Hitters to Start and Avoid in Week 6 (5/6-5/12)

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 6 (5/6-5/12) 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

 

Kansas City Royals hitters – The Royals get a seven-game week this week, starting off with three games against the Brewers, a team that owns the fifth-worst team FIP in the league right now. In that series, they’ll face Bryse Wilson, Colin Rea, and Joe Ross, none of whom concern me all that much (I realize Rea has looked good so far, but he’s not someone I’m avoiding just yet).

After that, they’ll have four games against the Angels who own the fourth-worst team FIP in all of baseball, making this a pretty nice week to start your Royals.

In deeper leagues, Kyle Isbel might be worth a look this week, as he’s slashing .294/.333/.588 over the past two weeks. Also, Michael Massey has been sporting a .213 ISO over the past two weeks and could be another interesting deeper-league stream.

 

Colorado Rockies hitters – The Rockies have six games this week and guess what? They’re all in Coors Field, and you know what that means—that means it’s time to start your Rockies.

The Rockies will get three games against the Giants and three games against the Rangers this week, which should be pretty decent matchups for their teams. The Giants are pretty middle-of-the-pack when it comes to team FIP and the Rangers have the 12th-worst in the league, so there are some solid matchups on top of a full week in Coors that you should take advantage of this week.

Brenton Doyle is sporting a .310/.370/.405 line with three steals over the past two weeks and is worth a look this week, as is Ryan McMahon, who’s slashing .279/.396/.558 over the past two weeks.

CATCHER TO STREAM: If you’re looking for a catcher this week, Elias Díaz is slashing .282/.341/.462 over the past two weeks, is typically hitting in the middle of the Rockies’ lineup, and gets Coors Field all week. You could do a lot worse at the catcher position.

 

Texas Rangers hitters – The Rangers have a really nice-looking week this week for their hitters, with seven games in some pretty sweet matchups.

They start the week off with four games against the A’s, including a doubleheader on Wednesday. In that series, they’ll see Alex Wood, Ross Stripling, and JP Sears (as well as whoever ends up pitching game two of the doubleheader), and none of those matchups worry me at all.

Then, they’ll get three games in Coors Field against the Rockies, a team that owns the second-worst team FIP in all of baseball.

Evan Carter has been on fire lately, slashing .286/.324/.629 over the past two weeks, so make sure you’ve got him in your lineups this week. Same with Josh H. Smith, who’s hitting .314/.400/.657 over the past two weeks.

 

Cleveland Guardians hitters – The Guardians get a full seven-game week this week, starting off with three games against the Tigers, where they’ll face Jack Flaherty, Kenta Maeda, and Reese Olson. Flaherty has looked good at times and has looked pretty hittable at other times, so I’m not necessarily worried about him, and I’m certainly not worried about Maeda. Olson has looked pretty good so far, and if you wanted to bench your Guardians hitters in daily leagues for that matchup, I wouldn’t blame you.

After the Tigers series, the Guardians get four games against the White Sox, who currently own the worst team FIP in all of baseball, making this a pretty great week to start your Guardians hitters.

Will Brennan is sporting a .314/.314/.657 line over the past two weeks and is worth a look this week. And in deep leagues, Brayan Rocchio has a .276/.389/.345 line with four steals over the past two weeks. There isn’t any power there, but especially if you’re in a deep OBP league, Rocchio could be a source for some steals and OBP numbers.

CATCHER TO STREAM: He hasn’t been great lately, but if you’re in a deep league and need a catcher to stream, Bo Naylor is slated to have some pretty great matchups and could be somewhat useful.

 

 

AVOID

 

Boston Red Sox hitters – The Red Sox have only five games this week (as do a handful of teams) and there’s not a lot of value to be had from them this week. They start the week off with two games against Atlanta where they’ll see Reynaldo López and Chris Sale, and then they close the week with three games against the Nationals who, it may surprise you, have the fourth-best team FIP in the league.

In that Nationals series, they’ll see Patrick Corbin, Jake Irvin, and MacKenzie Gore. I’m not worried about the Corbin or Irvin matchups, but Gore has looked pretty good so far and could be a tough matchup.

In daily leagues, I think you’re fine starting your Red Sox hitters against Corbin and Irvin, but in weekly leagues, two games of value aren’t worth it.

 

Baltimore Orioles hitters – The Orioles are in a similar position to the Red Sox this week. They’ve only got five games and only a couple of them are worth starting your hitters in.

They start the week off with a two-game series against the Nationals where they’ll see Trevor Williams and Mitchell Parker. I’m not worried about Williams at all, but Parker has looked great and could cause some problems (he’s also a lefty, which will prove tricky for some of your Orioles hitters you probably have, like Ryan O’Hearn, Cedric Mullins, and Gunnar Henderson).

After that, the Orioles will have three games against the Diamondbacks where they’ll see Brandon Pfaadt, Ryne Nelson, and Zac Gallen. Pfaadt has shown some flashes and obviously, Gallen is a headache for hitters, so all in all, we’re looking at maybe two games this week where you could feel good about starting your Orioles. That’s not enough value in a weekly league for me.

 

Atlanta hitters – Atlanta is also part of the five-game-week gang this week, which is going to automatically put them at a disadvantage.

They start their week off with two games against the Red Sox, a team with the best team FIP in all of baseball right now. They’ll see Kutter Crawford and Nick Pivetta in that series (assuming there aren’t any injury setbacks for Pivetta). Crawford has looked great and Pivetta certainly can be a problem for hitters, though we’ll see what happens in his return from the IL, that might be a fine matchup for your Atlanta hitters.

After that, Atlanta gets three games against the Mets where they’ll see Jose Quintana, Christian Scott, and Luis Severino. Severino has been excellent and should prove challenging. Quintana I’m not worried about, and Scott certainly could prove a problem.

Ultimately there are enough question marks about the matchups this week that, in a weekly league, I’m not going to feel too confident starting my middle-of-the-road Atlanta hitters.

 

Toronto Blue Jays hitters – The Blue Jays also have a five-game week this week and are slated for some pretty tough matchups.

They start the week off with two games against the Phillies where they’ll see Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola. Then, they’ll close the week with three games against the Twins where they’ll see Joe Ryan, Simeon Woods-Richardson, and Bailey Ober.

Basically, I’m only confident starting my Blue Jays hitters in the Woods-Richardson matchup and that’s about it. Definitely not worth it in a weekly league.

 

Feature image by Michael Packard (@artbymikep on Twitter) / Photo by Joe Robbins / Icon Sportswire