*Players are listed in the table in order of preference for the day of action. The write-ups are listed in alphabetical order for ease of reading.
CATCHER
| Probable | vL | vR | vL | vR | Last 7 | |||||||
| Player | Tm | Opp | Pitcher | Hand | OPS | OPS | wOBA | wOBA | OPS | FD$ | DK$ | Aces$ |
| Miguel Montero | CHI | SF | Jake Peavy | R | .778 | .783 | .355 | .348 | 1.296 | 2800 | 3100 | 4900 |
| Travis d'Arnaud | NYM | PHI | Jerad Eickhoff | R | 1.149 | .825 | .487 | .361 | 1.074 | 3400 | 4800 | 4850 |
| Jonathan Lucroy | MIL | CLE | Cody Anderson | R | .534 | .732 | .247 | .326 | 1.103 | 2800 | 3100 | 4800 |
| Stephen Vogt | OAK | SEA | Felix Hernandez | R | .647 | .850 | .296 | .376 | 0.833 | 2600 | 3100 | 4950 |
d’Arnaud has scored a run in 5-straight games. He’s also has a hit in each game, at least two in the last three, and he has four doubles and a homer in that time. Oh yeah, seven RBIs too.
Lucroy is finally hitting, finally. Over his last five games he’s batting .444 with a 1.056 SLG, not to mention three homers, six RBIs and six runs scored.
Montero is batting .286/.388/.667 his last 13 games with four homers and 11 RBIs. It’s not like Peavy is dominating.
Vogt has nine hits in 15 at-bats against Felix, including a homer (.600). Felix has also allowed 14 runs and 21 hits over his last 8.1 innings.
FIRST BASE
| Probable | vL | vR | vL | vR | Last 7 | |||||||
| Player | Tm | Opp | Pitcher | Hand | OPS | OPS | wOBA | wOBA | OPS | FD$ | DK$ | Aces$ |
| Miguel Cabrera | DET | LAA | Hector Santiago | L | 1.091 | 1.073 | .480 | .474 | 1.291 | 5300 | 5500 | 6000 |
| Edwin Encarnacion | TOR | TEX | Colby Lewis | R | .838 | .871 | .375 | .383 | 1.188 | 5200 | 4600 | 5650 |
| Eric Hosmer | KC | BAL | Wei-Yin Chen | L | .714 | .945 | .318 | .415 | 0.525 | 3700 | 4500 | 5450 |
| Ryan Howard | PHI | NYM | Bartolo Colon | R | .432 | .843 | .197 | .366 | 1.375 | 3300 | 3600 | 4050 |
Encarnacion has a 20-game hitting streak. Over the 17 games of August he’s batting .397 with a 1.255 OPS. He’s also scored 17 times, driven in 19 and hit six homers.Cabrera is just stupid good. Over his last 11 games he’s hitting .500. That’s insane. That wOBA of .564 is pretty damn good too.
Hosmer has four RBIs his last three games and has been really solid in August hitting .300/.376/.456. He’s also gone 7-for-17 against Chen (.412 with two homers).
Howard is batting .272 with a .525 SLG versus righties. He’s also hit 18 homers. The last two times Howard has been on the field he’s gone deep and he has seven RBIs his last four games.
SECOND BASE
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Beckham stinks. No way around that, so this is a total BvP call. Hard to ignore that Beckham has hit .469 over 32 at-bats against Porcello in his career.
Gordon has two or more hits in seven of 10 games. He’s also stolen 10 bases in that time with 10 runs scored. He’s hitting .354 against lefties with a .813 OPS.
Kinsler has hit .322/.363/.470 against lefties. He’s been one of the better hitters in baseball in August (.391/.421/.621 with 21 runs scored in 21 games).
Zobrist has a robust .371.421/.514 line against Chen over 39 plate appearances. He’s hit lefties all season long (.324/.411/.509).
THIRD BASE
| Probable | vL | vR | vL | vR | Last 7 | |||||||
| Player | Tm | Opp | Pitcher | Hand | OPS | OPS | wOBA | wOBA | OPS | FD$ | DK$ | Aces$ |
| Nick Castellanos | DET | LAA | Hector Santiago | L | .963 | .653 | .420 | .289 | 1.161 | 3300 | 3600 | 4300 |
| Daniel Murphy | NYM | PHI | Jerad Eickhoff | R | .593 | .830 | .266 | .366 | 1.065 | 4300 | 4300 | 4800 |
| Adrian Beltre | TEX | TOR | David Price | L | .810 | .678 | .357 | .299 | 0.536 | 3200 | 3500 | 5050 |
| Brett Lawrie | OAK | SEA | Felix Hernandez | R | .834 | .674 | .365 | .299 | 1.091 | 3000 | 3000 | 4450 |
Beltre is batting .285/.321/.473 at home. Against lefties he’s at .281/.351/.459. He’s also hit a homer while batting .300 over 30 at-bats against Price.
Castellanos has three homers and 11 RBIs over his last eight games. He also murders lefties this season (.351/.410/.553).
Lawrie has a .478 average with a .739 SLG his last six games. He’s also hit a homer with five runs scored and four RBIs. He’s also hitting .296 on the road, and Hernandez has a 8.48 ERA over his last five starts.
Murphy has two hits in five of nine games. He’s scored eight runs his last five games. He’s driven in nine runs in his last six games. He’s hitting .316 with a .834 OPS on the road and he’s batting .301 with a .829 OPS against righties this season.
SHORTSTOP
| Probable | vL | vR | vL | vR | Last 7 | |||||||
| Player | Tm | Opp | Pitcher | Hand | OPS | OPS | wOBA | wOBA | OPS | FD$ | DK$ | Aces$ |
| Francisco Lindor | CLE | MIL | Jimmy Nelson | R | .742 | .789 | .336 | .348 | 1.078 | 3100 | 3700 | 4750 |
| Elvis Andrus | TEX | TOR | David Price | L | .729 | .615 | .323 | .279 | 0.913 | 3000 | 3100 | 4450 |
| Adeiny Hechavarria | MIA | PIT | Jeff Locke | L | .937 | .635 | .410 | .282 | 0.714 | 2500 | 3400 | 4700 |
| Erick Aybar | LAA | DET | Justin Verlander | R | .620 | .654 | .275 | .295 | 0.717 | 2200 | 2800 | 4650 |
Andrus has hit a robust .435 with a .567 OBP over 30 plate appearances against Price. He’s hit .287 against lefties this season.
Aybar has six hits his last three games and has scored three times. He’s also long had success against Verlander hitting .345 over the course of 29 at-bats.
Hechavarria continues to sport that impressive slash line against lefties (.365/.419/.518). He’s hit .316 with a .353 OBP in August.
Lindor has three 3-hit games in his last four outings. Over his last five games he’s also driven in six runners and he’s hitting .322 at home with a .807 OPS.
OUTFIELD
| Probable | vL | vR | vL | vR | Last 7 | |||||||
| Player | Tm | Opp | Pitcher | Hand | OPS | OPS | wOBA | wOBA | OPS | FD$ | DK$ | Aces$ |
| A.J. Pollock | ARI | STL | John Lackey | R | .933 | .850 | .406 | .375 | 1.25 | 4900 | 5600 | 5750 |
| Yoenis Cespedes | NYM | PHI | Jerad Eickhoff | R | .565 | .897 | .252 | .390 | 1.119 | 4200 | 5300 | 5200 |
| Starling Marte | PIT | MIA | Chris Narveson | L | .821 | .789 | .361 | .351 | 0.903 | 4000 | 5100 | 5150 |
| Stephen Piscotty | STL | ARI | Patrick Corbin | L | 1.039 | .851 | .455 | .371 | 0.88 | 3300 | 4500 | 4000 |
| Charlie Blackmon | COL | ATL | Shelby Miller | R | .655 | .874 | .292 | .385 | 0.935 | 4100 | 4300 | 5500 |
| Cole Gillespie | MIA | PIT | Jeff Locke | L | 1.037 | .753 | .461 | .330 | 0.727 | 2500 | 3100 | 4000 |
| Melky Cabrera | CWS | BOS | Rick Porcello | R | .591 | .730 | .262 | .326 | 0.417 | 3300 | 3400 | 4800 |
| Adam Eaton | CWS | BOS | Rick Porcello | R | .566 | .818 | .256 | .362 | 0.688 | 3500 | 3700 | 4850 |
Blackmon is batting .309 with a .873 OPS against righties. He’s also swiped 26 bases. Over his last seven games he’s hit .345 with two homers and two steals.
Cabrera has 12 hits in 22 at-bats against Porcello leading to a whopping .545 average. He’s also scored nine times over 24 plate appearances.
Cespedes has five homers, 12 RBIs, eight runs and two steals over his last six games. Plus, Eickhoff had under a 1.00 GB/FB ratio this season in the minors with a 14.1 HR/F ratio.
Eaton is 4-for-9 against Porcello. Lefties have crushed Porcello this season (.308/.354/.473).
Gillespie has hit like the bestest of the best against lefties (.448/.485/.552). Over his last 59 plate appearances he’s hit .377 with a .903 OPS.
Marte has a .488 SLG versus lefties this season. He’s also scored eight times and stolen three bases his last seven games.
Piscotty is batting .400 with a 1.040 OPS against lefties this season. Over his last six games he’s gone deep three times with nine RBIs.
Pollock is too hot to sit against anyone. Here are his totals the last six games: .519/.536/.741 with six runs and four steals.
Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday at 8 PM EDT on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 9 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).