As the final night of the FSTA event drew to a close I realized something... I kept writing the whole time during the conference. Should I have? Probably not. But you don't get to be the Oracle by taking time off (unless you're going to Hawaii of course). Here are the matchups for Thursday.
* 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
Todd Frazier has been hot, and he faces lefty Jeff Locke Thursday. He's hit four bombs with a .316 average against lefties (57 ABs),
Paul Goldschmidt is 4-for-4 with two RBIs and two walks against Yovani Gallardo.
Brock Holt is hitting everything and playing everywhere. He's also hitting .365 against lefties. He faces Scott Kazmir. Jonny Gomes has hit three homers with 15 RBIs against lefties. He's also drawn 16 walks while batting .324.
If Adam Lind plays against David Phelps: .364-2-3 in 11 at-bats.
Victor Martinez is batting over .400 with five homers against lefties this season. He faves Danny Duffy. Austin Jackson is over .300 against lefties too.
Andrew McCutchen has hit .300 with a .462 OBP against Homer Bailey. Oddly, he has one RBI over 40 at-bats.
David Murphy has hit .308 with a .400 OBP in 15 plate appearances against Garrett Richards.
Dustin Pedroia, wow. He's faced Scott Kazmir 35 times and has produced 18 hits. That's a .514 average folks. Toss in nine walks and his OBP is .614.
Seth Smith is 4-for-8 with a homer against Erasmo Ramirez.
Denard Span kills Gavin Floyd. In 38 at-bats he's produced 17 hits, good for a .447 average. He's also stolen two bags.
Josh Willingham has hit two homers with five RBIs in 15 at-bats against Jose Quintana. He's also hit .533 with a .632 OB. Joe Mauer might, might, finally get going. He's at .467-2-4 over 15 at-bats.
DISH DISASTERS – Worst Hitting Matchups of the Day
Pedro Alvarez has three hits in 23 at-bats against Homer Bailey. He's got two homers but he's also struck out nine times. Jody Mercer and Josh Harrison are both 1-for-10.
Do you dare to sit Miguel Cabrera? He's at .222 against lefties with two homers in 63 at-bats. He faces Danny Duffy.
Billy Hamilton faces Jeff Locke. He's hit .207 in 58 at-bats against lefties. Jay Bruce is in the .190's with only two homers in 49 at-bats versus lefties.
Eric Hosmer has three hits in 16 at-bats against Anibal Sanchez. Jarrod Dyson is 2-for-13. Omar Infante is 3-for-18. Oh, and Salvador Perez is 0-for-9.
Brett Lawrie has but one hit in 11 at-bats against David Phelps. He should be better than that.
The following Mets are hitting under .180 against lefties: Chris Young, Eric Young and Lucas Duda. They face Marlins' phenom Andrew Heaney.
Daniel Nava has three hits in 30 at-bats against lefties. He's going to be opposed by Scott Kazmir.
David Ortiz has two homers and eight RBIs against Scott Kazmir. He's also hit .208 with a.676 OPS over 56 plate appearances.
Marcel Ozuna is 1-for-5 with four Ks against Zack Wheeler.
Martin Prado has four hits in 24 at-bats against Yovani Gallardo. Gerardo Parra is 3-for-17 with six Ks.
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.
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*Friday, 2 PM EDT
MOUND MAVENS – Starting Pitchers to Target
Chris Archer is at home against the Astros, a bottom third offense against righties. At home on the year Archer has a 2.57 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and 32 Ks in 35 innings. He will be looking for revenge after he allowed six runs (one earned) in his last start against this same club.
Jeff Locke faces the Reds. They've hit 17 homers in 577 at-bats against lefties, but they also have the third worst OPS against them in baseball. Locke has been, cliche alert, locked in his last two starts allowing three runs while he's struck out 17 with one walk over three starts for the Pirates
Shelby Miller has allowed only one homer in his last four starts. He's also permitted just one run over his last two starts (15.2 IP). Oh, and the Phillies are the 4th worst team against righties according to OPS.
Garrett Richards is rolling with his heavy sinker. He will be pitching on the road against the Indians. He's gone 4-1 with a 1.84 ERA and 0.99 WHIP on the road this season.
Zack Wheeler against current Marlins: .169/.290/.186 with no homers and three RBIs over 59 at-bats. He also has 19 strikeouts.
MOUND MESSES – Starting Pitchers to Avoid
Gavin Floyd pitches in Washington. Over his last three outings he's permitted 20 hits, including four homers, and allowed 10 runs (eight earned) in 18 innings. He's nowhere near as skilled as his 2.98 ERA suggests. Use the .280 BAA and 1.34 WHIP as your guide.
Zach McAllister meet disaster. Over his last three starts, during which time he's thrown a total of 7.2 innings, he's allowed 18 hits, four homers and 18 runs. Disaster against the Angels is in the forecast.
Colin McHugh has allowed seven runs over his last 9.1 innings. He's also failed to record more than 15 outs in his last three starts. Particularly concerned with the eight walks over his last two outings. Cracks in the armor?
Jose Quintana pitches on the road against the Twins. He's lost his last three outings. He's allowed 10 runs in his last two starts. He also allowed five runs (two earned) in his first start of the year against the Twins.
Erasmo Ramirez pitches at Petco. Over his last two starts he's tossed 9.2 scoreless innings. He's also walked nine batter thought and 26.2 road innings this season have led to a 6.41 ERA, 1.84 WHIP and .325 BAA.
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.