Tuesday's matchups are analyzed by Ray Flowers. Who has a matchup they can exploit? Who has a difficult matchup you might be better served to pass on? Ray mines the data to help you to answer these and many other baseline questions to help you set your lineup for the first day of July.
* 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
Jose Altuve hit .411 in June and stole 17 bases in one of the most stupendous runs of offense that you will ever see. He's also hitting .375 with three RBIs in 16 at-bats against Hisashi Iwakuma.
Marlon Byrd has produced six base knocks in 11 at-bats against Henderson Alvarez.
Asdrubal Cabrera has a 1.087 OPS over 21 plate appearances against Josh Beckett.
Coco Crisp has hit .375 over 16 at-bats against Rick Porcello.
Starling Marte has been video game good against Wade Miley. In 10 at-bats he has five hits.
Brian McCann has only eight at-bats against David Price but he has two homers and four RBIs.
Eduardo Nunez has been activated off the DL and had two hits Monday. He's hit .389 with two dingers in 18 at-bats against James Shields. Brian Dozier has gone off for a .350-2-70 line over 20 at-bats while Joe Mauer's hit .350-1-8 over 40 at-bats.
David Ortiz treats the ball like it was the size of a beach ball when Edwin Jackson is on the bump. In 20 at-bats Ortiz has produced a .450 average that includes two homers. He's also driven in eight runs. A.J. Pierzynski has two solo homers an a .333 batting average in 24 at-bats.
Skip Schumaker always hits righties. Ian Kennedy is not an exception to that rule. Skip has hit .391 over 23 at-bats.
Kyle Seager is only 1-for-3 against Jarred Cosart. Why list him then? The hit was a homer, and he's also walked six times leading to a a .778 OBP over nine plate appearances.
Ruben Tejada has a 9-game hitting streak. He's also hit .368 in 19 at-bats off Mike Minor.
Ben Zobrist has two big flies, four RBIs an a 1.444 OPS over 18 plate appearances against Hiroki Kuroda. Evan Longoria hasn’t been as successful but he's hit .415 with a homer and five RBIs over 17 at-bats. Matt Joyce also gets into the act. He's hit three bombs with a .375 average in 16 at-bats.
DISH DISASTERS – Worst Hitting Matchups of the Day
Alberto Callaspo may be the A's starter at second base but he's also hit .200 with a .304 OBP over 23 plate appearances against Rick Porcello.
Jason Castro has hit .176 with five Ks against Hisashi Iwakuma. He's accrued 17 at-bats.
Kelly Johnson has hit .176 over 17 at-bats against David Price. Brett Gardner is at .143 over 14 at-bats. Mark Teixeira has hit three homers but over 48 at-bats he's batting .229.
Oh James Loney, how Hiroki Kuroda vexes the. In 15 at-bats Loney has hit .133 with a .267 SLG.
Ryan Ludwick has struck out in half his 16 at-bats against Ian Kennedy. He's posted a .528 OPS as well.
Mike Minor sure holds down Daniel Murphy. In 15 at-bats Murphy has hit .133 with a .392 SLG.
Kendrys Morales hasn't exactly killed in to start his Twins's career. He's also produced a mere single in 12 at-bats against James Shields.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia has two hits in 17 at-bats against A.J. Burnett. That's a .118 average. He's also struck out a rather amazing 10 times.
Carlos Santana (9 ABs), Michael Bourn (7 ABs), Yan Gomes (3 ABs) and Ryan Raburn (2 ABs) has no hits off Josh Beckett. That's an 0-for-21 spot.
Nick Swisher has been a failure this year. He's likely to be a failure Tuesday. He faces Josh Beckett – and it's not been pretty for Swisher. In 48 at-bats he's struck out a whopping 15 times while batting .208.
B.J. Upton has three hits in 21 at-bats against Daisuke Matsuzaka. He's also stolen four bags but that hardly makes you forget about the .536 OPS.
Bookmark the following three sources to check daily after you read this piece.
Batter Versus Pitcher
Daily Projections – For every single day of the season.
MOUND MAVENS – Starting Pitchers to Target
Henderson Alvarez is at home. He starts. Period. The Phillies get to feel his wrath Tuesday. In eight home starts Alvarez has a 1.44 ERA and 1.01 WHIP. He's also walked a total of eight batters.
A.J. Burnett takes on the Marlins. He's rocking a 2.97 ERA in five starts against the club. Burnett has been much better of late and over his last four starts he's gone at least seven innings in each outing while allowing a total of nine runs. Gotta like the big time reduction in walks too as he's issued six walks over his last four outings.
Jarred Cosart faces the Mariners in Houston. He's faced the club three times with solid results: 2.50 ERA, 1.33 WHIP. He's also won his last four outings on the season, all of which are a “quality start” by the way, including the last two in which he gave up one run.
Mike Leake has made four starts against the Padres. He's 0-1 but he's sporting a 2.66 ERA and 1.10 WHIP. He's also got a 3.23 ERA and 1.17 WHIP in nine road starts this season, not to mention that he's won his last two starts allowing a total of two runs over 16 innings as he's struck out 18.
Tim Lincecum threw a no-no last time out. He's held the opposition down with a 3.19 ERA and 1.16 WHIP in 10 home starts. He faces Cardinals team that he owns a career 2.89 ERA and 1.16 WHIP against.
MOUND MESSES – Starting Pitchers to Avoid
Clay Buchholz versus the Cubs in Boston. Please tell me I don’t have to explain why he's a bad play. How about 11 starts with a 6.75 ERA and 1.85 WHIP. Since April 16th his ERA has never been lower than 5.51 at the end of game.
Drew Hutchison is at home to take on the Brewers. Drew has allowed eight runs of his last two starts that lasted only 10.1 innings. Over his last four outings he's failed to reach five innings twice and his ERA over his last four starts, encompassing 20.1 innings, is 5.76. He's also amazingly hideous at home with an 8.31 ERA and 1.81 WHIP over eight outings. Just like Jake from State Farm.
Ian Kennedy allowed the Reds to score five runs and produce 11 hits on May 15th. He's also allowed eight earned runs over his last two starts, and he's gone 4-straight outings without a “quality start.” Oddly, he also has a 4.19 ERA in nine home starts.
Justin Masterson has a knee issue. He says he's fine, but who really knows. He hasn't been “fine” this season, that's for sure. Through 17 starts he's rockin' the 5.02 ERA, a 1.54 WHIP and 1.70 K/BB ratio. Not good. He's also allowed 11 runs over his previous 13 innings. He pitches on the road where he has a sickly 6.65 ERA and 1.70 WHIP over nine starts.
Ricky Nolasco's ERA has been over 5.50 at the end of each of his starts this season. Ever single one I tell ya. Does anything else really matter at this point? He faces the Royals at Target field.
Make sure you tune in to the Fantasy Alarm's Daily Game Show at 6 PM EDT, Monday through Friday on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius210, XM87) as Jeff Mans and Ted Schuster will help you to set your daily lineups.