Sleeper hitters for Week 5 (April 20-26)
You won't find too many middle infielders hotter than Otto Lopez, whose exit velocities and pull-air rate are both way up from a year ago. Why sit him against a slate of mashables that includes Michael McGreevy, Dustin May, Kyle Leahy, Adrian Houser and Tyler Mahle?
| ||
Eligible at both second base and the outfield, Angel Martinez has been a surprise standout so far with a high pull-air rate, a microscopic strikeout rate and better exit velocities than expected. The switch-hitter has been especially productive against right-handers, batting .294 with an .885 OPS, and that's all the Guardians are scheduled to face this week.
| ||
Colt Keith's average bat speed has jumped 2 mph this year, and while it's mostly translated to doubles so far, the home runs are coming. The Tigers' third-ranked hitter matchups this week might be enough to make it happen.
| ||
Mauricio Dubon has already been a surprise performer for the Braves and anyone who needs help at the four positions where he's eligible. He's always hit lefties better than righties in his career, picking up about 35 points of batting average and 125 points of OPS, and he's scheduled to face three in a seven-game slate this week.
| ||
An injury-marred season seemed to mess with Jake Burger's swing a year ago, undermining his considerable power potential, but his pull-air rate is back where it belongs this year. He enters the weekend on one of his familiar power binges, having homered three times in four games, and has some pretty good matchups in Week 5, particularly in the Athletics series.
| ||
Those favorable matchups for Colt Keith -- which include Chad Patrick, Brandon Sproat, Brady Singer and Rhett Lowder -- also apply to Gleyber Torres, who was gaining steam heading into the weekend with back-to-back multi-hit games. His on-base skills make him particularly useful for Head-to-Head points leagues.
| ||
It seems to me that the Fantasy-playing world has given up on Spencer Torkelson too quickly, which is why he cracked this list even with unfavorable matchups a week ago. Now that he has favorable matchups (the third-best, some are saying), I'm going to predict that this is the week he begins tapping into his 30-homer potential.
| ||
Luke Raley opened the year by homering in three consecutive games and has been just as hot heading into the weekend, going 11 for 19 with a home run in five games, which makes him a prime candidate to take advantage of the Mariners' top-ranked hitter matchups this week. The problem is he never faces left-handed pitchers, getting just two at-bats against them so far, which puts him in line to start only four of his team's six games.
| ||
This week might represent the last hurrah for Cole Young in standard mixed leagues if he can't take advantage of a favorable slate in which the best opposing pitcher is Aaron Civale. Young had a huge spring that seemed to introduce him as a power hitter, but his exit velocities in the regular season have so far been even worse than last year.
| ||
Sam Antonacci just came up to the majors Wednesday, but already we've seen him start against a righty (playing second base) and a lefty (playing left field), which suggests he's going to be an everyday player. We don't know yet how well he'll acclimate to the majors, but his superlative on-base skills and base-stealing could theoretically pay dividends with this week's second-best hitter slate.
|
