It’s mid August, which means it’s football season for everyone except those still in contention in baseball leagues (and those gracious, absurd souls that maintain high effort levels on out-of-it teams). The author of this piece confesses that he, in fact, is not one of them. Of the three leagues for which I drafted teams, only one —the one I’m currently in first– commands my honest attention.
But lemme tell ya, I really want to win that one league. Real bad. And I’m guessing if you’re reading this, you are in a similar spot in your league and can Relate. If we call Level 1 “Showing up to the draft” and Level 2 “Replacing injured players”, then I’m operating on like a Level 13 level right now. That means doing all the little things right like making sure I’m taking advantage of platoon splits, dropping fringe guys with unfavorable upcoming matchups (sorry Grady), and starting a guy in every spot on every night, every day of the week. That last part is what this column is all about, so let’s take a look at some of the lesser-owned hitters at our disposal this Thursday.
Thursday (7/24) Game Stats
20 out of 30 teams playing
First Game: Dodgers @ Braves – 12:10 PM
#148 Peter Bourjos (R) – STL – OF – vs. SD (Stults-R) – 8:15 PM – 5% owned
I’m too lazy to count––but it’s really impressive I swear––the Cardinals have faced all of two lefties in their last approx. 30 games. The other 28 pitchers have been right handed. I’m actually not sure how rare this is, but given the strange prevalence of lefties in the sport in general, I’d venture it’s pretty rare. This relates to Bourjos in that you can be darn tootin’ sure the Cards are gonna get him in their lineup when they face a lefty, Stults, on Thursday night. Bourjos’ numbers don’t look great but he’s got that speed and power somewhere in him. No, not there.
#129 Brayan Pena (S) – Cin – C – @Col (De La Rosa-R) – 8:40 PM – 5% owned
There are certain things that make being a baseball fan worthwhile. Like what? Okay, for me I would say switch-hitting catchers to name one thing, and Cuban imports; 13 game hitting streaks, and also lawn darts. Sans the lawn dart, one player’s got all of those things and it shouldn’t be that hard to guess who because his name is the header to this blurb: B. Pena for those too lazy to move your skimmy eyes up. If you like all those things too, maybe Pena can tickle your roster’s fancy, I don’t know.
#122 Didi Gregorius (L) – Ari – 2B/SS – @MIA (Alvarez-R) – 7:10 PM – 7% owned
It’s no secret that I’ve recommended Gregorius in this space before cause this is the internet. It’s not the deep web or wherever all the kiddie porn is stored; this you can search. Yes, you! Didi’s been solid the past month filling in for Chris Owings, whose pace in returning from a bruised shoulder can best be described as glacial. Or Butlerian. The point, if there is one, is that Didi is good for a night on the town, so to speak.
#104 – Travis Snider (L) – Pit – OF – vs. Det (Scherzer-R) – 1:08 PM – 5% owned
This is probably the first and last time I recommend a hitter vs. Scherzer, but hey, even Hitter-Tron can’t resist the ruddy-cheeked Snider. T-Snide will get regular at-bats versus righties with McCutchen out, and pulling a Woody Paige here and checking the schedule… the Buccos face only one lefty in the next week! Don’t expect more two-homer games like Monday night, but this is how Hot Schmotatoes are formed people.
#187 Jacob Lamb (L) – Ari – 3B – @MIA (Alvarez-R) – 7:10 PM – 0% owned
Lamb doesn’t have the prospectual pedigree as, say a Gregory Polanco, but he does have solid animalistic heredity and a fine showing in Double-A this season, both of which make him at least worth checking out in most leagues. Serve lightly chilled.
Last Time & Season Results
It’s been a few weeks since my last article (blame a new job for that one) but in congruence with Razzball’s stated values, I’ll maintain the highest standard of record keeping.
Last Article: 21 AB, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 0 SB, .238 AVG
Nothing to write home about save for a Stephen Vogt homer (not a bad rec though, eh?) so let’s hope for some more stats next time around.
Overall on the season we’re at (per game): .30 R, .125 HR, .325 RBI, .05 SB, .285 AVG
