Week ten of the Fantasy Baseball season begins June 8, 2015. The season is nearly half over until the playoffs begin and if you would like to reach the championship portion of your schedule you may want to begin now assessing your lineups by scoring category. The old saying “the early bird catches the worm” certainly applies to Fantasy Baseball and below is plenty of information to help you reach that end.
Interleague Matchups
Miami Marlins at the Toronto Blue Jays (3 games Monday to Wednesday)
Chicago Cubs at the Detroit Tigers (2 games Tuesday to Wednesday)
Washington Nationals at the New York Yankees (2 games Tuesday to Wednesday)
Kansas City Royals at the St Louis Cardinals (3 games Friday to Sunday)
This Week’s Two Start Pitchers
Below are the scheduled probable two start pitchers for week 10 beginning Monday June 8 to Sunday June 15 2015.
Max Scherzer (Tue-Sun), Sonny Gray (Tue-Sun), James Shields (Tue-Sun), Corey Kluber (Tue-Sun), Chris Sale (Mon-Sun), Cole Hamels (Mon-Sun), Jon Lester (Tue-Sun), Shelby Miller (Mon-Sat), A.J. Burnett (Mon-Sun), John Lackey (Mon-Sun), Dan Haren (Tue-Sun), Rubby De La Rosa (Mon-Sun), Phil Hughes (Mon-Sun), Miguel Gonzalez (Tue-Sun), Nathan Karns (Tue-Sun), Hector Santiago (Tue-Sun), Jimmy Nelson (Mon-Sat), Nick Martinez (Tue-Sun), Mike Leake (Mon-Sat), Ian Kennedy (Mon-Sat), Chris Heston (Tue-Sun), Taijuan Walker (Tue-Sun), Mike Foltynewicz (Tue-Sun), Anthony DeSclafani (Tue-Sun), Lance McCullers (Mon-Sun), Mike Bolsinger (Mon-Sun), Marco Estrada (Monday-Sunday), Jason Vargas (Mon-Sun), Chad Bettis (Monday-Sat), Brad Hand (Mon-Sat)
This Weeks Bullpen Report
Brett Cecil is still the Toronto Blue Jays closer. Cecil hasn’t had a save opportunity since May 4th but over the last two weeks he has posted a perfect ERA, 1.00 WHIP with 4 strikeouts and 0 walks in 3 innings pitched. He’s still only owned in 28 percent of all Major Fantasy Baseball leagues.
Brad Ziegler is still closing games for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Over the past 2 weeks he’s posted a 4.05 ERA, 1.35 WHIP with 3 strikeouts and 3 walks in 6.7 innings pitched. He’s picked up 5 saves and 1 blown save during this same two week period. Currently Ziegler is owned in just 28 percent of all Major Fantasy Baseball leagues.
A.J. Ramos is still closing games for the Miami Marlins. Over the past 2 weeks Ramos has posted a 1.41 ERA, 1.11 WHIP with 8 strikeouts, 2 walks in 6.3 innings pitched. He’s also picked up 4 saves during this same two week span. Ramos is owned in 47 percent of all Major Fantasy Baseball leagues.
Waiver Wire Starting Pitching Options
The following waiver wire pitchers are owned in less than 50 percent of all Major Fantasy Baseball leagues at the time of publication.
Jesse Chavez Oakland Athletics: Chavez and the A’s travel to Anaheim to face the Angels on Friday. Over his last 2 starts Chavez has posted an ERA of 0.00 and a .88 WHIP with 10 strikeouts and 2 walks in 16 innings pitched. The Angels have a 19.9 percent strikeout rate and a 31.84 at bats to home run rate; Chavez could have a special night in Anaheim.
C.J. Wilson Los Angeles Angels: Wilson has a home start against the A’s on Saturday. Over his last 3 starts Wilson has an ERA of 5.00, WHIP of 1.33 with 20 strikeouts and 11 walks in 18 innings pitched. Oakland has a 40.33 home runs to at bats ratio so Wilson might be a good pickup this week.
Nathan Karns Tampa Bay: Karns has a home start on Tuesday against the Angels and a Sunday home start against the White Sox. Over his past three starts he’s posted an ERA of 3.24, WHIP of 1.14 with 12 strikeouts and 6 walks in 16.7 innings pitched.
Kyle Gibson Minnesota Twins: Gibson has a Friday away start against the Texas Rangers. Over his past 3 starts Gibson has an ERA of 3.05, 1.06 WHIP with 20 strikeouts and just 4 walks in 20.7 innings pitched. Texas has a 21 percent strikeout rate so this could be a good matchup to exploit on Friday.
Wei-Yin Chen: Chen has a Wednesday home start against the Boston Red Sox. Over his past 3 starts Chen has posted an ERA of 3.93 with a 1.31 WHIP with 19 strikeouts and 3 walks in 18.3 innings pitched. A lefty with an 80.6 strand rate against a Boston team that likes to run is an interesting matchup.
Monday-Thursday Starting Pitching Streaming Options
Here are some streaming options for you to consider this week.
Monday: Jimmy Nelson and the Milwaukee Brewers travel to Pittsburgh to face the Pirates on Monday. Over his last three starts Nelson has 17 strikeouts, 7 walks with a 6.48 ERA and 1.56 WHIP over 16.7 innings pitched. Good GB/FB ratio of 1.88 and that will come in handy as the Pirates have slashed a respectable home line of .258/.313/.404/.717 with 23 bombs in 787 at bats. The Pirates also strike out nearly 20 percent of the time at home and that bodes well for Nelson on Monday.
Tuesday: Mike Foltynewicz and the Atlanta Braves host the San Diego Padres on Tuesday. Over the past three starts Foltynewicz has posted an ERA of 3.15 with a 1.00 WHIP, 20 strikeouts and 4 walks over 20 innings pitched. He’s also given up 2 bombs over the same 20 innings and while there is reason for concern here when we consider the Padres .243/.293/.371/.664 road slash line, there 25 bombs in 992 at bats and of course their 24 percent strikeout rate it isn’t hard to run Foltynewicz out there on Tuesday.
Wednesday: Charlie Morton of the Pittsburgh Pirates is at home to face the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday. Over his past three starts Morton has posted an ERA of 2.84, 1.16 WHIP with 6 strikeouts and four walks in 19 innings pitched. He’s also 3-0 during those three games. Morton has an out of this world 12.58 GB/FB ratio and serves up less than one bomb per game. He’ll face a Milwaukee team that has a .234/.282/.359/.641 road slash line and strikes out 23 percent of the time on the road.
Thursday: Steven Wright of the Boston Red Sox travels to Baltimore to face the Orioles on Thursday. Over the past two games Wright has posted an ERA 4.63, 1.03 WHIP with 6 strikeouts and 1 walk and 3 bombs in 11.7 innings pitched. Decent 1.35 GB/FB ratio and a good strand rate of 73.4%. The Orioles slash .269/.321/.445/.766 at home and strikeout about 22 percent of the time.
Position Player Waiver Wire Options
Nick Hundley C Colorado Rockies: Over the last 14 days Hundley has slashed a respectable .308/.317/.538/.855 line with 2 bombs, 6 RBI and 7 runs scored. Nice .169 ISO and an excellent BABIP of .374 and his wOBA of .351 is well above average. He has three home games this week (Mon-Fri) so make sure you exploit the friendly confines of Coors Field.
Adam Lind 1B Milwaukee Brewers: Over the last 14 days Lind has slashed a .302/.318/.488/.806 line with 2 bombs and 12 RBI and 4 runs scored. Super ISO of .227 to go along with a .331 BABIP and above average wOBA of .376 makes him an ideal candidate this week.
Delino DeShields 2b OF Texas Rangers: Over the past 14 days the duel eligible DeShields has slashed a .302/.351/.415/.766 line with 2 RBI, 10 runs scored and 2 stolen bases. Nice .393 BABIP and above average wOBA of .347. He’s batting leadoff so if you need runs scored the duel eligible DeShields might be a good pickup this week.
Jung-Ho Kang 3B SS Pittsburgh Pirates: Kang is duel eligible and over the past 14 days has put together a .205/.295/.359/.654 line with 1 bomb, 9 RBI and 5 runs scored. Season long .143 ISO and a nice BABIP of .341 to go along with a .341 wOBA. Kang usually bats fifth in the Pirates lineup so hopefully he’ll have plenty of opportunities to drive in some runs this week.
Wilmer Flores SS New York Mets: Over the past 14 days Flores has slashed .268/.263/.393/.656 with 2 bombs, 9 RBI and 7 runs scored. Good .162 ISO and .411 slugging percentage but his wOBA of .280 needs to come up. Super 87 percent contact rate should mean a better average but Flores is an all or nothing type hitter but batting at the bottom of the order hasn’t hurt his RBI totals so go with him.
Steven Souza Jr. OF Tampa Bay Rays: Over the past 14 days Souza has slashed a line of .222/.333/.694/1.027 with 5 bombs, 10 RBI and 8 runs scored. Great .230 ISO and .455 slugging to go along with a BABIP of .315 and wOBA of .342. He strikes out an awful lot (33% of the time) but the guy hits in either the five or six hole and hitting bombs is what he does.
Cameron Maybin OF Atlanta Braves: Over the past 14 days Maybin has put together a line of .327/.377/.408/.785 with 1 bomb, 8 RBI, 3 stolen bases and 8 runs scored. Average .140 ISO and very good BABIP of .330 to go along with his .346 wOBA are all encouraging things to see as is his move to the Braves leadoff spot.
Avisail Garcia OF Chicago White Sox: Over the past 14 days Garcia has slashed a .192/.300/.308/.608 line with 1 bomb, 2 RBI and 3 runs scored. Very high BABIP of .371 and his .345 wOBA is also high. He strikes out 22 percent of the time but I’m still encouraged that he’s consistently batting cleanup in the White Sox order.
Oakland A’s to Consider This Week
Billy Burns OF 59 percent owned: Over the past 14 days Burns has slashed .333/.385/.500/.885 with 2 bombs, 7 RBI, 11 runs scored and 6 stolen bases. Good 84 percent contact rate, excellent .371 BABIP and wOBA of .350 plus he steals bases ya’ll!
Jesse Hahn SP 15 percent owned: Over his last three starts Hahn has been fantastic with an ERA of 1.64, 0.86 WHIP with 14 strikeouts and just 3 walks in 22 innings pitched. Good 3.25 WHIP and less than 2 walks per nine innings. His next scheduled start is Wednesday at home against the Rangers.
Good luck this week Fantasy Baseball owner!
