Top-Tier
Matt Olson, OAK – Olson is having a fantastic season, hitting .285 with 28 home runs, 28 doubles, 74 RBI, and 73 runs scored. He comes into this game swinging a hot bat, hitting .307 with seven home runs, eight doubles, 17 RBI, and 17 runs scored over his last 21 games. He has a favorable matchup against a pitcher who has been very prone to the long ball this season. McKenzie has a 5.89 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, and 1.9 HR/9. He has given up seven home runs in his last 21 innings pitched, good for a 3.0 HR/9! Lefty bats have a .217 batting average and .352 OBP against him, which is far better than the .184 and .291 marks that righties have produced. I would be far from surprised if Olson takes him deep tonight.
Jonathan India, CIN – India was in yesterday’s hitting coach for me and he scored 16 points on DK and he’s now scored at least 13 points in six of his past seven games. Over his last 10 games he is hitting .341 with FIVE home runs, FIVE doubles, nine RBI, and 12 runs scored. He is incredibly hot right now and making a strong case to be the NL rookie of the year. He is slashing an absurd .358/.453/.494 against lefties this season, compared to .260/.388/.450 against righties. He is slashing .301/.433/.503 on the road this season, compared to .267/.375/.422 at home. Today he gets to face a low-tier lefty in Smyly, who has a 4.50 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, and 1.8 HR/9. India should be able to stay hot today.
Mid-Tier
Eloy Jiménez, CWS – Until they price Eloy where he should be priced (in the top-tier) how do we not keep plugging him in against these bad pitchers. He was also in the hitting coach yesterday for me and we got two dingers and 36 points on DK out of him, his second straight game with two home runs and 36+ points. His price remains unchanged. He is now hitting .297 with five home runs, four doubles, and 14 RBI through 10 games this season. Not too shabby, eh? He is 0-13 against lefties so far, but slashing .458/.458/1.250 against righties, which lines up from what we have seen from him in his career as he has slashed .288/.327/.575 against righties, compared to .249/.305/.451 against lefties. He also has a career .292/.329/.578 slash on the road, compared to .241/.303/.482 at home.
Abraham Toro, SEA – Toro has been incredible since joining the Mariners, hitting .386 with three home runs, a steal, four doubles, seven RBI, and 10 runs scored across 12 games. He has crushed left-handed pitching this season, slashing .385/.442/.436 against them, compared to .219/.302/.482 against righties. He has loved his new home ballpark this season so far, as he is hitting .308 with three home runs and five RBI through five games in Seattle. Today he faces Allard, who has a 5.07 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, and 1.7 HR/9 this season. Righty bats have given him troubles as they are slashing .264/.300/.443 against him, compared to the .203/.250/.418 mark lefties have produced.
Bargain Bin
Teoscar Hernández, TOR – Can anyone give me a good explanation on this pricing for Hernandez? He is hitting .298 with 17 home runs, seven steals, and 71 RBI this season. Add it all up and he is averaging nearly 9.0 points per game on DK at a bargain bin price. He is also hot at the dish, hitting .455 with a home run, eight RBI, and four runs scored over his last seven games. Not enough? He has CRUSHED lefties this season, slashing .341/.368/.707 against them, compared to .285/.337/.433 against righties. Still not enough? He is facing a pitcher in Suarez who has a 5.27 ERA and 1.76 WHIP at home this season (this is a home game for Suarez), compared to a 2.97 ERA and 1.02 WHIP on the road. Take advantage of mispriced players.
Luis Robert, CWS – Robert had a nice night in his return off the IL yesterday, going 2-5 with a double and a RBI. This is another player that is severely mispriced. However, a lot of guys coming off injury are and his price will quickly rise, but for now (at least today) we have to continue to take advantage of the fact that he is so cheap. He has immense power/speed upside as evidenced by his 12 home runs and 13 steals across 82 career games in the bigs. He is slashing .346/.382/.519 across 13 games on the road this season, compared to.292/.340/.417 across 13 games at home. Lastly, of his 13 career steals, 12 of them have come against a righty. His ceiling is too big to fade him at this price against a bad pitcher.