2019 Fantasy Baseball Weekly Planner: July 15-21

We are back from the All-Star Break and the dog days of summer are firmly upon us. There is a double-header on Monday so pay attention to that when setting your lineups.

Team Schedules

Interleague Schedules

Who’s Hot

Mike Trout , OF LAA – The emotions of the last couple of weeks have been strong in Anaheim as they’ve been honoring their former teammate in several ways. The late Tyler Skaggs ’ A-Ball roommate in Trout has been honoring him with his play on the field. In just three games since the ASB, Trout hit .462/.500/1.538 with four homers, 12 RBI, and five runs and a remarkable 1.077 ISO. Yes saying Trout is hot is like saying water is wet or that he’s good at baseball, but in a brief stint to put up those kinds of numbers is still nuts even for him.

Josh Donaldson , 3B ATL – Donaldson must have been hearing the chatter about how good his future replacement has been in Austin Riley and came out swinging after the break. He posted a .455/.538/1.636 slash with four home runs, eight RBI, and seven runs in the three games Atlanta played over the weekend. The Braves are still out in front of the NL East but they will need Donaldson in the middle of the order to stay hot in the second half to hold off the charging Nationals.

Nate Lowe , 1B TB – It’s about time the power showed up for Lowe in the majors. In four games over the weekend, the first baseman hit three home runs, seven RBI, and four runs scored with a .353/.389/.941 slash line. His huge year in 2018 across a few levels of the minor leagues really drew attention to a previously overlooked prospect in the Rays system and now it’s his time to show if that power and swing adjustment is real. He may not get a full bevy of at-bats in the second half, however, he should be able to be effective when he’s in the lineup given the parks they play in in the AL East.

Who’s Not

Eric Hosmer , 1B SD – Hosmer had finished a pretty solid first half as the Padres have been a bit of a surprise team this year, however that solid showing didn’t continue right out of the break. Hosmer, in 14 plate appearances in three games, slashed .071/.071/.071 with one RBI for the Padres. That’s just not going to get it done in any fashion and if the Padres want to continue to make a push for an NL Wild Card spot, Hosmer will need to re-find his stroke once more.

Trea Turner , SS WAS – The Nationals as a team are in the midst of the best 41-game stretch in their history, going 30-11 and 17-4 in the last 21 games. Turner, however, hasn’t been great this last weekend against Philadelphia as he slashed .143/.143/.214 with no counting stats. Hitting atop the Washington lineup he is a pivotal table-setter for the order and he needs to get on base to use that speed and mess with the opposing pitcher’s rhythm, but the .143 OBP isn’t going to do that. Yes, it’s a small sample but he is susceptible to these kinds of slumps occasionally so if it lingers, don’t be surprised.

Jarrod Dyson , OF ARI – Dyson is another speedster who was having a pretty good first half for the Diamondbacks until the All-Star break came. Against St. Louis put up a whole bunch of zeros in the slash line and counting stats across the board. Now he’s not known as a power guy or a run producer but the steals and run scored and average are definitely help parts of his game and those can’t happen if he’s putting up goose eggs in the slash line. Dyson will continue to play his role in the Arizona lineup but with Jake Lamb coming back, there is a bit more flexibility in the lineup and if Dyson doesn’t heat up soon, the role could be reduced.

Match-up Breakdowns

The teams in the left column are showing stats for road games and the teams in the right column are showing stats for home games.

Weekend Schedule (Thursday/Friday - Sunday)

Early Week Schedule (Monday – Wednesday/Thursday)