Top-Tier
Jose Altuve, HOU – Altuve is having another nice season, hitting .280 with 25 home runs and 88 runs scored. He comes into this game hot, riding a five-game hitting streak, hitting .440 with three doubles and four runs scored in the span. He has been great at home this season, slashing .306/.385/.568 in Houston, compared to .256/.319/.416 on the road. Today he gets to face Lynch, who has a 5.12 ERA and 1.50 WHIP thus far. Righties have killed him, slashing .294/.362/.471 against him with ALL four home runs that he has given up and 10 doubles, compared to lefties who have produced a .154/.250/.231 line against him with zero home runs and one double. There are so many reasons to like Altuve and the Astros today, which brings us to…
Yuli Gurriel, HOU – Yuli is having a great season, hitting .312 with 13 home runs and 68 RBI. He is getting hot at the dish right now too, going 6-14 with a home run, a double, and five runs scored over the last three games, scoring 22, 12, and 9 points on DK in that span. He has also been great against lefties this season, slashing .314/.384/.569 against them, compared to .310/.375/.421 against righties. As you can see, the BA and OBP are very similar, but that’s a big increase in SLG and that comes from the fact that he has eight home runs in 137 at-bats against lefties, compared to five home runs in 261 at-bats against righties this season. The Astros should do some damage against Lynch tonight and are a solid stack option.
Mid-Tier
Ketel Marte, ARZ – Marte is hot at the dish, hitting .356 with two home runs, seven doubles, and seven RBI over his last 11 games, averaging 10.8 points per game on DK in that span. This is a road game for the Dbacks, which is a good thing for Marte as he is slashing a ridiculous .383/.412/.598 on the road this season, compared to .313/.398/.495 in Arizona. Today he faces Crowe, who has a 5.23 ERA, 1.57 WHIP, and 1.9 HR/9 this year. Is that the type of pitcher who is going to cool off a hot bat? I wouldn’t think so personally. Look for Marte to stay hot and for the Dbacks to put some runs on the board.
Jorge Soler, ATL – Soler was on the cover of my hitting coach yesterday and he came through, going 2-4 with a home run and with the Braves facing another lefty today, it’s easy to go right back to the Soler well. He is slashing .223/.333/.537 against lefties this year with 11 home runs in 121 at-bats, compared to .195/.294/.330 against righties with seven home runs in 261 at-bats. This is a home game for the Braves and Soler has really enjoyed his new home ballpark so far, slashing .385/.515/.538 through eight games played in Atlanta this season. Montgomery is a pretty good pitcher but all the damage against him has succumbed to righties as they are slashing .250/.310/.394 against him with 27 extra-base hits, compared to the .198/.248/.264 line lefties have produced with just three extra-base hits.
Bargain Bin
Anthony Rizzo, NYY – Rizzo is very cheap today and the matchup with Ynoa is not scary enough for me to not consider him as an option. He is hitting just .244 so far with the Yankees, but with three home runs, two steals, nine RBI, and nine runs scored, so the counting stat production has been fantastic. In other words, he is averaging 9.6 points on DK per game since joining the Yankees, which would be the second most at the position and even more than Freeman, who is nearly 3k more expensive. Of the 36 extra-base hits that Rizzo has this year, 26 of them are against righties and five of the six steals that he has this season are also against right-handed pitchers.
Christian Walker, ARZ – Walker has really been a massive disappointment and fantasy bust this season, but he comes into this game riding a five-game hitting streak, hitting .350 with a home run, two doubles, three RBI, and three runs scored in that span. His splits this year are almost identical, but for his career he has pretty big reverse splits, slashing .254/.323/.447 against righties, compared to .233/.334/.417 against lefties. His home/road splits this year are pretty close too, BUT five of his six home runs have been on the road. As mentioned in Marte’s section, Crowe is terrible. Righties have especially killed him, slashing .319/.384/.571 against him. This is a perfect matchup for Walker, who comes into this game hot and is nearly the minimum price.