Brett Gardner has been hot, and it seems like he might keep that trend going Tuesday. Ditto in the case of Josh Reddick. And don't get us started about the case of Anthony Rizzo. Not so much though for Robinson Cano or Kyle Seager though. Ray Flowers presents the data you need in order to make an educated guess on who to start/sit August 12th.
* NOTE: Players are listed in alphabetical order for the sake of making them easily sortable/findable. The matchups are also generated based on Batter vs. Pitcher data. Just because a player is not listed does not mean that he is a bad or good play. The players listed below are mentioned merely because of the BVP data for the matchup.
DISH DIAMONDS – The Best Hitting Matchups of the Day
Brett Gardner has five hits in 12 at-bats against Wei-Yin Chen. He's taken the foreign born hurler deep one time while driving in five runs. Jacoby Ellsbury has hit .462 with a steal over his 13 at-bats.
Dee Gordon has hit .295 this season against lefties and he gets to face the struggling Mike Minor Tuesday.
Josh Hamilton has found oodles of success against the oft battered Jerome Williams. Hamilton has taken Williams deep three times in 11 at-bats. He's also hit .545 with six RBIs.
Brian McCann faces Wei-yin Chen. In 99 at-bats this season against lefties McCann has batted .313 with five homers.
Josh Reddick has seven hits in 21 at-bats against Jeremy Guthrie. That's a cool .333 batting average. Coco Crisp is right behind with a .320 batting average in his 25 at-bats.
Ben Revere has hit a robust .347 this season in 101 at-bats against lefties. He is set to face the mightily struggling C.J. Wilson. Carlos Ruiz has also had success batting .296 against lefties.
Oh good grief. Why does everyone sue everyone?
Anthony Rizzo has four bombs and nine RBIs against Wily Peralta. He's also posted a 1.581 OPS over the 21 plate appearances. Starlin Castro must feel a little under-appreciated. He only has a 1.357 OPS in his 22 plate appearances. He's gone twice with four homers.
B.J. Upton sucks, and isn't in the lineup daily anymore. Still, he's hit .278 with five big flies in 36 at-bats against Dan Haren.
Danny Valencia is batting .354 against lefties (65 ABs) while Norichika Aoki is batting .337 (89 ABs). Do you trust those numbers against the steamrolling Jon Lester?
DISH DISASTERS – Worst Hitting Matchups of the Day
Carlos Beltran has hit .218 with only three homers in 110 at-bats against lefties. He faces Wei-Yin Chen.
Robinson Cano hits everyone, or so it seems. Oddly, J.A. Happ has vexed him a bit as Cano has hit a mere .235 with a .278 OBP over 17 plate appearances.
Ryan Doumit has three hits in 14 at-bats, including six punchouts, when Dan Haren is on the bump. Freddie Freeman, Emilio Bonifacio, Evan Gattis and Chris Johnson each have one hit against Haren. Overall the foursome is batting .167 in 24 at-bats.
Alex Gordon has three hits in 22 at-bats when Jon Lester is on the bump. He's also struck out eight times. Billy Butler has nine strikeouts an a .160 batting average in 25 at-bats. Omar Infante is 2-for-12 with no RBIs. Infante has also hit .233 against lefties this season in 103 at-bats.
Dude, where's my car?
John Jaso has been slumping and he's set to face Jeremy Guthrie, a hurler who has had a lot of success against the lefty. Jaso does have two homers in 21 at-bats, but he's also hit a mere .190. Sam Fuld is 1-for-11 in the matchup. Albert Callaspo is pretty terrible too with a .143 batting average over 21 at-bats.
Casey McGehee has one hit in 15 at-bats when Adam Wainwright is the opponent. He's also struck out four times.
Jose Reyes has three hits in 19 at-bats when Chris Young is on the hill. If he does reach base he will be a threat to run though. He's swiped four bases with the 6'10” hurler on the hill. Jose Bautista has a mere two hits in 10 at-bats and he's yet to drive in a run.
Kyle Seager faces lefty J.A. Happ. Seager has hit a passable .261 against lefties this year but rather remarkably he has only one big fly in 157 at-bats.
Bookmark the following four sources to check daily after you read this piece.
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MOUND MAVENS – Starting Pitchers to Target
Doug Fister meet must start. Fister will be on the road against the Mets, and in nine road starts this year he is 5-2 with a 2.93 ERA and 1.25 WHIP. He also held the Mets to one unearned run in his last start on August 6th as he walked none and struck out seven.
Jeremy Hellickson faces a Rangers club that is 4th from the bottom in OPS against righties this season. Hellickson has also allowed one or no earned runs in three of his four outings this season as he's walked a total of five batters to avoid beating himself.
Kyle Hendricks has won three of his last four decisions for the Cubbies. He's also thrown 4-straight quality starts as he's allowed a total of five runs in those four games. Over his last three outings his control has sharpened greatly as he's walked two batters. He faces the Brewers at home.
Mat Latos takes on the Red Sox in Cincy. Through 10 starts he's the owner of a solid set of ratios (3.12 ERA, 0.95 WHIP) even though his K/9 rate has tanked this season down to 5.70. He's kept the ball in the yard and thrown a lot of innings of late with 4-straight starts of at least six innings and only one total homer allowed.
Collin McHugh has a 3.18 ERA and 1.08 WHIP this season with 115 Ks in 102 innings. Boom goes that dynamite. He's also looked sharp his last two outings permitting just one run each time out. Collin has also walked a total of four batters in his last four outings while permitting just two homers. He faces the Twins in Houston.
Wily Peralta is a rolling. He' has a “W” in each of his last five starts during which time he's permitted a total of six runs, and four times in that stretch he's thrown at least 6.2 innings. He faces the Cubs on the road, and in 10 road start he's 6-2 with a 3.16 ERA this season.
MOUND MESSES – Starting Pitchers to Avoid
Wei-Yin Chen allowed four runs in his last outing, the first time he had done that in six starts. The last time he faced the Yankees he allowed four runs in five innings. In eight career matchups with the Yanks he has a 5.76 ERA and 1.35 WHIP. Not exactly outstanding work.
Josh Collmenter's ERA was 3.64 on July 20th. After his last three outings that number is up to 4.09. He's also been brutal this year on the road with a 5.59 ERA and 1.69 WHIP over 46.2 innings. He's in Cleveland to face the Indians.
Dan Haren faces a Braves team that is 4th from the bottom in OPS against righties. The Braves also come in 20th in homers off of righties, and we all know how that can be a bugaboo for Haren. In his last outing Haren allowed one run in 7.1 innings. Still, how can you start Haren? He's lost five of his last six starts and has allowed six homers in that time. He's also had games of four, five, six and eight earned runs allowed in that stretch.
Joe Kelly faces the Reds in Cincinnati. In eight starts this season he's posted two victories, a 3.86 ERA and 1.38 WHIP. Can't get more average than that. He's also posted a mere 1.93 K/BB ratio and 5.79 K/9 mark. For his career he's also posted a 3.53 ERA and 1.37 WHIP on the road. Average is as average does.
Mike Minor had a start skipped, and now he returns to face the Dodgers. Unfortunately he's posted a 5.47 ERA and 1.72 WHIP at home this season. He's also allowed a whopping 38 hits and four homers in his last four starts (20.2 innings). Cannot be trusted at the moment, simple as that.
Robbie Ray will face the Pirates Tuesday. He's appeared in four games in the bigs this season with a 4.70 ERA and 1.63 WHIP. In 19 outings at Triple-A this year he has a 3.72 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 6.61 K/9 an a terrible 1.78 K/BB ratio. The Pirates don't hit lefties very well, but Ray hasn't been locked in to say the least, and that pains me to say given how cool his last name is.
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