Saturdays usually bring us plenty of afternoon baseball. That’s not the case this Saturday, though, as only two of the day’s 15 games feature an afternoon start time. It’s not a day filled with an overwhelming number of aces, either. Then again, fewer aces means more mid- and lower-level hurlers who will help us out on the hitting side, and that’s certainly not a bad thing.

Pitching

Pitchers to stream

Ariel Miranda (L), 36 percent ownership in ESPN leagues, Seattle Mariners vs. New York Yankees: A matchup against the Yankees may seem like a “stay away” spot, but looks can be deceiving. While the Yankees have hammered right-handed pitching this season (117 wRC+), they’ve been a bottom-10 offense when a lefty is on the mound, sporting a 85 wRC+ with a 24 percent strikeout rate. Miranda has been largely underwhelming this season, but he owns a 3.23 ERA at Safeco Field this season. Although he doesn’t miss many bats (6.9 K/9), he gets tons of soft contact, as his 21.8 soft-contact rate is second best in the American League.

Danny Salazar (R), 50 percent, Cleveland Indians vs. Toronto Blue Jays: Salazar is set to return to the mound on Saturday after spending time on the disabled list with a shoulder injury. The story with the righty remains the same: tantalizing strikeout upside mixed with control issues and homer problems. In his return, Salazar draws a nice matchup against the Blue Jays, who are a bottom-10 offense against righties and will suffer a park downgrade going from the Rogers Centre to Progressive Field. If you can stomach the risk, the strikeout upside might be worth it.

Brent Suter (L), 13 percent, Milwaukee Brewers at Philadelphia Phillies: Suter has done a nice job since stepping into the Brewers’ rotation. Over the lefty’s past 20 frames, he owns a 1.80 ERA with 20 whiffs and zero homers allowed. On Saturday, he matches up well with a Phillies squad that ranks 25th in baseball with an 83 wRC+ versus lefties.

Luis Perdomo (R), 5 percent, San Diego Padres at San Francisco Giants: This one has more to do with matchup than anything else. After all, the Giants have been one of the worst teams in baseball versus right-handed pitching this season (79 wRC+), and AT&T Park might be the most pitcher-friendly venue in the majors. That said, although Perdomo’s numbers aren’t pretty, it’s not all bad. He averages 94 mph on his fastball, and he features an elite ground ball rate (66 percent). If you remove his outing at Coors Field, Perdomo sports a 3.10 ERA over his past five starts.

Pitcher to avoid

Tanner Roark (R), 50 percent, Washington Nationals at Arizona Diamondbacks: Roark is still owned in half of ESPN leagues, but his numbers don’t justify it. If you’re still rostering the right-hander, you need to pick your spots with him. A road matchup against the Diamondbacks, who rank among the top five in the National League in runs scored, at Chase Field — one of the most offensive-friendly venues in baseball — is not one of those spots.

Bullpen

After Tuesday’s trade, Tyler Clippard will get the first crack at the ninth inning for the White Sox. The right-hander is in the midst of a tough stretch. Since June 1, he owns an ugly 10.05 ERA in 16 appearances. However, it’s easy to overlook the fact that he held a 1.64 ERA and 11.9 K/9 between April and May. He’s also been a very effective setup man (and occasional closer) in the past. If Clippard can straighten things out, there’s plenty of potential value here if you need saves. He’s available in 98 percent of ESPN leagues.

Projected game scores

GS is the projected game score for the pitcher. The asterisk (*) means that the pitcher lacks requisite career major league data to produce an accurate rating; these are the author’s ratings.

Hitting

Catcher

Tony Wolters (L), 2 percent, Colorado Rockies vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (RHP Chad Kuhl): Wolters has been scuffling of late, but he draws a Coors Field matchup against Kuhl, who’s allowing a .291/.380/.538 slash line to left-handed batters. The Colorado backstop is a career .307 hitter at Coors.

First base

Yonder Alonso (L), 50 percent, Oakland Athletics at New York Mets (RHP Zack Wheeler): Alonso continues to mash right-handed pitching. He sports a .288/.390/.577 slash against righties this year, and his .400 wOBA ranks 16th best in baseball, ahead of names like Carlos Correa, Giancarlo Stanton and Corey Seager. Meanwhile, Wheeler is allowing a .356 wOBA to lefty bats with a 38 percent hard-hit rate.

Second base

Jed Lowrie (L), 36 percent, Oakland A’s at New York Mets (RHP Zack Wheeler): We’re going back-to-back with left-handed swingers against Wheeler. The Mets’ righty owns a 10.12 ERA and 2.20 WHIP over his past five starts, and Lowrie is hitting .278/.345/.473 versus righties this season, with nine of his 10 homers.

Third base

Yuli Gurriel (R), 52 percent, Houston Astros at Baltimore Orioles (RHP Chris Tillman): Tillman is an equal-opportunity hurler. Whether you bat from the right (.397 wOBA) or left (.417 wOBA) side of the plate against Tillman, everybody hits! Gurriel is batting .318/.343/.523 against righty pitching this season, and over the past 26 games he sports a .333/.354/.574 slash line.

Shortstop

Jordy Mercer (R), 12 percent, Pittsburgh Pirates at Colorado Rockies (RHP German Marquez): Mercer won’t have the platoon advantage in his matchup with Marquez, but it’s better that way. The Pittsburgh shortstop is hitting .282/.355/.431 against righty pitching this season, and the Coors Field bump never hurts.

Corner infield

Nicholas Castellanos (R), 43 percent, Detroit Tigers at Minnesota Twins (RHP Kyle Gibson): Like Tillman, Gibson is being smashed by both right- (.388 wOBA) and left-handed (.393 wOBA) batters this season. Not only is Castellanos hitting .350/.400/.688 over his past 22 games, he leads all of baseball with a 48.6 percent hard-contact rate.

Middle infield

Brandon Drury (R), 41 percent, Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Washington Nationals (RHP Tanner Roark): Drury smokes right-handed pitching (.295/.358/.482), and he faces off against an underwhelming one on Saturday. He’s also hitting .326/.401/.576 at Chase Field this season.

Outfield

Denard Span (L), 6 percent, San Francisco Giants vs. San Diego Padres (RHP Luis Perdomo): Span continues to be an underappreciated source of production against right-handed pitching. He hit .308/.365/.444 versus righties from 2014 to 2016, and he sports a .295/.347/.491 slash against them this season. Perdomo, meanwhile, has been destroyed by left-handed hitters this season, allowing a .340/.419/.510 slash line.

Gerardo Parra (L), 26 percent, Colorado Rockies vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (RHP Chad Kuhl): Parra has been absolutely raking in July. It’s been only nine games, but he’s collected a whopping seven multihit efforts in those nine games, good for a .556 average in 36 at-bats. Add in a matchup at Coors Field against Chad Kuhl, who’s allowing a .381 wOBA to lefty batters? Yes, please.

Alex Gordon (L), 2 percent, Kansas City Royals vs. Chicago White Sox (RHP Mike Pelfrey): It’s been a disastrous season for Gordon, but this is a quality spot for him. Pelfrey has been hammered by lefty bats this season (.368 wOBA), and he’s surrendered six homers over his past five starts. Gordon has collected 20 of his 22 extra-base hits, including all five homers, against right-handed pitching this season.

Hitter matchup ratings

Notes: Hitter ratings account for the opposing starting pitcher’s history (three years’ worth, as well as the past 21 days) and ballpark factors. “LH” and “RH” ratings account only for left- and right-handed batters, respectively. Weighted on-base average (wOBA) is the primary statistic used in the calculation. Ratings range from 1 to 10, with 10 representing the best possible matchup, statistically speaking, and 1 representing the worst. So, for example, a 10 is a must-start rating, whereas a 1 should be avoided (if possible); a 1-2 is poor, 3-4 is fair, 5-6 is average, 7-8 is very good and 9-10 is excellent.