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It's now Week 6 in the fantasy baseball season. Trends have been identified and need to start being taken advantage of. The sooner you can get in front of these opportunities, the more likely you are to pull out a victory.
In this article, we'll go over some of the trends we're seeing with platoon hitters, notable playing time changes, and batting order notes. We'll focus on a couple of players for each section and provide some added depth and insight to help you build your lineup.
If there are players that you'd like to see covered or discussed that fit any of the criteria below, feel free to hit me up! With six months of baseball ahead of us, there will be plenty of players to discuss. So, let's get at it!
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Platoon Player Updates for Fantasy Baseball
Alex Kirilloff - 1B, Minnesota Twins
The super hot Minnesota Twins deploy this lefty specifically against righties and have been doing so for the majority of his career. In 2024, he's hit righties for an above-average .823 OPS and smacked 11 of his 22 hits for extra bases. In his starts, he's generally hitting near the top of the lineup and over the past week-plus has been batting leadoff, making him a great candidate to be driven in for a run and giving his fantasy value a boost.
𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗞𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗼𝗳𝗳-𝗣𝗹𝗼𝘂𝗳𝗳𝗲 𝗱𝘂𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻!!#MNTwins | @TrevorPlouffe pic.twitter.com/j8zfBdmq4p
— Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) May 1, 2024
A big worry with Kirilloff's numbers are his struggles against offspeed and breaking pitches. He's hitting below .200 against sliders, curveballs, and changeups so far this season. Though he has a solid .342 wOBA against sliders, a .187 xwOBA suggests he's been getting very lucky against sliders. Kirilloff will hold the most value in DFS formats against fastball-dependent righties but, as of now, could still be an interesting stash for those in deeper leagues in need of some real help.
Mauricio Dubon - OF, Houston Astros
A right-hander generally brought in to platoon against lefties, Dubon is posting up his best OPS+ of his career at 114. In 67 PAs he's notched 13 RBI, a beneficiary to the Astros lineup being as efficient as it is and is surprisingly hitting for an .803 OPS against righties.
Mauricio Dubón 🇭🇳 y otra gran presentación. El hondureño ingresó en la sexta entrada, conectó un sencillo y un doblete en 3 turnos. Impulsó dos carreras y anotó una en la victoria de Astros sobre Rockies.
México fue testigo de la capacidad de Dubón. pic.twitter.com/vsgmOxDtpr
— Oscar Funes (@chacofunesjr) April 28, 2024
Though it's a small sample size, Dubon has also been phenomenal with runners in scoring position, hitting .556 in 18 AB for a 1.278 OPS. However, negative regression is around the corner. With a .327 wOBA and a .255 xwOBA (5th percentile), the only likely outcome is negative regression. Dubon may have his best value in DFS formats before he hits negative regression, but fantasy managers for season-long leagues may want to take notice of the giant "Buyer Beware" sticker plastered all over Dubon's Statcast page.
Other platoon names to keep an eye on:
Cedric Mullins - OF, Baltimore Orioles
Manuel Margot - OF, Minnesota Twins
Playing Time Updates for Fantasy Baseball
Jo Adell - OF, Los Angeles Angels
The beneficiary of the Angels designating Aaron Hicks for assignment and further benefiting from Mike Trout's surprise surgery, Adell has taken advantage of the extra playing time and is killing it at the plate. In 68 plate appearances, Adell has posted up a .903 OPS with four HRs and driven in 11 RBI. That's good enough for a 152 OPS+, easily a career high for the 25-year-old.
I've been digging Savant's new EV50 metric in the preseason & 2024. #Angels Jo Adell continues to crush FB/LD at 99 mph (No. 5) in 2024 compared to 101.8 mph (No. 1) in 2023 w/ a min. of 25 BBE.
EV50:
-2024: 105.4 mph👀
-2023: 100.9 mph
-2022: 99.6 mph
-2021: 98.8 mph pic.twitter.com/OMcvM8CEbj— Corbin (@corbin_young21) May 2, 2024
Unlike Kirilloff and Dubon, Adell doesn't necessarily have any worries showing he's been getting lucky. His .388 wOBA is a career best and his .421 xwOBA, which suggests Adell could have been even better, is also in the 97th percentile in 2024. He's been very good and his hot streak doesn't appear to be much of a fluke. He'll likely start to regress more to his career norms soon, but there's potential that his breakout is real. With Trout out of the picture for the foreseeable future, Adell should be snagged up immediately if he's available on the waiver wire in your league.
Jake McCarthy - OF, Arizona Diamondbacks
With the Diamondbacks working to figure out their outfield solution after Alek Thomas went down with a hamstring injury, McCarthy has started to carve his way into Arizona's everyday lineup. Initially part of a platoon with Randal Grichuk (and still somewhat falling under that category), the lefty has picked it up over his last eight games, hitting .296 for a .764 OPS, both above his season averages.
Answer-backs with an RBI triple for Jake McCarthy 🐍 pic.twitter.com/pEkUfwLEkh
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) April 28, 2024
With Thomas not having a set return date yet and no real timetable to give us any estimates, fantasy managers should feel safe if they're looking to add McCarthy as a deep bench option. He should continue to have a starting role, especially against righties, until Thomas comes back, so view him as temporary help.
Other names to keep an eye on who are now receiving more playing time:
Jordan Beck - OF, Colorado Rockies
Kevin Pillar and Cole Tucker - OF, Los Angeles Angels
Batting Order Changes for Fantasy Baseball
Corbin Carroll - OF, Arizona Diamondbacks
There are sophomore slumps and then there is whatever Corbin Carroll is going through now. After winning the NL Rookie of the Year Award and finishing fifth in the NL MVP race last season, the lefty has fallen off of a cliff, hitting for just a .546 OPS. It's forced Arizona to drop him from the No. 2 spot in the lineup to the seven and eight hole. That's a massive drop for someone who not only had huge fantasy expectations, but huge implications for the Diamondbacks as well. Many believe this began with him tweaking a previous shoulder injury during the middle of last season and that its impacts are lingering.
This Corbin Carroll video from 7/7/23 has been swirling around a lot lately. He had labrum surgery in 2021. His current SLG% is .246 🤮. ISO is .053. HR/FB is 2.8% (was 15.4 last year). His K% is lower than ever so he didn’t just become bad at baseball. This is a strength issue. pic.twitter.com/HjwLufGwDH
— Tablesetters: A Baseball Podcast (@tablesetterspod) May 2, 2024
Carroll's batting profile hasn't really changed much from 2023 as he's still hitting a similar percentage of ground balls, fly balls, and line drives. Instead, the most notable area he's struggling is connecting on four-seam fastballs. Last season, he hit .307 against four-seamers and he's hitting just .119 against them in 2024. Until he turns this around, pitchers should continue to exploit his current weakness. Fantasy managers may be anxious to drop Carroll, but it may be a better idea to simply stash him on your bench until he figures it out later in the season.
Alex Bregman - 3B, Houston Astros
The Houston Astros lineup hasn't necessarily been struggling, but they're looking to get things going for longtime third baseman Alex Bregman. The 30-year-old had been hitting cleanup, but his .557 OPS hasn't exactly been the most productive out of the four spot. By moving him up to the two hole, it bumped Yordan Alvarez into the three hole and Kyle Tucker moved into the cleanup role.
For Bregman, this may give him more chances to see good pitches due to a combination of Jose Altuve and his .994 OPS being in scoring position for Bregman and the threat of Alvarez hitting behind Bregman. However, Bregman only has an xwOBA of .271, ranking in just the 14th percentile. Though he's been a bit unlucky, that's not a great sign for improvement from Bregman. Fantasy managers should keep Bregman on their bench until he's able to prove himself.
Other players to keep an eye on for batting order changes:
Mike Tauchman - OF, Chicago Cubs
Brenton Doyle - OF, Colorado Rockies
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