Sleeper hitters for Week 11 (June 2-8)
Recommending Jonathan Aranda for a slate full of righties, even if not particularly favorable matchups, has gone splendidly in Week 10, so I'm going to do it with more gusto in Week 11. The Rays are scheduled to face just one lefty in their six games this week, and Aranda entered Thursday batting .336 with a .979 OPS against righties.
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Rhys Hoskins snapped out of a mini slump with a two-homer game Saturday, and his overall numbers (a .276 batting average and .849 OPS) still resemble those of a must-start player. He has pretty good matchups in Week 11, too, including pitchers like Brady Singer, Randy Vasquez, Stephen Kolek and some unnamed fill-in starter for the Padres.
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Better late than never for Miguel Vargas, a trendy sleeper pick in 2023 whose exit velocities doomed him then and ultimately ran him out of Los Angeles. His exit velocities this year are decent, though, with the strikeout rate being improved as well, and he heads into the weekend batting .290 (20 for 69) with six homers and seven doubles in his past 17 games.
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After returning from the minors burning hot, Jake Burger has cooled off again, but his track record and exit velocity readings still support the idea of him being a 30-homer guy. You'll want to start him more weeks than not, particularly in categories leagues, and that goes double for a week when he's scheduled to face pitchers like Shane Baz, Mike Soroka, Mitchell Parker, and Trevor Williams.
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The Cubs have faced a surplus of left-handers recently, costing Michael Busch a fair amount of at-bats, but there's only one lefty on the schedule this week. It's a fine time, then, to take advantage of his .276 batting average and .874 OPS against righties, especially since this week's slate includes mashables like Trevor Williams, Jake Irvin, and Keider Montero.
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Brett Baty's good work at the plate since returning from the minors in early May has made him an even more regular part of the Mets lineup than Mark Vientos. He's started 10 of the team's last 11 games, facing both lefties and righties, and could see his power continue to play up with the second-best hitter matchups this week, which include three games at Coors Field.
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The Tigers have the most favorable hitter matchups of all this week, being one of just eight teams playing seven games, with four being against the White Sox pitching staff. All of the pitchers on tap are right-handed, too, which works out well for one of the hottest Tigers hitters of late, Colt Keith. He's batting .293 (24 for 82) with four homers, seven doubles and an OPS around .900 over his past 25 games.
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Connor Norby still has the dual misfortune of low exit velocity readings and a high strikeout rate, but both are a little better than last year when he managed to succeed in spite of them. And at least recently, he's been succeeding again, batting 308 (20 for 65) with two homers in his past 18 games. I still wouldn't consider him a great long-term bet, but the Marlins have quality matchups this week, including three games against the Rockies pitching staff.
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For a while there, Javier Baez was partying like it was 2019, but the underlying data didn't really support it. Not unexpectedly, he's come back down to earth, but he's at least put himself in consideration during a week with the No. 1 hitter matchups, particularly since you can start him at any of three positions.
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I mentioned the Marlins' quality matchups for this week, which include three games against the Rockies pitching staff and three at Swampbrenner Field in Tampa, but I didn't mention that only one of the scheduled starters is a lefty. That's all the more reason to give Jesus Sanchez a try while he's batting .342 (13 for 38) with three homers in his past 11 games.
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