We have a loaded week of baseball ahead, with seventeen teams playing on all seven days. The rest of the league is scheduled to play on six days, except for the Tampa Bay Rays who are scheduled to play on only five.
For this week, or model loves the New York Mets, who have games on all seven days, with a make-up game on Monday against the Nationals followed by consecutive away series against the Atlanta Braves and the New York Yankees. Mets hitters will not only benefit from playing at the very small Yankee Stadium, but also the added DH. IF you did not pick up Dom Smith, owned in about 55% of leagues, last week, there is still time to do so for a favorably week here. The Mets also expect Brandon Nimmo, 20% owned, to return. Nimmo was hitting very well in the leadoff spot before his injury.
The Colorado Rockies also play on all seven days, with all seven games at the hitters’ paradise that is Coors Field. Most of Colorado’s better hitters are rostered, but we will target more widely available options including Yonathan Daza, 10% owned, and Joshua Fuentes, 7% owned. Both are hitting over .300 at Coors Field this season.
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:
- Joey Votto, 33%, owned, could have a big week with the Reds facing mostly right-handed pitching this week.
- Speaking of Reds, Tucker Barnhart, 20% owned, has hit even better vs right-handers this season with a .285 batting average against RHP this season.
- Hansel Robles, 30% owned, seems to have a share of the saves in Minnesota even though he has been roughed up a bit.
- Chas McCormick, 3% owned, has been moved to the bottom half of the Astros’ lineup, but he has been productive at the plate in his limited playing time.
- Tony Santillan, who was undrafted and unowned only two weeks ago, was mentioned here last week. He had a tough matchup vs SD in his second start, but he looked good against ATL last week. Now, he is scheduled to face SD again. We wouldn’t rush to start him there, but he will remain on our radar.
- Jonathan Schoop, now owned in 77% of leagues, has gained over 25% ownership since we first mentioned him and he has now climbed into the top 100 fantasy players on the season. Schoop is a streaky hitter that should be owned while he is hot.
- Framber Vazquez, now owned in 85% of leagues, has been a mainstay here for a few weeks, but he deserves to be until he is owned in all leagues. Vazquez has a 2.11 ERA 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.