Stacks for Sunday, July 2
Royals
They Royals face off against Hector Santiago today. He is only priced higher than his opponent, Travis Wood today, and Wood is on a roughly 65-pitch count limit. Hector had a short start last time due to rain, but still took the loss to give him six straight losses. His only non-decision in his last seven games was vs the Royals, who he has actually pitched well against this year, going 1-0 with a 3.60 ERA in two starts.
Starting with his May 19th start vs the Royals, Santiago is 0-5 with a 9.51 ERA. He also is not great in lefty/lefty matchups this season, as they are hitting .463 vs Santiago, and has allowed a slugging percentage of .878 (36 Total Bases / 41 ABs) vs left-handed batters this season (Rank: 178th of 178 qualified SPs in MLB; League Avg: .447). Eric Hosmer is the best lefty vs Hector today, as he is batting .406 with two homers in 32 lifetime AB’s vs him.
The Royals and Twins split a doubleheader yesterday, and may see some usual starters taking a seat today. If players listed below are not playing, feel free to use any combo of Royals as Santiago should get lit up today.
Top Suggested Stack: Eric Hosmer, Lorenzo Cain, Mike Moustakas, Jorge Soler or Brandon Moss or Alex Gordon from the OF. Drew Butera if catching.
Cubs
I’m sticking with the Cubs again today in the series finale vs a Reds team they should be beating. They face Tim Adleman on a nice 85 degree Sunday afternoon in a hitter’s park. The Cubs should have a better lineup with Ben Zobrist back today, which could move Rizzo back to leading off. Adleman faced the Cubs back in April, and pitched well, including seven strikeouts. He hasn’t looked great though over his last ten starts, allowing at least three runs in six of them. Adleman has also walked 13 while allowing 7 long balls over his last four starts. The Cubs have scored three or more runs in 8.3% of their innings played against division opponents this season (Rank: 3rd of 30 in MLB; League).
The Cubs should be pumped for having Ben back, as well as back to Rizzo leading off. With the Rays vs Orioles once again being a top target, the Cubs may go unnoticed today.
Top Stack Suggestions: Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Ben Zobrist, Willson Contreras or Javier Baez.
Marlins
Miami has lost four in a row, and have a great chance to end that streak today vs a struggling Junior Guerra. He allowed three earned runs in three straight games before being rocked for eight earned runs in his last start. He allowed four long balls that game, and at least one in seven of his eight starts. His command has been the issue, as Guerra had a 16:19 K-to-walk ratio for the month of June.
The Marlins have drawn only 109 walks in 1,828 PAs (6.0%) versus starting pitchers this season (Rank: 30th of 30 in MLB; League Avg: 8.2%), but Marlins hitters have homered 35 times with the pitcher behind in the count this season (Rank: 5th of 30 in MLB). Miami has only scored nine runs during their four game slide, but think they double that mark today.
Power Stack: Giancarlos Stanton, Marcell Ozuna, Christian Yelich, Justin Bour
Lefty Stack: Dee Gordon, Justin Bour, Christian Yelich, Derek Dietrich or J.T. Riddle
Player News
Cam Smith is not in the starting lineup for the Astros on Wednesday against the Brewers.
Smith has struggled in his jump to the big leagues, slashing .212/.302/.365 in 26 games with a 30 percent strikeout rate. Zach Dezenzo will start in left field on Wednesday, with Chas McCormick getting the start in right field.
Amed Rosario is starting at third base and batting second for the Nationals on Wednesday against the Guardians.
Rosario has shifted back into a part-time role with Jose Tena playing well at third base. Tena will take a seat against a left-handed pitcher on Wednesday, as will Josh Bell with Alex Call entering the starting lineup and James Wood sliding to DH for the day.
David Festa allowed one run on three hits in 5 2/3 innings for Triple-A St. Paul on Tuesday.
Festa also struck out seven and didn’t walk a single batter while throwing 50 of his 72 pitches for strikes. Minnesota still seems to want to limit how deep Festa pitches into games, but at this point, it may just be to save his pitches for later in the season. He and Zebby Matthews will continue to produce at Triple-A until Minnesota deems them worthy of regular spots in the MLB rotation.
Twins OF prospect Carson McCusker went 3-for-4 with two home runs, three RBI, and a steal for Triple-A St. Paul on Wednesday.
The massive 6'8" prospect is now up to nine home runs and a 1.071 OPS in 28 games so far this season. There is some swing-and-miss in his game, but that’s to be expected with a 6'8" power hitter. He also has a 41 percent hard hit rate and continues to do damage when he does make contact. McCusker is not a great defender and will likely only be a short-side platoon hitter in Minnesota, so there may not be tons of fantasy value, but with a very left-handed lineup, it makes sense for Minnesota to call him up and see if he can inject some power into the offense.
Marlins OF prospect Andrew Pintar went 4-for-4 with a stolen base, an RBI, and one run scored for Triple-A Jacksonville on Tuesday.
The speedy centerfielder is off to his best start in a professional season, slashing .315/.357/.348 in 28 games at Triple-A with 10 steals. He doesn’t hit for much power and is striking out more than he ever has before, so it’s fair to wonder if this lasts, but he did steal 24 bases last year in 102 games, so he could be a deep league option for speed alone if he were to get the call to come up to Miami at any point.
Zac Veen went 2-for-4 with two doubles for Triple-A Albuquerque on Tuesday.
Veen is now hitting .361 with two home runs, one steal, and a 1.051 OPS in 61 at-bats at Triple-A this season. At this point, it seems like the Rockies just need to let the 23-year-old figure it out at the MLB level, but it’s the Rockies, so they probably won’t.