Oh, how I wanted to put Kendrys Morales at the top of this list.
He's crushing it right now. Eight home runs in his past seven games. A near-1.000 OPS in his past 40. And the Blue Jays just so happen to have the best hitter matchups this week. It was too perfect.
Except for the fact they'll spend half the week in an NL park, and Morales is their DH.
Son of a muffin.
He can play first base, of course, but the Blue Jays' primary first baseman, Justin Smoak, is an integral part of the lineup himself. I wouldn't expect more than four starts from Morales this week.
And he's not the only notable hitter in that boat. C.J. Cron and Jake Bauers figure to trade off when the Rays travel to Atlanta for two, which is especially bad news since it's only a five-game week for the Rays to begin with. Meanwhile, Nelson Cruz, who hasn't made a single appearance in the outfield this season, will be forced to come off the bench when the Mariners travel to San Diego for two.
It'll leave him with four games back in the AL, but are four games enough for a hitter of his caliber? I wouldn't give it a flat "yes."
So who would I start among those owned in less than 80 percent of CBS Sports leagues?
Though a disappointment overall, the main area where Marwin Gonzalez has fallen short from his breakout 2017 is power production. But he has turned things around in August, hitting eight of his 14 home runs. The quadruple-eligible player will look to keep it going with seven games against some of the worst the Athletics and Angels have to offer.
After a lull at the end of July and beginning of August, Stephen Piscotty is 11 for 35 with five doubles and two homers over his past nine games, continuing a longer trend of plus production that has made him the 24th-best outfielder in points leagues since the start of June. His week opens with a three-game series against the Astros but ends with him facing Erasmo Ramirez, Wade LeBlanc, Felix Hernandez and Mike Leake.
Ketel Marte has slowed down in August after a scorching June and July but still has to be the middle infield pickup of choice whenever the Diamondbacks are facing a bunch of lefties. He's batting .296 with a .920 OPS against them, after all. The Diamondbacks are facing four this week, which would certainly qualify as "a bunch."
You've heard about Ketel Marte's success against lefties? Steven Souza doesn't have as many at-bats to back it up, but he's batting .296 with a .914 OPS against them. He'll benefit from those four on the schedule as well. It doesn't hurt that he has swung the bat well in general since the All-Star break, batting .281 with an .819 OPS.
As someone who owns Wilmer Flores in a deep league with small lineups where every misfire is particularly punishing, I can appreciate the high floor he presents every week, his high contact rate virtually ensuring he never goes more than a couple games without a hit. The fact he's a top-12 player at both first and second base in points leagues since returning from a back injury in mid-June speaks to his reliability, and while it hasn't played out this year, he has a reputation as a left masher. Four of those on the schedule this week.
Flores and Johan Camargo have become sort of like high-floor twins and the mascots for this column, showing up among the 10 sleeper hitters more often than not. Really, they're perfect pickups for this time of year, when you've already established that your team is good and mostly just don't want a fill-in who'll sink you. Camargo has middle-of-the-road matchups, but he's batting .302 with an .828 OPS since the All-Star break and is eligible at third base and shortstop.
As you may have heard, the Blue Jays have the most favorable matchups of any team this week, going against the Orioles pitching staff for three games and the Marlins pitching staff for three. Grichuk is beginning to heat up again at the plate, going 7 for 18 (.389) with two doubles and two homers in his past six games.
Max Kepler took advantage of his favorable matchups in Week 22 (Aug. 20-26), furthering a 44-game stretch in which he has hit .253 with 10 homers and an .884 OPS. His matchups aren't quite as favorable in Week 23, but he will face a trio of hittable righties in Adam Plutko, Drew Hutchison and Yovani Gallardo.
Hunter Renfroe is sort of the anti-Flores and anti-Camargo in that his profile invites drastic swings in production from week to week, but he's certainly on the right side of streaky now, having homered seven times in his past 19 games. The Padres are actually giving him regular at-bats, too, so if you're looking to make up ground in home runs, he's probably your best bet on the waiver wire right now.
This super sleeper is only 9 percent owned in CBS Sports leagues, mostly because of the assumption he'd return to spot duty once Jose Altuve was back to full health and Yuli Gurriel was back at first base. But now he's butting in at DH, where Evan Gattis hasn't been so productive at late. I don't know that you can expect Tyler White to start all seven of the Astros' games this week, but the minor-league masher seems to do something big every time he plays and could do major damage with whatever opportunities he gets in a week of favorable matchups.
Best hitter matchups for Week 23
1. Blue Jays @BAL3, @MIA3
2. Rockies @LAA2, @SD4
3. Orioles TOR3, @KC3
4. Yankees CHW3, DET4
5. Astros OAK3, LAA4
Worst hitter matchups for Week 23
1. Rays @ATL2, @CLE3
2. Rangers LAD2, MIN3
3. Angels COL2, @HOU4
4. Giants ARI3, NYM3
5. Dodgers @TEX2, ARI4
