Monday of Week 7. There's been plenty of the expected thus far in 2014 though there has also been a heaping helping of out of nowhere stuff as well. You just never know in the whacky world of baseball. Here are some of the more interesting matchup based tidbits for Monday, May 12th.
DISH DIAMONDS – The Best Hitting Matchups of the Day
Cheap play Monday? How about Daric Barton. The A's long time prospect and no time producer has six hits in 13 at-bats against John Danks, and it's not like Danks has impressed anyone with his performance this season.
David DeJesus hits well against Felix Hernandez. Who knew? DD is hitting .323 with a homer and five RBIs in 31 at-bats. Evan Longoria has also enjoyed some success batting .316 with a homer in 19 at-bats (note that he also has nine Ks).
Derek Jeter could slap a single or two Monday as he's hit .385 with a couple of big flies against Bartolo Colon in his life (39 ABs). Carlos Beltran might do more than that with a 1.004 OPS and four homers in 44 at-bats. Then there Mark Teixeira who has hit .283 with three homers and 11 RBIs in 44 at-bats.
Howie Kendrick is sporting a .350 batting average with a homer in 20 at-bats against Mark Buehrle. I'm willing to start that since he's also hitting .391 on the road this year. Oh, and though I personally wouldn't trust him, Raul Ibanez has had a lot of success against MB in his career (.333 with an .840 OPS over 44 plate appearances).
Nick Markakis likes him some Rick Porcello as he's got a .429 average over 21 at-bats which is slightly better than the effort of Delmon Young (.364 in 22 at-bats).
Martin Prado – wake up! Jordan Zimmermann is a strong opponent but Prado owns a .500 average in 14 at-bats.
Yadier Molina hits everyone anymore, but he particularly loves to see Travis Wood. Not only does the backstop have three homers an a .400 batting average against the lefty but he also has 11 RBIs in 30 at-bats. John Jay also tears it up with a .400 average of 25 at-bats. Allen Craig might also get into the act now that he's finally swinging better – he's hitting .320 with two homers against Wood in 25 at-bats.
When do four at-bats matter? When the all end in a hit they do. That's what Paul Konerko has done facing Jesse Chavez. OK, it means nothing but it's interesting, right?
David Wright seems to finally be remember that he's a pretty darn good player. He's also hit .350 in 20 at-bats against Hiroki Kuroda who has struggled to find his footing in the early going.
DISH DISASTERS – Worst Hitting Matchups of the Day
Jason Castro isn't doing anything this year. Even against Colby Lewis can you trust him when he's hitting .210 against righties? I wouldn't.
Nelson Cruz has been great this year but he's been held homerless by Rick Porcello and he's only hitting .211 over 19 at-bats. Makes sense since his heat map shows he can be beat low in the zone. Oh, and what do you know, there is Adam Jones yet again. He's 3-for-21 with six strikeouts against Porcello.
Anthony Rizzo is batting a mere .200 on the road this season. He faces lefty Ted Lyons Monday in St. Louis. Teammate Starlin Castro is batting .250 against lefties and hitting just .246 away from the Friendly Confines.
Happy Mother's Day, a day late, to everyone out there. Did you happen to catch my Mother's appearance on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio Sunday night? What a fantastic woman.
Alfonso Soriano has never particularly liked facing Bartolo Colon. I'm deducing that based on the .205 batting average and .654 OPS he has in 41 plate appearances. I'm smart like that.
Chris Young has slowed after a hot stretch. He's always slow against Hiroki Kuroda it seems as he's not only hit just .214 but he he's also racked up 12 punchouts in 28 at-bats. Yikes.
Aliens don't like terrorists either.
If Justin Upton plays leave him on your bench. Fifty-one at-bats against Tim Lincecum have resulted in no homers, 18 Ks an a .633 OPS. Freddie Freeman also hasn't been able to figure out The Freak (.235 in 17 at-bats). Then there is 0-for-13 Dan Uggla (six Ks).
Where have you gone Ben Zobrist. Struggles about for the jack-of-all-trades and the likely won't lesson Monday as he faces nemesis Felix Hernandez. Zobrist has hit .120 with nine strikeouts in 25 at-bats against the King. Matt Joyce should also be on your bench. He normally murders righties but not Felix; he's 1-for-12.
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.
DFS PLAYBOOK from Jeff Mans is also worth a read.
MOUND MAVENS – Starting Pitchers to Target
Jesse Chavez has allowed four earned runs in two of his last three starts, but there's still good here. His ERA is 2.47 his WHIP 1.03 and he's struck out 44 in 43.2 innings. He pitches at home against the White Sox and he's sporting a solid 3.06 ERA in three home starts this season. The Sox are batting .258 with a .314 OBP on the road, pretty darn average/blah work.
Josh Collmenter has allowed nine runs and 15 hits in his last two outings. He faces the Nationals at home Monday. Let's go against trend with Collmenter and suggest that he is a desperation start. After all, the Nationals just aren't having success against righties this year (.238/.311/.370), Collmenter has that funky motion and current Nats have three hits in 16 at-bats against him.
Dan Haren has yet to allow more than three earned runs in a start. He's also failed to go six innings just one time. There's also this; he's allowed only two homers on the year as his HR/9 mark has finally started to stabilize. He faces the Marlins Monday in Los Angeles, and the Marlins really don't hit well away from home (cause they can't cheat as well on the road – yeah, I said it).
Brad Peacock is for the desperate or those looking for bottom basement salary guys Monday. The guy has an awful 28/24 K/BB mark, but he's allowed three or fewer earned runs in 6-straight outings. There's also this – the Rangers aren't hitting righties well this season. The Rangers are batting just .249 against righties and they have fewest homers in baseball against righties as well. Notice I wrote “desperate” when I started the blurb.
C.J. Wilson has 46 Ks in 47.2 innings. He's the owner of a 3.21 ERA. His WHIP is 1.13. He continues to be a rock on the bump. He faces the Blue Jays who are middle of the pack against lefties with a .250 batting average. They also have the 8th fewest walks against lefties, something that could help the sometimes wild Wilson.
MOUND MESSES – Starting Pitchers to Avoid
The Dodgers are 5th in baseball with a .266 batting average against righties and their .746 OPS is also top-5. Tom Koehler will be in L.A. to face that squad. He's currently the holder of a 1.99 ERA and 0.99 WHIP and is coming off 15 scoreless inning in his last two starts. He has 11 Ks and seven walks over his last three starts though and simply doesn't own the stuff to continue this trend of domination.
Bud Norris faces the Tigers, a club that scored five runs off him in five innings in his first outing this season. Norris has also failed to record more than 18 outs in his last three starts, and over his last three outings he has but 12 strikeouts. He's just not sharp even if his 3.82 ERA and 1.28 WHIP show that he's been able to battle pretty well this season.
Hiroki Kuroda has a 5.79 ERA and 1.50 WHIP in four home starts this season. Still, he faces the Mets and he's walked only one batter his last three starts. On the flip side he's also allowed 15 runs his last three starts (10 earned) and batters have lit him up for 22 hits in 18.1 innings. He's hard to trust right now.
Cesar Ramos has a 2.96 ERA to take in to battle against the Mariners. Sounds tempting to start him. Still, the guy has barely more Ks than walks (19 to 16) and despite five starts has yet to last six innings. I just can't trust him. Sorry.
Travis Wood pitches in St. Louis Monday. He has an 8.80 ERA and 2.22 WHIP on the road this season. He's also allowed 15 runs over his last 16.2 innings. Nuff said.
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.