If you’ve been reading our fantasy baseball notes, you are probably one of the more savvy owners in your fantasy league, but also thank you for your support! If you’re new here, what we like to do is break down the fantasy week and discuss some of the most and least favorable matchups ahead. From a schedule stand point, there are no major irregularities. 18 teams are scheduled to play on all seven days, while only the Texas Rangers are scheduled to play just five. If you’re reading this, you already know to avoid TEX right now.
Our model projects the top pitchers and hitters this week to be from the Cleveland Indians, who have scheduled games on all seven days against the Baltimore Orioles (4 games) and then the Pittsburg Pirates (3 games). The best part is that a lot of these top options are widely available in most fantasy leagues. We will be targeting CLE hitters including Cesar Hernandez, about 30% owned, and Amed Rosario, 35% owned, who hit one and two respectively.
Our model also really likes the Washington Nationals this week, who scheduled to play up to four left-handed started pitchers. We will target Ryan Zimmerman, 3% owned, and Starlin Castro, 12% owned.
On the flip side of things, the team we project to struggle most this week is the Colorado Rockies, which is rare when they play a seven-game week at their hitter-friendly home park. The problem is the opposing pitchers they are scheduled to face, which include Dinelson Lamet, Yu Darvish, Corbin Burnes, Freddy Peralta, and Brandon Woodruff. While this is a tough situation for COL, we will certainly target some bats from their visiting opponents: SD and MIL.
There are a number of other low owned hitters and pitchers who we are targeting this week. This list will continue to grow throughout the week, but for now we are keeping a close eye on the following players/situations:
- Dominic Smith, owned in under 60% of leagues, is not only our favorite player in baseball right now but also has been absolutely crushing the ball from the plate. He is hitting over .300 in his last 12 games and is scheduled to face all right-handed starting pitchers this week, which is great news for the lefty.
- Tony Santillan, who was undrafted and unowned a week ago, was solid in his major league debut over the weekend. If he is able to stay in the rotation, we would certainly consider adding Santillan before his next start.
- Jonathan Schoop, now owned in 55% of leagues, has always been a streaky hitter with massive upside. Schoop just put up impressive numbers in May and we would consider riding out this current hot streak until it inevitably ends. He was hit by a pitch on the hand over the weekend, but if he is cleared to go on Monday, we will still consider Schoop a solid pickup.
- Framber Vazquez, now owned in 80% of leagues, was mentioned here the last two week after his return from the IL. He has been nothing short of great and should not be left on the waiver wire in any league he is still available.
- Adam Frazier, owned in 80% of leagues, has been another main stay here. Frazier has too many hits to be a free agent in any league or format. He currently ranks among the top 100 fantasy players on the season.
- Brandon Crawford, owned in 75% of leagues, has also been mentioned in this section before and has seen his ownership increase by over 30% since then. He has now cracked the top 50 fantasy players on the season.
- Tyler O’Neill, 75% owned, is again somebody we mentioned previously and has seen a massive ownership increase He continues to exceed expectations and has found himself among the top 100 players in FBB.