Hitters to Start and Avoid in Week 10 (6/3-6/9)

What’s up everyone!

If you’re unfamiliar with this series, each week I take a look at some hitting matchups you should take advantage of and some hitting matchups you should avoid, based on who the hitters will likely be facing on the mound. I’ll also be focusing on catchers you can stream each week since we all know that catcher can be an especially tricky position in fantasy.

If you’d like to learn more about when it becomes less risky to stream hitters (and pitchers) and when certain team stats start to stabilize during the year, check out this article.

So let’s take a look at the hitters to start and avoid in Week 10 (6/3-6/9) of the fantasy baseball season.

Notes: All pitching matchups mentioned here are based on projections as of this post’s publication. It is entirely possible that the actual matchups could change for any number of reasons. Keep in mind, this article is geared toward middle-of-the-road players, meaning you should be starting top-of-the-line bats regardless of the matchup. Always start your studs.

 

Start

 

Colorado Rockies hitters – Typically when I’m recommending the Rockies here in this article, they’re spending their whole week at home in Coors Field, which tends to make their hitters an automatic start.

That’s only partly the case this week. They start their week off with three games against the Reds in Coors, which is great, especially since the Reds own the 11th-worst team FIP in all of baseball right now. Even better, they’ll see Andrew Abbott, Frankie Montas, and Graham Ashcraft, none of whom scare me from a hitting perspective.

Then, the Rockies will get four games against the Cardinals, a team that currently owns the 12th-worst team FIP in the league. The matchup against Sonny Gray might be tricky, but otherwise, I’m good starting my Rockies.

Make sure you’ve got Ezequiel Tovar in your lineups, as he’s hitting .340/.365/.600 over the past two weeks and should be able to continue the hot streak this week. Also, Charlie Blackmon is sporting a nice .200 ISO with a .371 OBP over the past two weeks and could have some value in deeper leagues (and he’s generally leading off for the Rockies, which is even better).

CATCHER TO STREAM: I’ve recommended him a handful of times whenever I’ve recommended the Rockies here, and his ownership has bumped up a bit over the past few weeks, but if you need a catcher this week and Elias Díaz is out there, he’s hitting .273/.333/.424 over the past two weeks, which isn’t too bad and could be useful.

 

St. Louis Cardinals hitters – The Cards have themselves a seven-game week this week with some pretty favorable matchups ahead.

They start off with three games against the Astros, a team that currently owns the fourth-worst team FIP in all of baseball right now. They will see Justin Verlander in that series, which could prove tricky, but otherwise you should be good.

Then, they’ll have the four-game series against the Rockies that I mentioned earlier. It’d be more fun if they were in Coors for the series, but the Rockies still own the second-worst team FIP in the league right now, so that should still be some good matchups for your Cardinals hitters.

Make sure you’ve got Nolan Gorman in your lineups this week, as he’s been hitting .276/.344/.655 over the past two weeks. And in deeper leagues, Masyn Winn could have some value, as he’s been slashing .406/.424/.656 over the past two weeks.

 

Boston Red Sox hitters – The Red Sox have six games this week, starting off with two games against Atlanta. Now, normally I’d be shying away from a team that has a series against Atlanta given how good their pitching staff is, but the Red Sox only have two games against them. One of them will be against Max Fried, so that’s definitely an avoid in daily leagues, but the other is slated to be against Spencer Schwellenbach, who doesn’t worry me at all.

After that, the Red Sox will be facing the White Sox for a four-game series, and lucky for your Red Sox hitters, the White Sox currently own the worst team FIP in all of baseball. So there’s basically only one game to avoid this week for your Red Sox hitters, the rest of the week should be great.

Wilyer Abreu is sporting a .308/.325/.590 slashline over the past two weeks and is definitely worth a start this week. And in deep leagues, Rob Refsnyder owns a .313/.333/.469 slashline over the past two weeks and could provide some value, as could David Hamilton, who’s hitting .353/.421/.471 over the same time period.

CATCHER TO STREAM: He hasn’t had a ton of power lately, but Connor Wong is hitting .270/.357/.297 over the past two weeks and could provide some value given the matchups this week and the fact he’s usually hitting in the middle of the Red Sox lineup. If you’re in need of help at catcher, you could do worse.

 

Houston Astros hitters – The Astros have a six-game week this week, starting off with three games against the Cardinals who, as I mentioned earlier, own the 12th-worst team FIP in baseball. Then, they’ll close out the week with three games against the Angels, who currently own the third-worst team FIP in the league.

In deeper leagues, Jake Meyers could have some value if you need some help in the outfield spot. He’s hitting .295/.367/.386 over the past two weeks. That’s basically no power, but if you need a boost in average or OBP, could be better than the other options out there in deep leagues.

 

Avoid

 

Chicago White Sox hitters – The White Sox have six games this week, starting with a two-game series against the Cubs where they’ll see Shota Imanaga and Jameson Taillon, both of which should prove to be tricky matchups.

Then, they’ll have a four-game series against the Red Sox, a team that currently owns the second-best team FIP in the league. All in all, it’s a pretty tough slate for your White Sox hitters, so I’d avoid them this week.

 

Tampa Bay Rays hitters – There are a bunch of teams that have seven-game weeks this week, but the Rays are not one of them. Instead, the Rays will have a five-game week this week, which already puts them at a significant disadvantage in weekly leagues.

On top of that, they’ve got some tricky matchups. They start the week off with two games against the Marlins where they’ll see Jesús Luzardo and Braxton Garrett, two pitchers who certainly have the potential to be problems. Neither are absolute, definite avoids, but they’re not incredible matchups either.

Then, the Rays will have three games against the Orioles, who currently own the fourth-best team FIP in the league. In that series, they’ll see Cole Irvin, Grayson Rodriguez, and Corbin Burnes, all of whom should prove to be tough matchups (a friendly reminder Cole Irvin is sporting a 2.84 ERA on the year so far).

With just five games and some tough matchups ahead, I’m not seeing enough value to warrant starting my Rays this week.

 

Milwaukee Brewers hitters – The Brewers have six games this week, starting with three games against the Phillies, who currently own the best team FIP in all of baseball right now. In that series, they’ll face Zack Wheeler, Cristopher Sánchez, and Aaron Nola, so yeah, definitely avoid that.

Then, they’ll have three games against the Tigers, who own the sixth-best team FIP in the league. In that series, they’ll see Reese Olson, Casey Mize, and Tarik Skubal, so again, not a great slate of matchups, making it tough to start your Brewers hitters this week.