Weather has already made its presence felt on the slate, so continue to keep an eye on that through lineup construction and up to lineup lock. There’s one arm that really caught my eye for the slate today, especially if you don’t want to pay up for Framber Valdez or play the ageless Adam Wainwright against Pittsburgh. Oh, don’t worry, there’s plenty of value bats available to you as well.
Without further ado, it’s time to jump in and take a look at the best value bats, and arm, on today’s main slate!
All Sites
Nicky Lopez, 2B/SS KC ($2,700 FD/$2,900 DK/$11 Yahoo) - Lopez and his one home run for the year obviously presents limited upside. However, count me in today! Lopez is hitting righties at a .284 clip this year with a .361 on-base percentage. Also, 13 of his 17 stolen bases on the year have come against righties. Lopez is hitting .360 over the last week, and since the calendar flipped to June, Lopes is hitting an excellent .336. Chicago’s Alec Mills has been more prone to left-handed hitters this year, which just further excites me for Lopez’s potential today.
Steven Matz, SP TOR ($8,000 FD/$8,200 DK/$34 Yahoo) - Over the last two weeks, the Detroit Tigers have the ninth-lowest batting average, seventh-lowest OPS and second-highest strikeout rate. Matz has a 1.15 ERA through three August starts, posting 17 strikeouts across 15.2 innings of work. Admittedly, he’s been better on the road than at home this year, but fortunately for Matz, the Detroit offense has the highest strikeout rate on the road this year, and are just league average in terms of team OPS.
Yahoo!
Tommy Edman, 2B/OF STL ($15) - Edman is 5-for-12 with a home run in his career against Pittsburgh’s Steven Brault. The Pittsburgh southpaw has been solid this year, but he’s worse against righties compared to lefties, and Edman has hit lefties at a .274 clip with a .360 wOBA in 2021. Over the last week, Edman is hitting .385 with a .948 OPS, and in 2021 as a whole, he’s registered a .304 batting average against Pittsburgh pitching.
Colin Moran, 1B/3B PIT ($11) - Another BvP play in the same game! Moran is 9-for-23 with a home run against St. Louis’ Adam Wainwright for his career. Wainwright has been good this year, but I love Moran’s numbers in this matchup. The Pittsburgh corner infielder has a .304 average against right-handed pitching, he has a .746 OPS on the road, and he has a .270 average over the last two weeks. Also, of teams he has at least 10 at-bats against, his .361 average against St. Louis pitching is his highest mark.
DraftKings
Corey Dickerson, OF TOR ($3,100) - Dickerson has hit righties at a .275 clip since joining Toronto and Detroit’s Drew Hutchison has struggled this year in his lone start, allowing five earned runs in just 1.2 innings of work. He’s in for a long day today, and Dickerson should be a key component of the Toronto offense this afternoon.
Carter Kieboom, 3B WSH ($2,400) - The Milwaukee offense is a bit more intriguing than Washington’s, but if you want to go contrarian, I like a Josh Bell, Juan Soto, Carter Kieboom stack. Kieboom has hit a .292 average and .348 wOBA against righties this year and over the past week Kieboom has hit .294 with a .905 OPS. Milwaukee’s Adrian Houser has been more generous to left-handed hitters, but it’s hard to beat the potential at this price point.
FanDuel
AvisaÃl GarcÃa, OF MIL ($3,400) - Garcia has a .333 batting average against southpaws in 2021 to go along with an insane .442 wOBA. We haven’t seen much of Nolin this year, but right-handed hitters have solid marks, to the tune of a .500 batting average and .441 wOBA. Garcia has an .811 OPS at home this year, and for the month of August, he’s hitting .333 with a 1.222 OPS.
Kolten Wong, 2B MIL ($3,300) - Wong has been a frequent flyer in this article of late! The price point is still good and Wong has been solid against lefties, hitting them at a .320 clip this season. Washington’s Sean Nolin has allowed a .582 wOBA to left-handed hitters thus far and over the last week, Wong is hitting .318 with an .809 OPS. Furthermore, against Washington pitching this year, Wong is hitting .467 with a 1.129 OPS.
Player News
Red Sox OF prospect Roman Anthony scalded a 497-foot grand slam on Saturday for Triple-A Worcester.
That’s how you give the WooSox faithful at Polar Park something to remember for years to come. The legend continues to grow as Anthony’s latest gargantuan blast to right-center field carried a stratospheric 115.6 mph exit velocity. It’s the longest home run tracked by Statcast at any level in baseball this season, per MLB.com’s Allison Mast. It was also his 10th round-tripper of the year. It’s mystifying what the Red Sox are doing at this juncture since Anthony is certainly capable of providing an offensive spark, even in his first exposure to the big leagues. There’s been zero indication that a call-up is imminent, but fantasy managers should anticipate Anthony arriving at Fenway Park at some point soon. There’s nothing left for him to prove in the minors.
Nick Kurtz (hip) went 2-for-3 with a two-run homer and three RBI on Saturday in a minor league rehab game for Low-A Stockton.
The bat looks fine. Kurtz walloped a colossal homer and also added an RBI single in his first rehab contest as he makes his way back from a hip flexor strain that put him on the shelf back in late May. The 22-year-old top prospect might only need another game this weekend before he’s ready to rejoin the Athletics’ lineup. Fantasy managers should anticipate Kurtz being back in the big leagues at some point in the coming days.
Reds RHP prospect Chase Burns recorded six strikeouts over seven shutout innings on Saturday for Double-A Chattanooga.
There’s a legitimate argument for pushing Burns ahead of Bubba Chandler and Andrew Painter as the top pitching prospect in the fantasy landscape. The second-overall selection from the 2024 MLB Draft retired 17 consecutive batters to open his latest outing and was still hitting 98 mph during his seventh inning of work. He allowed just three singles over seven frames and didn’t hand out a free pass. The 22-year-old phenom holds a microscopic 1.68 ERA and 75/9 K/BB ratio across 53 2/3 innings (11 starts) this season between Double-A Chattanooga and High-A Dayton. He might be ready to pitch in the big leagues by the second half.
Brewers RHP prospect Jacob Misiorowski posted seven strikeouts over five shutout innings on Saturday for Triple-A Nashville.
Misiorowski touched triple-digits on 14 pitches and allowed just two hits over five strong frames in his latest dominant outing on the doorstep of the majors. Milwaukee doesn’t exactly have a spot for him in their current rotation, but they should strongly consider making one in a couple weeks. The hard-throwing 23-year-old righty is up to 80 punchouts over 63 1/3 innings and also boasts an International League-best 2.13 ERA across 12 starts.
Pirates SS/OF prospect Konnor Griffin went 3-for-5 with an inside-the-park home run, three RBI and one stolen base on Saturday for Low-A Bradenton.
Griffin’s phenomenal professional debut continued Saturday when he legged out an inside-the-park home run as part of his 21st multi-hit performance of the season. The 19-year-old phenom is slashing .338/.398/.536 with nine round-trippers and 26 steals across 50 games for Low-A Bradenton. He leads the entire Florida State League with 70 hits and ranks second in home runs, trailing only Phillies breakout prospect Aroon Escobar in the power department. Based on his current trajectory, Griffin is likely to finish the year as a top-five caliber prospect for dynasty purposes.
Ronny Mauricio went 2-for-4 with a solo homer, stolen base and two runs scored in a win for the Mets on Saturday over the Rockies.
Mauricio gets the combo meal in a blowout win over the lowly Rockies. Still counts. The 24-year-old has his first homer of the 2025 campaign, and the steal is also his first after being recalled from Syracuse on Tuesday. Mauricio is still young enough to live up to the lofty expectations he once had, but fantasy managers shouldn’t be rushing to add the infielder just yet.