Thursday poses the same daily dilemma you've been dealing with every day for the major league baseball season. Do you go with the BVP data? Do you go against it? How much weight do you give it? Ray Flowers presents the data so you can make up your mind.
* 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
What do you know. Darwin Barney is 6-for-12 against Edinson Volquez.
Curtis Granderson has eight hits, including two homers, over 17 at-bats against Kyle Lohse who was torched in his last start. Granderson also has two homers and five RBIs. David Wright also enjoys the matchup as he's hit .429 with two homers and four RBIs in 21 at-bats.
Jesus Guzman has hit .350-1-6 against Wade Miley over 20 at-bats.
No one can get out Nick Markakis right now. Don't figure on Mark Buehrle changing that. Nick has hit .429 with two homers, six RBIs an a 1.145 OPS over 46 plate appearances. Delmon Young also excels hitting .378 with three bombs in 45 at-bats. Adam Jones does his fair share of hitting with a 385/.429/.577 slash line over 28 plate appearances.
V-Mart has hit a homer while batting .545 over 22 at-bats against Chris Sale.
Andrew McCutchen has hit .385 with a 1.000 OPS against Jeff Samardzija. He's also hit two stolen four bases over his 31 plate appearances. For what it's worth, in six at-bats Ike Davis has hit two bombs and driven in six runs.
Justin Morneau faces Ervin Santana in Colorado Thursday. He's had moderate success in the matchup hitting .231, but has three homers and nine RBIs leading to a .959 SLG impress.
Seth Smith is no longer the season we saw the first six weeks of the year. Hardly a shock. Still, the guy kills Kyle Kendrick with eight hits in 14 at-bats (.571). He's also hit .347 in 72 career at-bats against the Phillies though he's failed to post even a .220 batting average on the road this season.
Dayan Viciedo has hit .360 with two homers over 25 at-bats against Max Scherzer.
Joey Votto is back in action, and he's always hit Zack Greinke well. In 21 at-bats he's batting .381 with three homers and four walks.
Jayson Werth has battered Tim Hudson to the tune of a .385 average and 1.160 OPS. He's also hit three homers with 11 RBIs in 43 plate appearances. He's not the only National to have success against the Giants' hurler. Ian Desmond is batting .298 with a .353 OBP against Hudson over 51 plate appearances. Kevin Frandsen also has five hits in 10 at-bats.
DISH DISASTERS – Worst Hitting Matchups of the Day
Pedro Alvarez has hit .200 with a .360 SLG against Jeff Samardzija over 25 plate appearances. He has one homer. Jody Mercer has eight hitless at-bats, Travis Snider is 1-for-10, Gaby Sanchez is 1-for-10 and Clint Barmes is 0-for-11.
Jay Bruce has struck out eight times while batting .179 with a .464 OPS against Zack Greinke in 28 plate appearances. Ryan Ludwick is 2-for-17 with eight Ks, Devin Mesoraco is batting .188 with eight Ks in 15 at-bats, Brandon Phillips is 3-for-16 and Todd Frazier is 3-for-14 with five Ks. Oh, and Zack Cozart is 1-for-13. Shocker there.
Starlin Castro has hit .222 with no walks in 18 plate appearances against Edinson Volquez.
Nelson Cruz is a monster this year. However, when he faces Mark Buehrle he's been a fluffy puppy just out of the bathtub. He's gone 14 at-bats without a hit. J.J. Hardy hasn't done a heck of a lot better as he's batting .120 with a .400 OPS over 25 plate appearances.
Danny Espinosa doesn't seem to like to face Tim Hudson. Espinosa has 10 Ks in 27 at-bats with a .185/.267/.333 slash line. Adam LaRoche also stumbles with a .207 average and .480 OPS over 32 plate appearances.
This is amazing. In 30 at-bats Austin Jackson has 12 Ks against Chris Sale. What's even more bonkers is his hit total – two.
Cameron Maybin is batting .256 with .289 OBP on the road. He's also just 1-for-9 against Kyle Kendrick.
If Justin Upton plays Thursday leave him on your bench. He's got one hit in 16 at-bats against Jhoulys Chacin. He's also whiffed an amazing 10 times.
White Sox to bench against Max Scherzer: Gordon Beckham has hit .216 with a .580 OPS over 41 plate appearances. That's actually great work compared to the crazy 19 Ks in 42 at-bats that Adan Dunn has (three homers). The worst though is Alexei Ramirez. Dude has one RBI, has hit .106 and has a .316 OPS over 53 plate appearances.
Bookmark the following three sources to check daily after you read this piece.
Fantasy Alarm Lineups
Batter Versus Pitcher
Daily Projections – For every single day of the season.
MOUND MAVENS – Starting Pitchers to Target
Andrew Cashner faces a Phillies team that is third from the bottom with a .651 OPS against righties. Of course, there's the fact that Cashner has a 2.13 ERA on the year and last allowed more than two earned runs in a start back on April 21st. He pitches on the road.
Roenis Elias has pitched well at home with a 3.47 ERA and 1.18 WHIP over six starts. That is mitigated a bit by the fact that he's allowed at least four earned runs in two of his last three starts. Still he's done his thing at home and held the Yankees to two runs over seven innings back on May 1st.
Zack Greinke, as you read about above, rolls some of the Reds hitters. He's also sporting a 2.06 ERA in seven road starts and has a 2.73 career mark over 62.2 innings against the Reds. Even with his “struggles” of late he's still got a quality start in two of three outings.
Tim Hudson faces the Nationals in San Francisco. Did you notice that through 12 starts Hudson has a 1.97 ERA and 0.96 WHIP? The last time he faced the Nats he allowed on unearned run over 7.1 innings, and he's allowed a total of four runs over his last five starts overall.
Jonathon Niese is set to face the Brewers at home. He's gone 2-2 at home with a 2.92 ERA and 1.24 WHIP this season. He's allowed just one homer in three starts, and six total runs over his last three outings. The next time he allows four earned runs will be the first time it has happened in 2014.
Chase Whitley has made five starts this season. He's posted a 2.42 ERA and 1.12 WHIP. He's also issues only three walks including none in his last three starts. He pitches on the road against the Mariners, a team that is hitting just .237 against righties.
MOUND MESSES – Starting Pitchers to Avoid
Kevin Gausman faces the powerhouse Blue Jays Thursday in Baltimore. Through 58.2 big league innings over two years he's saddled with a 5.52 ERA and 1.31 WHIP. The Jays also murder righties hitting 65 homers, the most in baseball, and their .779 OPS against righties leads the AL.
Kyle Lohse allowed eight earned runs in his last outing. He's also allowed at least four earned runs in two of his last three outings. In his first 10 starts he didn't allow four runs one time. He faces a Mets team that he's had trouble with in his career (5.40 ERA, 1.65 WHIP over 51.2 innings). Lohse also has a 4.33 ERA and 1.31 WHIP away from home this year.
I know some of you scoff, but what do you think of these audio recordings of Bigfoot? Kinda spooky at least?
Ervin Santana can never be started in Coors Field. Doesn't matter how he's pitching, or who is injured on the Rockies. The guy gives up fly balls and homers far too frequently. He's allowed at least 26 homers each of the past four seasons, so you had better believe some correction is coming since he's currently on pace to allow about 15 big flies in his first season with the Braves.
Josh Tomlin has allowed a homer in six of his seven outings this season. He pitches on the road against the Red Sox, always a tough situation, and the Sox have beat him up (7.17 ERA, 1.36 WHIP over 21.1 innings). He's failed to last six innings in two of his last three outings.
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