Top Tier

Aaron Judge, OF, NYY – All rise! Ugh, I am tired of most of John Sterling’s home run calls, why did I do that? Judge hit his 15th homer last night and now has two in the last five days while driving in a run in four of the last five. He has hit .345 in the short lifespan of Target Field, and the Yankee bats may have woken up last night. He faces old teammate J.A. Happ tonight who Judge has had four hits against in ten at-bats including a double and two home runs. He is still mashing left-handed pitching with a .359 average and 1.072 OPS and should have no trouble being productive tonight.

Alex Bregman, 3B, HOU – Going with another guy who homered yesterday, as Bregman has really heated up lately. He has six hits in the last three games with four doubles and a home run. Can you say white hot? The Red Sox will throw Eduardo Rodriguez who has allowed 22 earned runs in his last five starts and allowed fewer than three earned runs just once since the beginning of May. He has loved hitting at Fenway Pahk in his career with a .333 average, six doubles and four home runs in 11 starts there. He is hitting 45 points higher against left-handed pitching with a .321 batting average and four of his seven home runs have come against lefties despite 39 fewer at-bats against them. He has three hits in his career against Rodriguez and they have all been for extra bases with a double and two home runs in nine trips to the plate. 

Mid-Tier

Mark Canha, OF, OAK – Going to ride a bit of a hot streak here as Canha has four multi-hit games in the last seven, including three doubles, a triple, and a home run. He hasn’t been hitting lefties great this year, but he did have a .333 average against southpaws in 2020, so the skill is there. He will face Mike Minor and the Royals tonight. Minor is coming off a start where he allowed three home runs in seven innings and has now allowed 11 long balls in 12 starts. In 15 career at-bats against Minor, Canha has six hits including a double and three home runs while driving in three. Give me a hitter seeing the ball well against a pitcher coming off a terrible outing. 

Jose Altuve, 2B, HOU – He has been striking out more than I’d like the past few days, but Altuve does have six hits in the last five days including two home runs in the last three. Like his teammate Bregman above, Altuve is really hitting well against lefties with a .341 batting average and has hit .400 against Rodriguez in his career. Also, like Bregman, Altuve seems right at home in Boston as he has hit .314 there with three doubles, three homers and has driven in 12 runs in 24 career games there. Rodriguez is not instilling much confidence lately and it might be tough to fit both Astros in under the cap, but at least be sure you get one of them in there. 

Value Tier

Randal Grichuk, OF, TOR – He has been somewhat of an “all-or-nothing” kind of guy in his career, but Grichuk has certainly gotten his batting average to a respectable spot last year and so far this season. He also has been hot of late with four home runs in the last six games. Of course, he has just five hits in the last six games, so you see what I meant with the all or nothing. However, he will face Dallas Keuchel who has allowed four home runs in his last three starts and he is also left-handed. Grichuk has hit .364 against lefties this season, as opposed to .249 against right-handed pitching. He also has three hits against Keuchel in eight career at-bats and they all have been doubles. Save yourself some cap in the outfield with the Jays slugger tonight. 

Nick Madrigal, 2B, CWS – He is sitting on a six-game hit streak and also has four multi-hit games in the last eight that he played in. Madrigal also has five RBI over that span. He isn’t a power hitter by any stretch but knows how to get on base, especially against left-handed pitching. Hyun-Jin Ryu is a solid pitcher, but Madrigal is hitting .373 with a .989 OPS against lefties as opposed to .275 and .677 against right-handed pitchers. Both of his home runs have come against lefties despite 86 fewer at-bats against lefties. He is a great option at a weak position on a shorter slate.