.483 slash line against righties.
THIRD BASE: Eugenio Suarez has five hits, including a homer, his last three games. He takes on Cody Anderson who has been poor against righties (.340/.364/.473).
SHORTSTOP: Starlin Castro is batting .298 with a .821 OPS against lefties this season. Robbie Ray, a lefty, is having a very hard time getting righties out this season (.305/.407/.411).
OUTFIELD: Jeff Francoeur has a .306/.366/.306 line against lefties. At least the average and OBP are good. He takes on Jonathon Niese who has allowed a .309/.369/.503 mark against righties this year.
OUTFIELD: Steve Pearce has scored five runs his last five games while hitting four homers in nine games. He’s also hit .333 with three homers and nine RBI against J.A. Happ over 24 at-bats, and he’s crushing lefties with a .394/.444/.818 line.
OUTFIELD: Gregory Polanco takes on Williams Perez who hasn’t fared well against lefties. With a .296/.379/.418 slash line. That’s over more than 310 plate appearances too, so it ain’t no small sample size. Polanco has an impressive .298/.408/.500 slash line versus righties this season.
Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday, 7 PM EDT and Friday on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 6 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).