Sleeper hitters for Week 14 (June 23-29)
Few heeded my recommendation of Addison Barger as the top sleeper hitter for Week 13. I can tell because his rostership rate has gone down during that time, and look at what it's cost you. You won't want to repeat that mistake for the most under-rostered hitter in Fantasy, whose actual numbers are quickly catching up to his .297 xBA and .540 xSLG and who has only one lefty on the schedule in Week 14.
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Sal Frelick was moved into the leadoff spot recently, just in time for a week of home games against the Pirates and Rockies pitching staffs. I mention that the games are all at home because he's batting .350 with a .911 OPS there this season.
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J.P. Crawford has been surprisingly competent in points leagues especially and entered Sunday batting .389 (28 for 72) over his past 19 games. Not only do the Mariners have the best matchups this week, but six of their seven are against righties, who Crawford has throttled to the tune of a .328 batting average and .874 OPS.
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Jo Adell entered Sunday with 10 home runs in his past 20 games but still has a ways to go before performing up to his .264 xBA and .547 xSLG. Favorable matchups for the Angels this week should help to close the gap further. Among the pitchers he's scheduled to face are Walker Buehler, Hunter Dobbins, Jake Irvin, Mike Soroka, and Mitchell Parker.
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Do I have to rephrase the line I've used the past two weeks? Sigh. Lourdes Gurriel is easy to recommend whenever the Diamondbacks have favorable matchups because he's the sort of steady-but-unspectacular hitter who's always on the fringes of being rostered anyway. The Diamondbacks don't just have good matchups this week, but the second-best, going against the White Sox and Marlins rotations.
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Michael Toglia has homered three times in six games since returning from the minors and may be poised for the same sort of power binge that made him a Fantasy hero in the second half last year. The Rockies play only half their games at home in Week 14, but the aforementioned three homers have all come on the road, as did the majority of Toglia's last year.
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With a recent spate of multi-hit games, Alec Burleson's season batting average is up to .308 and his June batting average up to .391 (27 for 69). The combination of high exit velocities and a low strikeout rate makes such numbers not so far-fetched. You'll want to take advantage of Burleson's hot streak with the Cardinals being one of just six teams scheduled for seven games this week.
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Turns out Javier Baez's early-May surge wasn't just a blip because he's repeating the feat here in mid-June, going 13 for 31 (.419) with three homers in his past nine games. He's a good bet to keep it going with the Tigers facing pitchers like Luis Severino, Jeffrey Springs, David Festa, Bailey Ober, and Chris Paddack this week.
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Luis Garcia's big turnaround continues. He entered Sunday batting .348 (31 for 89) over his past 25 games, and his xBA for the year (.314) is now in the 98th percentile. The Nationals' matchups are pretty solid this week, but best of all is that there isn't a lefty among them, ensuring that Garcia will remain in the lineup.
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Mike Yastrzemski stands to benefit not just from the Giants having the third-best hitter matchups this week, going against the Marlins and White Sox pitching staffs, but also from there being nothing but righties on the schedule. The 34-year-old is batting .278 with an .810 OPS against righties compared to .179 with a .488 OPS against lefties.
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