The tiny three-game slate includes a 7:05 ET game and a pair of games at 9:40, with both teams from the early Rays vs Yankees game wedged into the middle of our Power Index today. The early game includes two good lineups and two capable pitchers, while the two late games have two clunky starters who will be targeted more directly with bats by the public. The interesting situational spread and a short list of options on both sites are going to create very interesting lineup combinations around the industry, though we tend to still avoid allowing hitter-vs-pitcher configurations in lineups when there are three games from which to select hitters. Getting to a diverse pool of constructions when it comes to sizing stacks and creating combinations is important on a slate of this size, allowing for more unique constructions than one may normally play will access a larger pool of potentially winning lineups that the public may not consider as broadly.
Note: All analysis is written utilizing available projected lineups as of the early morning, pay close attention to confirmed lineups and adjust accordingly. This article is posted and updated as it is written, if a game has not been filled in simply check back in a few minutes. Update notes are provided as lineups are confirmed to the best of our ability, but lineup changes are not typically updated as lock approaches, so stay tuned to official news for any late changes.
MLB DFS: Game by Game Main Slate Overview – 5/11/23
Tampa Bay Rays (-109/4.35) @ New York Yankees (+101/4.24)
The Rays are in home run haven Yankee Stadium for a matchup against righty Domingo German, who has been effective to start the season but who has also given up premium contact and home run power with regularity so far in 2023. German has made seven starts and he has overperformed our expectations with a 28.2% strikeout rate and a 0.94 WHIP while inducing a fantastic 16.1% swinging-strike rate and pitching to a 4.35 ERA with a 3.80 xFIP. However, German has been lousy for power in his starts, coughing up a 4.49% home run rate on 38.8% hard hits and an ugly 11.2% barrel rate allowed. The righty gave up a 40.6% hard-hit rate last year with a 3.69% home run rate but just a 6.9% barrel rate, he is a flyball-oriented pitcher however, his average launch angle allowed in 2022 was 16.7 degrees, this year it is 16 degrees, when German has made mistakes this year they have tended to travel. The pitcher’s stuff has graded out better than in the past this season and his swinging-strike rate is inarguable, but German’s current production represents a major leap from a pitcher who had a 19.5% strikeout rate while inducing an 11.3% swinging-strike rate with a 28.5% CSW% last year. This season, German’s CSW% sits at 32.5%, ranking him fifth in baseball among qualified starters. The pitchers who surround German in the top-10 for CSW% right now, in descending order from first overall, are Spencer Strider, Shane McClanahan, Shohei Ohtani, Clayton Kershaw, (German), Zac Gallen, Jose Berrios, Sonny Gray, Logan Webb, and Corbin Burnes. One of these things is not like the others. German costs just $8,300/$8,000, if one wants to dance with the danger of power and run creation potential, the righty is not lacking for upside at those prices, German is in play for MLB DFS tournaments on a short slate but he projects behind Eovaldi, Cobb, and his opponent in this game.
The Rays have been outrageous to start the season, hitting for power and sequencing from top to bottom in the lineup. The fantastic start is exemplified in the numbers of leadoff man Yandy Diaz, who is slashing .317/.428/.579 with a .262 ISO and creating runs 85% better than average over his first 152 plate appearances this year. Diaz has struck out just 15.1% of the time while walking at a 14.5% clip in 2023, numbers that are consistent with his 10.8% and 14% over 558 plate appearances last season. He slots in at $5,100/$3,900 with first base eligibility on DraftKings and adding third base to that on FanDuel. Diaz is a terrific option who will probably be popular atop a highly-owned Rays stack, but Tampa Bay will probably fall third behind the Giants and Rangers for popularity on the short slate. Wander Franco strikes out at just a 15% clip this year, he had a 9.6% strikeout rate over 344 plate appearances last year. The star shortstop has seven home runs and 11 stolen bases and has created runs 58% better than average in his 160 plate appearances this year, setting the pace for the blazing Rays since the season began. Randy Arozarena has been with Diaz and Franco step for step to start the season, he has made 155 plate appearances and is slashing .319/.394/.570 with a .252 ISO and nine home runs while creating runs 71% better than average to sit second behind only Diaz in the projected lineup. Arozarena is worth his $5,900/$4,300 salary, he has a 10.05 in our home run model today and is an excellent option in stacks or as a one-off in the outfield. Brandon Lowe will probably be popular in a positive matchup in Yankee Stadium, the left-handed masher of a second baseman leads the Rays with a 13.12 in our home run model but costs just $4,400/$3,200 today. Lowe has seven home runs with a .239 ISO and an 18.3% barrel rate so far this year. Harold Ramirez is arguably underpriced at $4,100/$3,500 despite clearly overachieving through the first part of the season. Ramirez has always made sturdy contact and has had a good bat, but he has never flashed the degree of power that we have seen in 2023. The outfielder has hit six home runs in 107 plate appearances, matching the total he had in 435 opportunities last year. Ramirez has a .255 ISO and a 167 WRC+, when he is in Tampa Bay’s lineup he can be in ours. There is a chance that lefty Luke Raley is a bit lower-owned than he should be on a slate of this size. Raley has a massive 24.1% barrel rate and 55.6% hard-hit rate in 93 plate appearances this year and he posted a 13.2% barrel rate in 72 opportunities in the Show last year. He has nine Major League home runs across the two small samples, eight of them have come this year and the cheap slugger has a .345 ISO while checking in with eligibility at first base and in the outfield. Isaac Paredes has four home runs and a .167 ISO this season, he hit 20 in 381 opportunities last year and he comes cheap at $3,400/$3,100. Paredes has a 10.46 in our home run model, Raley is at 9.05, they should not be complete afterthoughts when stacking Rays tonight. Catcher Francisco Mejia hit six home runs in 299 plate appearances last year and six in 277 the year before, he has one in 61 so far this season and is projected to hit eighth. Outfielder Manuel Margot has a pair of home runs while slashing .252/.330/.368 and creating runs two percent better than average in his 100 plate appearances this year. Margot has a habit of getting involved when he plays and he is a cheap alternative at the bottom of this lineup.
Rays starter Drew Rasmussen comes in with a 3.11 ERA and 3.33 xFIP over seven starts and 37.2 innings in 2023. The righty has a 26% strikeout rate with a 9.8% swinging-strike rate and has been excellent at limiting premium contact to this point in the season. Rasmussen has allowed just a 4.9% barrel rate with just a 28.4% hard-hit rate and 86.4 mph of average exit velocity. Rasmussen was good, but not as good, at limiting hard contact over a larger sample last year, he had a 37.9% hard-hit rate with 88.9 mph of average exit velocity and a 6.6% barrel rate that amounted to a 2.23% home run rate. The righty is good at limiting power in general and he is keeping the Yankees’ ratings in check in our home run model. As a fair guideline, if we see Aaron Judge below a 10.0 in the home run model, we know it is not a great day for Yankees power, the superstar outfielder has a 9.41 today. Rasmussen looks like an option on the mound, he has the talent to keep the Yankees lineup down and he can find strikeouts against this team for $9,200/$10,300. Yankees bats will probably draw ownership in a home game, but they should not be crushingly popular so drawing shares based on public ownership expectations is a fair approach. Leadoff man Anthony Volpe has shown life at the plate recently, first tripling two nights ago and then mashing a very well-hit grand slam to center field last night. Volpe has four home runs with 11 stolen bases and a .144 ISO in 150 plate appearances but is still mired 16% below the average for run creation in his young career. The shortstop is cheap for his MLB DFS point-scoring ability at $4,500/$2,700, particularly as a correlated scoring piece with Judge. The Yankees outfielder had been off to a good-but-not-great start prior to getting hurt, he is slashing just .273/.364/.515 with six home runs and a .242 ISO while creating runs 40% better than average in 118 opportunities. The use of “not great” in the previous sentence is extremely relative, of course. Judge costs $6,100/$4,000 from site to site and is always in play. Anthony Rizzo is a $4,700/$3,200 first baseman who projects well against Rasmussen and is second on the team with a 6.53 in our home run model. The lefty slugger is slashing .302/.388/.468 with a .165 ISO while creating runs 43% better than average this year. Rizzo hit 32 home runs and had a .256 ISO with a 132 WRC+ last season, there is a bit more power lurking than what we have seen so far, but the matchup against Rasmussen is not an ideal one to unlock it. DJ LeMahieu has been hitting the ball hard all season, the infielder has a 52.9% hard-hit rate and five home runs with a .202 ISO this season, he and Gleyber Torres have kept the Yankees afloat in stretches. Torres has a .212 ISO and has created runs 27% better than average, hitting six home runs and stealing five bases in his 153 plate appearances. LeMahieu costs $4,200/$2,900 and plays three positions on FanDuel, Torres is a $4,800/$3,200 second baseman. Harrison Bader has been on fire since returning to the lineup, he is slashing .429/.448/.893 with a .464 ISO, two triples, and three home runs in his 29 plate appearances. The center fielder has created runs 168% better than average and seems to be at the plate every third hitter for the Yankees the last week or so with how much he has been involved. Jake Bauers has a pair of home runs in his 16 plate appearances this year, he costs just $2,200/$2,500 at outfield on DraftKings and first base on FanDuel. Jose Trevino and Oswaldo Cabrera round out the projected Yankees lineup, Trevino has three home runs in 84 plate appearances and hit 11 in 353 last season, Cabrera has two home runs and five stolen bases but has created runs 58% worse than average in his 119 plate appearances this year.
Play: Rays bats/stacks, Domingo German, Drew Rasmussen, Yankees bats/stacks in smaller doses
Update Notes: the confirmed Yankees lineup includes Willie Calhoun hitting ninth instead of Cabrera with Bauers sliding up to sixth and Bader seventh. Calhoun has not been successful at the Major League level but his peak as a once upon a time prospect was far higher than anything Cabrera has achieved. Calhoun is slashing .241/.300/370 with a .130 ISO, an 87 WRC+ and two home runs in 60 plate appearances this year. The confirmed lineup for Tampa Bay includes hot-hitting Taylor Walls fifth in the lineup ahead of Raley-Margot-Josh Lowe-Mejia. Both Walls and Lowe have been as good as the rest of the Rays lineup so far this season, Walls is slashing .262/361/.536 with six home runs and a .274 ISO over 97 plate appearances, Lowe is at .309/.368/.608 with seven home runs and a .299 ISO over 106 opportunities, both have overperformed expectations but remain affordable.
Texas Rangers (-234/5.23) @ Oakland Athletics (+211/3.39)
The high-scoring soaring Rangers lineup is facing rookie Luis Medina in his second start. The righty’s first outing lasted 5.0 innings, he allowed two home runs while striking out six and walking three, ultimately getting charged with seven earned runs on eight hits. Medina is most likely headed for a high-leverage bullpen role in his career, but he has the stuff to find strikeouts at the Major League level. Medina has had major control issues throughout his minor league career, posting double-digit walk rates at every stop in the minors, with mid-20% to 30% strikeout rates. Medina Update: the Athletics will be starting 34-year-old quad-A pitcher Zach Neal who is ^ even more ^ targetable for power and premium contact than Medina was. Neal has made six starts and 31 total appearances in the Majors in his career, he has a 4.52 xFIP and 4.94 ERA with a 10.5% strikeout rate and he has allowed 15 home runs to 351 hitters (4.27%). The Rangers seem likely to be extremely popular in their matchup and the top of their lineup includes several obvious names. Marcus Semien costs $5,600/$4,000 as the most expensive Rangers hitter on both sites. The second baseman has six home runs and five stolen bases while creating runs 39% better than average over 168 plate appearances at the top of the Rangers’ batting order. Semien has a 40.2% hard-hit rate this season and has struck out at just a 17.9% pace while walking at a 12.5% rate, he is excellent for individual upside and correlated scoring and he sits third in MLB in runs scored with 30, trailing only Ronald Acuna and Matt Olson, man the Braves are good. Outfielder Robbie Grossman is projected to hit second for just $2,400/$2,900, he has three home runs while slashing .233/.350/.117 with a WRC+ that sits 20% below average in 117 plate appearances. Grossman has mid-range power and speed, he hit 23 home runs and stole 20 bases in a career year in 671 plate appearances in 2021. Nathaniel Lowe costs $4,500/$3,100, he is too cheap on both sites despite a downswing to .259/.335/.420 in 161 plate appearances. Lowe slashed .302/.358/.492 with 27 home runs last year while creating runs 43% better than average, his run creation has still been good at 111 this season but his ISO has dipped from .191 to .161 and he has hit just four home runs so far. Lowe will bounce back as the season rolls on, he is a good hitter who is inexpensive at first base. Adolis Garcia and Josh Jung have combined for 17 home runs, Garcia has nine with three stolen bases and has created runs 19% better than average, Jung has one stolen base and has created runs six percent better than average in a breakout month and a half. Jung is still striking out at a 32.4% pace, which is aggressive for the young hitter, but he is currently making it work and he costs just $4,400/$3,700. Potentially lower-owned options from Texas that rate well on our home run board are catcher Jonah Heim, who costs $4,200/$3,700 and has six home runs with a .236 ISO so far this season, and Ezequiel Duran who is a $3,100 shortstop on DraftKings and adds eligibility at second base and in the outfield for just $3,000 on the blue site. Duran has four home runs with a .167 ISO and a 127 WRC+ in 100 plate appearances this year. Heim is carrying a 7.32 in our home run model, and Duran lands at a 7.10, they would both be strong considerations for lineup shares in and out of stacks. Leody Taveras and Josh H. Smith round out the projected lineup. Taveras has speed and has been good over 89 plate appearances this year, slashing .296/.360/.432 with two stolen bases, while Smith has made 76 plate appearances with two home runs while slashing .203/.373/.339 with a 113 WRC+.
The Athletics should push Nathan Eovaldi to a premium pitching score on a three-game slate tonight, the Rangers’ righty should be extremely popular at $9,500/$11,000. Eovaldi has made seven starts and thrown 44.2 innings this season, pitching reliably deep into games and chasing wins and quality starts. The righty has a 3.22 ERA and a 3.23 xFIP with a 24.9% strikeout rate and he has been very good across the board to start his season. Eovaldi has allowed just 88.4 mph of average exit velocity with a four percent barrel rate that has amounted to just a 0.56% home run rate on a 2.9-degree average launch angle. He has induced a 12.4% swinging-strike rate and has a 29.9% CSW% this year, as well as a long track record of better-than-average performance. Eovaldi should shine against an Athletics team that has been one of the worst in baseball this season. The Oakland lineup is inexpensive and is unlikely to be popular, there is an argument to be made for occupying the contrarian position on such a short slate, Eovaldi is in no way impervious to damage and the team has a few bats that have at least been frisky, particularly on the left side. Still, this is a bad ballclub made up of bad players, the path to victory is thin. Esteury Ruiz costs $3,400/$3,100 at the top of the lineup, he is a slap-hitter with excellent speed who has stolen 17 bases in 164 plate appearances while getting on at a .325 clip. Ruiz is a good enough correlated scoring option with a touch of individual upside for the cheap prices. Ryan Noda is slashing .244/.429/.456 with a .211 ISO, three home runs, a 13.2% barrel rate, and a 43.4% hard-hit rate in 119 plate appearances and he has created runs 60% better than average from the left side of the plate. Noda is cheap at $3,000 on both sites at first base. The Brent Rooker crash and burn party is in full effect in this space. Since the calendar flipped to May, Rooker is slashing just .250/.357/.417 with a .167 ISO, one home run, and a strikeout rate that has jumped from 18.6% in April to 33.3% so far this month. That rate is far more representative of who Rooker has always been at the plate. He is likely to continue drawing walks and he will hit the occasional home run, he is a worse version of a three-true-outcomes player like Joey Gallo when looked at in more than a hot month context, and his 37% whiff rate across every pitch type is already catching up to him. Rooker’s descent will continue with the odd spike for value, as a contrarian play with low expectations he would be fine, but he will probably be the most popular Athletics bat despite a high price on the blue site at $3,800/$4,200. JJ Bleday is a more interesting hitter than Rooker. The lefty is slashing .379/.419/.793 over 31 plate appearances with three home runs on the board. Bleday was drafted fourth overall by the Marlins in 2019 and has MLB-grade power but has not put things together in full. Bleday made 238 plate appearances last year, slashing just .167/.277/.309 with a .142 ISO and five home runs, but he had an encouraging 12.6% walk rate in the Show to go with an 8.6% barrel rate. This season he has struck out at just a 16.1% clip in the tiny sample while hitting the ball well with a 45.8% hard-hit rate, Bleday is a left-handed bat with upside who costs just $2,800/$2,700 in the outfield, he could go under-owned in this one. Jordan Diaz rocked the Yankees for three home runs two nights ago and now has four for the season. Diaz has a 45.5% hard-hit rate and 9.1% barrel rate in his 46 plate appearances, posting a .289 ISO and 133 WRC+ in the tiny sample. Diaz was not thought of as having that type of power as a prospect, so the big day was a major surprise at low MLB DFS ownership, he is unlikely to repeat the feat against Eovaldi tonight. Lefty Tony Kemp has eligibility at second base and in the outfield on both sites for $2,300/$2,500, but he has not done much at the plate in 2023. So far Kemp has made 129 plate appearances and is slashing just .175/.264/.246 with a .070 ISO while creating runs 49% worse than average. Shea Langeliers is a good catcher at the dish, he has a .200 ISO and six home runs in his 123 plate appearances, if he had swung at a meaty Jhony Brito fastball two nights ago he would definitely have seven home runs and a lower strikeout rate. Jace Peterson has two home runs in 118 plate appearances this year but has been 19% worse than average creating runs, Nick Allen has been 111% worse than average creating runs, his WRC+ is -11 over 43 plate appearances during which he is slashing .105/.171/.132 with a .026 ISO.
Play: Rangers bats/stacks but they will be very popular, Nathan Eovaldi, contrarian Athletics bats in small doses. There are those who will throw darts with Medina for strikeout upside at price, his walks make even a $5,700 SP2 price on DraftKings a tall order, but there are only six pitchers on the slate…
Update Notes: the Rangers get a bump from an already prominent position with the pitching change. Update: the starting pitcher seems to be an argument between various sources right now, we’re going back to the originally listed starter Luis Medina. Both lineups are confirmed as expected.
San Francisco Giants (-138/5.17) @ Arizona Diamondbacks (+127/4.44)
The Giants are in the desert to face lefty Tommy Henry in what should be a good matchup for the team’s right-handed power hitters. Over three starts and 15.2 innings this season, Henry has only allowed one home run with a 32.1% hard-hit rate and 86.3 mph of average exit velocity, but he has struck out just 10.4% of opposing hitters and has yielded a 7.5% barrel rate and 14.1-degree average launch angle. It is not necessarily skill so much as it is happenstance that has some of the contact numbers so low in a small sample, last year Henry made nine starts and threw 47 innings, he struck out more at a still-lousy 17.6% but gave up a 4.88% home run rate on 90 mph of average exit velocity and a nine percent barrel rate with 39.3% hard hits. At best, this is a low-end 25-year-old lefty who has a 6.40 xFIP and 5.17 ERA this year and had a 4.97 xFIP and 5.36 ERA last year, Henry also sports a laughably low CSW% to this point at just 21.5% for the season. He will be facing a long list of capable right-handed bats tonight, the projected starting lineup should be able to find plenty of contact and run creation with the upside for power shining through in four separate players rating above the 10-mark in our home run model. Thairo Estrada leads off for $5,700/$3,400 with second base and shortstop eligibility on the small three-game slate enhancing his value. The infielder is having a terrific start to his season, he is slashing .338/.388/.522 with a .184 ISO, six home runs, and has created runs 51% better than average in 147 plate appearances. Wilmer Flores slots in second and carries multi-position eligibility at first and third base on both sites, giving gamers the ability to flex the two hitters between all four infield positions in a variety of combinations both in and out of stacks on the small slate. Flores has six home runs in just 99 plate appearances this season and sports a .239 ISO for the year despite just 6.6% barrels and a 34.2% hard-hit rate. The righty has been a regular with San Francisco, but he will always be the kid who was sneaky because he hit lefties really well for some of us, Flores has a .218 ISO against southpaws and has created runs 18% better than average in the split for his career. Mitch Haniger has two home runs in his 47 opportunities this year, he hit 11 in 247 chances last season and blasted 39 in 691 in a healthy 2021. Haniger has a 6.3% barrel rate with a 53.1% hard-hit percentage so far this season, last year those numbers were 11.8% and 47.2%, the outfielder has the bat of a star power hitter when he is in full form but he costs just $3,700/$3,000 on this slate. Haniger has a .220 ISO while slashing .278/.355/.498 with a 132 WRC+ in 708 career plate appearances against lefties, he is in an excellent spot tonight on both sites. JD Davis has been a fixture in this space throughout the early part of the season. Davis has seven home runs with a .213 ISO in 123 plate appearances so far in 2023 and he has created runs 38% better than average to this point. The right-handed slugger slots in for just $4,100/$3,100 at third base, he has a 9.2% barrel rate with a 51.3% hard-hit so far this season which is down somewhat from the 16.2% and 55.6% he posted in 365 opportunities last season, but that can be seen as a sign of power to come for the corner infielder. Casey Schmitt is projected in the sixth slot in the lineup. The rookie has made eight plate appearances and has a home run on the board already but he is regarded in general as having just mid-range power. Schmitt did hit 17 home runs in 383 AA plate appearances with another three in 127 opportunities at AA and one in 16 tries in AAA last year however, so there could be an upside beyond the original scouting for the cheap shortstop. Michael Conforto checks in for $3,300/$2,800 but is slashing just .171/.298/.324 for the season. Conforto does have five home runs but just a .152 ISO and a 79 WRC+ to this point, the outfielder is struggling in his return but encouragement can be taken from a 10.3% barrel rate and 50% hard-hit rate. For his career, Conforto is not very good against same-handed pitching, he is slashing just .225/.312/.380 with a .155 ISO while creating runs seven percent below average in 824 plate appearances. Catcher Joey Bart and Brett Wisely round out the projected lineup, Bart is slashing .259/317/.328 with no home runs and a .069 ISO this year but did have 11 homers in 291 opportunities last season; Wisely has one home run but a .091 ISO in 47 plate appearances this season but he comes cheap at $2,500/$2,400 with multi-position eligibility on a small slate.
The issue with facing Alex Cobb, as we have detailed previously, is the pitcher’s sustained ability to keep the trajectory of batted balls down to the point where he has a very suppressive effect on the opposing power upside. In 2021, Cobb allowed just a 1.27% home run rate on a 4.2% barrel rate and a three-degree average launch angle over 93.1 innings in 18 starts. In 2022, Cobb made 28 starts and threw 149.2 innings, allowing just a 3.7% barrel rate and a 1.8-degree average launch angle that amounted to a 1.43% home run rate. This season so far the righty has improved his contact metrics yet again, cruising along with just a -1.2-degree average launch angle, but he has allowed more barrels and hard hits in the tiny sample at 8.1% and 48% his home run rate is still an excellent 1.79%. If the ball is on the ground, it is extremely difficult to hit a home run. Cobb also brings upside with a 22.6% strikeout rate and just a 3.6% walk rate this season, he has been similarly good in those areas in years past and makes a good buy for this slate at just $8,700 on both sites. The opposing Diamondbacks look somewhat limited for power by Cobb tonight, but the team’s active roster is fourth in baseball with a 118 WRC+ against right-handed pitching so far in 2023, so they may find runs via sequencing. Josh Rojas costs $4,900 at second or third base on DraftKings but he is just a $2,600 third baseman on the FanDuel slate, which is a bargain to start the Diamondbacks stack construction. Rojas has four stolen bases but no home runs in his 116 plate appearances this year, but he hit nine home runs with 23 steals in 2022 and 11 home runs with nine steals in 2021. Rojas created runs at a 108 and 102 WRC+ clip those two years, his 72 this season is a blip that should correct in short order. Ketel Marte has been 17% better than average creating runs so far this year and he has blasted five home runs with a .225 ISO in just 146 plate appearances. Marte has a 10.9% barrel rate and 40% hard-hit and strikes out at just a 15.1% pace, he is a good option at second base for $5,200/$3,300 tonight. Corbin Carroll and Christian Walker make up the key middle of this lineup, Carroll has created runs 37% better than average while hitting five home runs and stealing 10 bases early in his career, Walker is up to nine home runs and a 122 WRC+ with a .259 ISO in 147 opportunities this year. Carroll costs $5,400/$3,600 and Walker is cheap at $4,800/$3,600. Pavin Smith adds a left-handed bat with a bit of power upside to the heart of the order. Smith has two home runs this year with a .288/.432/.441 triple-slash and a 145 WRC+ in 74 plate appearances. He hit nine home runs in 277 tries last year and 11 in 545 plate appearances in 2021 while creating runs 13% and four percent below average those two seasons. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. is slashing .306/.366/.512 with a .207 ISO and 136 WRC+ and has seen a return of his power. Gurriel hit just five home runs in 493 plate appearances in 2022 after homering 21 times in 541 opportunities in 2021, he already has five on the board in 134 opportunities this season. The outfielder remains cheap at $4,800/$3,000, while it is difficult to homer off of Cobb it is not impossible and Gurriel has the opportunity to create runs on the back of a 48% hard-hit and sturdy hit tool even if he does not put one in the seats. Dominic Fletcher costs $2,500/$2,000, he is slashign .370/.414/.444 with a 39.1% hard-hit percentage and 0.0% barrel rate in his 31 plate appearances in the Show. Fletcher hit 12 home runs in 591 plate appearances across AA and AAA last season, he had three in AAA in 109 plate appearances earlier this year while slashing .323/.417/.559. Fletcher has been a good hitter with moderate power throughout his run in the minors, he is ranked in the teens organizationally for Arizona, but it is a deep system and the outfielder has talent, though his overall reputation is more hit-tool and defense. Gabriel Moreno has been a productive bat behind the plate over 98 plate appearances in 2023, he is slashing .312/.327/.398 with a home run and a stolen base and costs just $3,100/$2,600. Geraldo Perdomo has been well-chronicled early in the season in this space. Perdomo has made 91 plate appearances and is slashing .373/.460/.573 with two home runs and four stolen bases after posting an awful year in his rookie season as a former top prospect. Perdomo slashed just .195/.285/.262 with a .067 ISO, five home runs, nine stolen bases, and a 58 WRC+ in a full 500 plate appearances last year, his dramatic career-saving turnaround has been a fun story over the season’s first month or so, now he needs to continue it for another five months.
Play: Giants bats/stacks aggressively, Alex Cobb, Diamondbacks bats in smaller doses
Update Notes: Carroll takes a seat tonight with Alek Thomas slotting into the lineup and hitting eighth. Thomas has a pair of home runs with a .137 ISO and 59 WRC+ in 112 plate appearances this year, there is some idea of upside in his three stolen bases and 44.2% hard-hit rate with a 7.8% barrel rate for $2,700/$2,300. Pavin Smith moves up to third and gets a minor bump in this spot in the lineup.
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