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Fantasy Baseball Week 17 Preview: Top sleeper hitters for both four- and 11-day period, featuring Kyle Karros

The first weekend after the break can be a confusing time for setting lineups

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Think you're ready for the second half? You might want to check your league's schedule first. It could go a couple different directions for this first scoring period after the All-Star break.

The default setting is to treat the first weekend as its own separate four-day scoring period (Sunday through Thursday), but because that's an unsatisfying solution to many, the options exists to combine it with the first full week for a massive 11-day scoring period.

You'll need separate streamer recommendations for both scenarios, so that's I've provided here, limiting my selection to those rostered in no more than 80 percent of CBS Sports leagues.

Sleeper hitters for short Week 17 (July 16-19
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TJ Rumfield 1B
COL Colorado • #7 • Age: 26
Matchups
CIN3
Rostered
79%
TJ Rumfield was surging before the break, batting .357 (40 for 112) with five home runs and a 1.044 OPS in his final 31 games, and gets to open the second half with a series at home. Better yet, Brady Singer and Rhett Lowder are the first two pitchers on the schedule.
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J.J. Bleday LF
CIN Cincinnati • #22 • Age: 28
Matchups
@COL3
Rostered
65%
Just when you thought you were out, J.J. Bleday pulls you back in by batting .333 (7 for 21) with three home runs in his final six games before the break. He still boasts a far better fast-swing rate than in years past, suggesting that his power breakthrough is legitimate, and will also benefit from a full series at Coors Field.
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Cole Carrigg CF
COL Colorado • #16 • Age: 24
Matchups
CIN3
Rostered
68%
Yes, the Coors Field favoritism continues for the short week, and it's even more significant to Cole Carrigg, who's batting .348 with a 1.052 OPS in his short career there compared to .208 with a .714 OPS on the road.
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Spencer Steer 1B
CIN Cincinnati • #7 • Age: 28
Matchups
@COL3
Rostered
78%
There's a reason why I've listed the Reds and Rockies as having the best- and second-best hitter matchups for this week, and in the case of Spencer Steer, he's a career .400 hitter (16 for 40) at Coors Field. He also seemed like he was coming around just before the break, batting .355 (11 for 31) with a homer in his final nine games.
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Kyle Karros 3B
COL Colorado • #12 • Age: 23
Matchups
CIN3
Rostered
50%
Have we exhausted the waiver wire of every Rockies and Reds hitter yet? This Kyle Karros pick isn't as much an attempt to do that as an acknowledgment that he's actually been really good for the past month or so, slashing .341/.426/.670 with six homers in his past 28 games.
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Caleb Durbin 3B
BOS Boston • #5 • Age: 26
Matchups
TB4
Rostered
61%
While the Reds and Rockies have the best and second-best hitter matchups, third up is the Red Sox, mostly on account of them playing 33 percent more games than every other team (excluding their doubleheader partner, the Rays) in a short week. Caleb Durbin almost never takes a day off and has been on a heater for a while now, batting .325 (26 for 80) with six homers and five steals in his past 23 games.

Best hitter matchups for short Week 17

1. Reds @COL3
2. Rockies CIN3
3. Red Sox TB4
4. Rays @BOS4
5. Royals SD3

Worst hitter matchups for short Week 17

1. Giants @SEA3
2. Brewers MIA3
3. Mets @PHI3
4. Angels DET3
5. Guardians PIT3

Sleeper hitters for long Week 17 (July 16-26)
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Cole Carrigg CF
COL Colorado • #16 • Age: 24
Matchups
CIN3, WAS3, @MIL3
Rostered
68%
The Rockies jump to the top of the best hitter matchups for the long week, with six of their nine games coming at home, and because Cole Carrigg has some of the most dramatic home/away splits of all of their hitters, he leapfrogs TJ Rumfield on this list.
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TJ Rumfield 1B
COL Colorado • #7 • Age: 26
Matchups
CIN3, WAS3, @MIL3
Rostered
79%
But here comes Rumfield, despite his more even home/away splits. Frankly, he's becoming the sort of Rockies hitter that you can use no matter where they're playing, which explains why he barely qualifies for this list still at 79 percent rostership.
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Curtis Mead 3B
WAS Washington • #45 • Age: 25
Matchups
@ATH3, @COL3, ARI3
Rostered
71%
Guess what other team travels to Coors Field for the long week? That's right, it's the Nationals, and they also have a series against the league's second-worst pitching staff at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento. Curtis Mead's production can be spotty at times, but he was surging into the break with a .400 (14 for 35) batting average and three homers in his past nine games. He also seems like a legitimate breakout with career best strikeout, walk and pull-air rates.
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Dylan Crews RF
WAS Washington • #3 • Age: 24
Matchups
@ATH3, @COL3, ARI3
Rostered
47%
After closing out June strong, Dylan Crews had cooled off going into the break, but he gets those same killer matchups that Curtis Mead does and has the added benefit of facing four left-handers in nine games. That alone should give him a nice boost seeing as he's batting .333 (18 for 54) with a .927 OPS against lefties this year.
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Kyle Karros 3B
COL Colorado • #12 • Age: 23
Matchups
CIN3, WAS3, @MIL3
Rostered
50%
Again, Kyle Karros is hot and has the most favorable hitter schedule this week. Some of the pitchers he's scheduled to face at Coors Field include Brady Singer, Rhett Lowder, Andrew Alvarez and Miles Mikolas.
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Ty France 1B
SD San Diego • #25 • Age: 32
Matchups
@KC3, @ATL4, @MIA3
Rostered
4%
It's a bit of a stretch given the sporadic playing time Ty France was getting earlier this season, but he's forced his way into a near-everyday role by batting .317 (20 for 63) with five homers and a 1.006 OPS in his past 19 games. The Padres happen to have the fourth-best hitter schedule on account of them dodging Chris Sale in the Braves series and facing a Royals pitching staff that ranks third from the bottom in ERA.

Best hitter matchups for long Week 17

1. Rockies CIN3, WAS3, @MIL3
2. Nationals @ATH3, @COL3, ARI3
3. Diamondbacks STL3, ATH3, @STL1, @WAS3
4. Padres @KC3, @ATL4, @MIA3
5. Cardinals @ARI3, @LAA3, ARI1, CIN3

Worst hitter matchups for long Week 17

1. Mets @PHI3, @MIL3, LAD3
2. Yankees LAD3, PIT3, @PHI3
3. Rangers @ATL3, CHW3, SEA3
4. Guardians PIT3, MIN4, @TB3
5. Mariners SF3, CIN3, @TEX3

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