Top Tier
Jesse Winker, OF, CIN – He is sitting on an eight-game hitting streak and remains one of the hottest hitters in baseball through the first ten weeks. He is hitting .333 at the Great American Smallpark with a 1.076 OPS and eight of his 17 home runs. His 40.2% hard hit rate and .454 wOBA are both top notch as Winker remains one of the bigger surprises of the 2021 season. Domingo German has been great his last three times out, but anyone who has played fantasy baseball for a few years knows that this guy is a ticking time bomb waiting to get rocked. Winker hits .373 against righties with a 1.161 OPS including 16 of his 17 home runs, so this is the type of pitcher you want to target him against.
Shohei Ohtani, 1B/OF, LAA – He has three multi-hit efforts in his last six games including three doubles, two homers and five RBI. I know it isn’t sexy, but he also has walked eight times in the last five games which also scores fantasy points. Ohtani is having an amazing season at the plate with 17 home runs and nine steals. He is homering about once every 11 at-bats against left-handed pitching and Caleb Smith is just not a great pitcher. Smith allowed 33 home runs in 28 starts in 2019 and has a hard time keeping the baseball in the park. Look for Ohtani to continue his assault on the baseball in 2021.
Mid-Tier
Trey Mancini, OF, BAL – His home run last night was his first since May 26th, but Mancini is still making things happen even when he doesn’t hit the long ball. He has four hits and three RBI in the las three games. The Orioles face the Rays on Saturday and starter Rich Hill who has been pretty good of late. However, Mancini is hitting .324 against left-handed pitching with a 1.029 OPS. Seven of his 12 home runs have come against lefties, including last night’s dinger against Ryan Yarbrough despite having 90 fewer at-bats against southpaws. Mancini is having a fantastic bounce back season and it should continue on Saturday.
Garrett Hampson, 2B/OF, COL – This one comes down to the fact that Hampson is really good against left-handed pitching. In fact, he is hitting .339 against southpaws with a 1.067 OPS as opposed to a .203 average and .566 OPS against righties. He also has hit four of his five homers against right-handed pitching. He ahs only faced Wade Miley three times but has reached base all three times including a triple. He has a hit in eight of the last nine games and can help you with a power bat or points on the basepaths.
Paul Goldschmidt, 1B, STL – He has a hit in six straight and has two home runs so far this month. It hasn’t been quite the season Goldy was hoping for, but he still has been very solid. All eight of his home runs have come against right-handed pitching even thought he hits for a little bit better average against lefties. Goldschmidt has had solid success against the Cubs’ Kyle Hendricks. In 30 career at-bats, Goldschmidt has 11 hits (.367 average) with seven doubles and two homers in his career. So, of the 11 hits he has off of this pitcher, nine have gone for extra bases. He has also hit .306 lifetime at Wrigley field with 16 extra base hits in 42 career starts. He will save some of your precious salary cap and looks in line for a great game.
Value Tier
Amed Rosario, SS, CLE – He has a hit in five straight and ten of the last 11 with four multi-hit games in that span including four hits last night. He will face the Mariners and Yusei Kikuchi tonight. Seattle’s starter took a comebacker to the knee his last time out and has allowed a home run in six straight starts, totaling eight over that time. Rosario has half of his home runs against lefties despite 41 fewer at-bats against them and hits .300 at home as opposed to .248 on the road. He also has six stolen bases and has been hitting in the top couple spots in the batting order giving him more chances to score points by swiping bags and scoring runs. Ride the hot streak another day against a pitcher that is not going to dominate.
Dylan Carlson, OF, STL – This is a solid DraftKings play as I am just surprised how low his salary is. Carlson has struggled a bit of late, but he is still having a great season and doesn’t have a bad matchup. Wrigley Field is a great hitter’s park, and Kyle Hendricks has allowed six home runs in his last three outings. He has been making better contact this year than he did last season and at his extreme discount he is always a decent bet to make an impact in a small park. If you need to save a few hundred dollars in your outfield to fit in a stud, Carlson is your guy.