DFS MLB Hitting Coach - May 19 2015

*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

Cervelli is batting a hollow .286 against righties this season. He’s also batting .471 over his last five games with five RBIs.

Grandal is batting .390 with a 1.154 OPS on the road this season. He’s also produced five hits in 14 at-bats against Hudson and that includes a homer. He has a .937 OPS against righties this season.

Molina has rapped out a homer and a .375 batting average over 16 at-bats against Niese. He’s also produced at least two hits in 3-straight and he’s batting .359 in May.

Pena is hitting .337 on the year and since May 7^th that number is .429. Ventura has allowed 24 hits and 14 runs his last 18.1 innings.

FIRST BASE

AGone has a .370/.393/.593 line against Hudson with two homers over 28 plate appearances.

It takes a really smart analyst to suggest starting Belt. I mean, it’s hard to find a reason to suggest a guy who has a 1.020 OPS against righties when that same guys also has nine hits, three homers, seven RBIs and eight runs scored his last three games.

Butler has had success against Roberto batting .316 with a .391 OBP over 44 plate appearances (nine RBIs too). He’s raised his season average from .257 to .274 the last four games (seven hits, four RBIs).

Lind faces an often wild Sanchez, and we all know Lind knows what to do against righties who miss their spots (.304/.405/.569 with six homers in 102 ABs).

SECOND BASE

Aviles is batting .333 in 11 road games and .371 in 11 night games. Seems to like hitting Quintana too. I’m deducing that from his .429 average over 21 at-bats.

Dozier has a pretty impressive slash line against lefties this season (.306/.364/.510). He also had an .804 OPS against lefties last year.

Harrison on a hunch? Nolasco stinks and Josh has hit .480 over his last six games with two homers, four RBIs, seven runs and a steal.

Owings is batting .301 against righties this season. He’s also batting .444 with a .593 SLG over his last six games during which time he’s scored seven runs.

THIRD BASE

Bryant has a hit in 6-straight games and that run includes three homers and eight RBIs. Oh, toss in seven walks for good measure as well.

Donaldson vs. a non-elite lefty is a must start. So far this year he’s batting .483 with two homers and a 1.275 OPS over 31 plate appearances against southpaws. He's also batting leadoff again.

Franco has a hit in three of four games (including a home run). He plays in Colorado against a pitcher who owns a 6.90 ERA and 1.86 WHIP over 74.1 innings. Franco had a .285 average against righties in the minors.

Sandoval has been destroyed by lefties this season but he’s handled righties with aplomb batting .366 with five homers, five doubles, a .443 OBP and .581 SLG.

SHORTSTOP

Aybar is the new leadoff hitter for the Angels and he’s working on a 9-game hitting streak that has pushed his average up from .220 to .273. He’s had 13 hits his last seven games.

Crawford has a .360 OBP against righties and the mark is .386 at home. He’s also scored five times his last two games and over his last three not many have been better (seven hits, eight RBIs).

Miller has killed lefties this season with a .954 OPS. He’s also produced a hit in 6-straight games hitting four homers in that time (three the last two games).

Semien faces Hernandez who has allowed righties to post a .505 SLG. Semien has a .528 SLG against righties this season with six homers and four stolen bases.

OUTFIELD

Blackmon has a .906 OPS against righties this season. Here are his numbers since the start of last season at home (85 games): 14 homers, 55 RBIs, 63 runs and 23 steals.

Brantley rips up Quintana with a .500 mark over 20 at-bats. He’s also hit three doubles, a homer, driven in five and stolen two bases in the matchup.

Colabello has seven hits in 14 at-bats against lefties. He’s also 10-for-20 at home this season.

Gose has a crazy high line drive rate and BABIP but it’s hard not to roll with him against a moderate righty given his work to this point against righties (.344 average, .876 OPS, seven steals and 18 runs across 102 plate appearances).

Parra is batting .571 over 14 at-bats against Sanchez. He’s batting a solid .291 against righties and his road mark this season is .359 (.990 OPS).

Peralta has a .916 OPS against righties this season. Lefties have a .792 OPS against Koehler this season who is making a spot start for an injured Jarred Cosart after recently being demoted to the bullpen.

The Indians face a lefty. Hello Mr. Raburn. The damage update: .375/.404/.625 with a homer and 12 RBIs over 48 at-bats.

Young takes on Gio G with a .382/.488/.824 line against lefties this season. Hard to find someone who has done a better job against them. His effort includes three homers in 34 at-bats. 

Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday at 7 PM EDT on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 7 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).