Top Tier
Shohei Ohtani, 1B/OF, LAA – He is so good he almost shouldn’t be allowed to be used in DFS! Ohtani went double dinger again last night and now has an incredible 30 homers on July 3rd. He is hitting .409 in the last week with six homers and 11 RBI. He has a 1.154 OPS at home and a 1.090 OPS against right-handed pitchers, including 21 of his 30 home runs. Poor Jorge Lopez will be the victim today. He has allowed five earned runs in three of his last four starts and has allowed 14 long balls in 16 outings in 2021. His ERA is 6.23 on the road this season and Ohtani is as hot as a firecracker right now.
Xander Bogaerts, SS, BOS – The hitless game he had last night broke a modest seven-game hit streak, but three of those seven were of the multi-hit variety and Bogaerts has hit .370 in the last week. The Red Sox will face Cole Irvin tonight who was brilliant his last time out but allowed four earned runs in three of his previous six starts. Bogaerts is hitting .352 against lefties this season with a .999 OPS and hitting in Texas in the summer is always conducive to baseballs leaving the park. Boston should put up some runs today and Bogaerts is often a catalyst when they do.
C.J. Cron, 1B, COL – I feel like his price tag is a little high on DK, but it is looking like a very good day to use Cron. We all know how Coors Field helps offense and Cron hits 82 points higher at home and nine of his 11 home runs have come in Colorado. He is also facing left-handed Wade LeBlanc who is only starting because of injuries to the Cardinals rotation. He was disastrous for the Orioles last year with an ERA over 8.00 and isn’t faring much better this season. Cron hits over 100 points higher against lefties with his .324 average and four of his 11 homers have come against lefties despite 100 fewer at-bats against them. He has faced LeBlanc twice and has two hits against him and both of them left the yard.
Mid-Tier
Joey Gallo, OF, TEX – Not too many hitters are hotter than Gallo right now. He is on a Schwarber-esque run. Gallo did not have a hit last night but had homered in five straight games, with seven long balls total in that span. He will face Marco Gonzales tonight who has an ERA of 5.10 and has allowed ten home runs in nine starts. Gallo has hit .333 off Gonzales in his career with two homers in just 18 at-bats. Ride the hot streak as long as you can.
Garrett Hampson, 2B/OF, COL – Let’s go back at LeBlanc again with one of the hotter hitters in Colorado right now. Hampson has nine hits in the last four games with three doubles and three RBI. Hampson has not faced LeBlanc in his career, but he is crushing lefties with a .333 average and 1.030 OPS as opposed to .229 and .629 against righty pitchers. He is also far more dangerous at Coors (as most of their hitters are) with a .333 average and .942 OPS versus .170 and .511 away from Colorado. Hampson is hitting his way to regular playing time and it should continue on Saturday.
Value Tier
Hunter Renfroe, OF, BOS – He has certainly heated up as Renfroe has a hit in every game but once since June 20th and he hit four home runs and drove in 12 runs in that span. And when he is hitting the ball, he is squaring up on it well with a barrel percentage of 9.4%. He is also hitting 31 points higher on his batting average away from Boston. Renfroe has never faced Oakland’s starter Cole Irvin, but he is crushing lefties with a .325 average and 1.019 OPS and is a perfect option today.
Dylan Carlson, OF, STL – Another guy I love any time there is a lefty on the mound is Carlson. He hits .343 against lefties as opposed to .238 against right-handed pitching. He has been leading off a lot lately too which leads to more at-bats. He faces Kyle Freeland who has been good his last two times out, but his ERA is still over 6.50 and the previous three starts before that he allowed 18 earned runs. His ERA at home is 6.59 and his WHIP is a mind-blowing 1.90 at Coors.
Franmil Reyes, OF, CLE – I love me some injury discount! After missing over a month with an oblique, Franmil returned yesterday with three hits. He was off to a solid start with 11 home runs in the first 41 games. Reyes was loving the home cooking and the game is in Cleveland today where he is hitting .351 on the season as opposed to .187 on the road. He also has seven of his 11 home runs at home despite seven fewer at-bats at home. He is facing Jake Odorizzi who has been solid of late but isn’t a very good pitcher. Reyes also hits 73 points higher against righty pitchers and eight of his 11 homers come off of them.