The month of Might has one way or the other arrived, because the 2023 fantasy baseball season enters Week 6. The climate has been getting hotter (most locations), and gamers on each side of the brand new MLB guidelines appear to be getting used to ‘the brand new regular.’ And whereas it is clearly nonetheless far too early to chop bait on struggling early-draft picks like Juan Soto and Eloy Jiménez, fantasy managers do have sufficient of a pattern dimension to know their groups’ strengths and weaknesses. Immediately we are going to discover the variety of other ways you may enhance your fantasy staff with our all-encompassing offensive cheat sheet.
The previous adage stays that ‘fantasy leagues usually are not gained on draft day.’ I’ve seen fantasy managers flunk their draft-day report playing cards — or fail to even present up, and finally get auto-drafted — and nonetheless handle their manner into the championship. The important thing to fantasy consistency — and ultimately, greatness — is to by no means settle. At all times work the waiver wire, discovering robust positional upgrades and strong streaming choices. Hold your eye on the prospects, staying a step forward of your opponents. If you happen to by no means cease working to enhance your staff, usually your staff retains working for you.
Our Week 6 offensive cheat sheet will aid you pinpoint the gamers underneath 65 % owned who must be rostered in all codecs, the streamers and deeper-league guys underneath 50 % owned price concentrating on, and the prospects to maintain in your queue in case they get referred to as up quickly.
All rostership knowledge is from Yahoo and based mostly on 5×5 or 6×6 class leagues.
Fantasy Baseball Week 6 Cheat Sheet: Should-roster hitters
The next hitters can be found in a minimum of 35 % of Yahoo leagues and must be added in all codecs.
Josh Jung, 3B, Rangers (62 % rostered) — Jung hit the skids a bit final week, however the rookie third baseman remains to be the 111th-ranked 5×5 participant and he is among the many prime 55 over the previous two weeks. Some say Jung’s 5 homers are fluky due to his underwhelming common batted-ball knowledge and terrible 2022 batting common, however we expect he is completely price an add in all codecs. He is recorded successful in seven of his previous 10 video games, and logged three homers, 12 RBIs, seven runs, and a steal in that span. He is 25 and his max exit-velo numbers counsel that his energy is right here to remain. Seize him wherever you may!
Joey Gallo, 1B/OF, Twins (51%) — Gallo simply barely cracks the ‘owned in over 50 % of leagues’ record, but we’ve got him because the second-most necessary ‘must-roster’ participant on our precedence record. So many fantasy managers appear to have forgotten that Gallo mashed 38 residence runs simply two seasons in the past! He had a down 12 months with the Yankees and Dodgers final season, certain, however he has already given us loads of causes to imagine in his capability to bounce again. Seven residence runs in 53 at-bats speaks for itself — that is an 11.5 % residence run fee in comparison with 4.6 % final season — however check out the variations between Gallo’s batted-ball knowledge between final 12 months and this season to this point:
| Yr | Barrel % | Barrel/PA | Exit Velo | Max EV | Launch Angle | Candy Spot % | Laborious-hit % | Ok % |
| 2022 | 17.6 | 8.0 | 89.6 | 113 | 23.8 | 29.3 | 50.5 | 39.8 |
| 2023 | 31.3 | 16.4 | 97.8 | 112.6 | 32.9 | 25 | 75 | 34.4 |
Gallo has been demonstrably higher this season in nearly each manner, and you would need to be loopy to go away him in your league’s wire. He may by no means crack 40 dingers once more like he did in 2017 and 2018 — and his profession contact numbers counsel regression from his present .245 batting common is imminent — however good luck discovering higher energy from the free agent pool this 12 months.
Brent Rooker, OF, Athletics (60%) — The Athletics could also be a barren wasteland, however even the bottom-tier squads have some glimmers of hope. Rooker has gone yard 5 occasions over Oakland’s previous seven video games, and he is now as much as eight homers, 20 RBIs, and a .333 common on the season. Oh, and his 1.178 OPS leads the majors! Rooker could qualify as a ‘sell-high’ — this sort of manufacturing is about as near the definition of ‘unsustainable’ as you may get — however you may’t promote him till you personal him, so go choose him up on the double!
Austin Hays, OF, Orioles (59%) — Arms missed a couple of video games for a bruised hand lately, and promptly bought dumped by a ton of fantasy managers for no matter cause. Proper after his possession dropped by 12 %, he returned to the lineup for Baltimore’s double-header in Detroit Saturday and picked up 4 hits, one RBI, and a 1.225 OPS for the day. Yeah, he is okay, people. Scoop him up and brag about it to your reactionary league-mate who dropped him.
Harold Ramirez, OF, Rays (61%) — ‘Barreled’ Ramirez is extra of an influence streamer vs. righties — particularly now that Jose Siri has returned from his current damage and clogged up the Rays’ OF depth chart — however I can not think about leaving him on the wire of and five-outfield or 12-team leagues. He has already collected 5 homers and 11 RBIs on the season and sports activities a .333/.395/.638 slash line.
Fantasy Baseball Week 6 Cheat Sheet: Finest waiver choices & streams
The next hitters can be found in a minimum of 50 % of Yahoo leagues and must be thought-about robust provides in all codecs.
Jack Suwinski, OF, Pirates (45 % rostered) — Suwinski is quietly the 33rd-ranked participant in fantasy baseball, but it surely’s solely quiet as a result of he performs for Pittsburgh. He is hitting .297 with six homers, 5 steals, and 18 RBIs. His chase fee signifies that his common could come right down to Earth a bit, however he is 24 years previous and possesses sufficient velocity and energy to warrant a roster spot in each commonplace league. After all, if you happen to can package deal him with one other top-75 man to amass a Juan Soto or Fernando Tatis Jr., do it in a heartbeat. There’ll all the time be managers who fall for sell-low, buy-high trades six weeks into the fantasy season, and it is necessary to maintain our eyes on the large image with expertise evaluations.
Joey Meneses, 1B/OF, Nationals (50%) — Meneses has come on robust of late, notching 17 hits over his previous 9 video games. He has a homer, six RBIs, and three runs throughout that span. After all, no person’s watching as a result of it is the Nats, but when a fantasy hitter will get sizzling in a forest however no person’s watching it nonetheless counts in your staff if you happen to personal him. Meneses hasn’t reached ‘must-own’ territory fairly but, however he is actually flirting with it. He confirmed us what he is product of as Mexico’s prime catalyst within the World Baseball Basic, hitting a team-high two residence runs in six video games and batting .370 with a .963 OPS. Do not be shocked if he really catches hearth quickly.
Esteury Ruiz, OF, Athletics (44%) — Ruiz is one other comparatively unknown fantasy commodity as a consequence of enjoying on a crap staff, however he has been tremendous strong as a steals specialist (alliteration for the win). We profiled him final week when he was 5-of-5 in swipe makes an attempt, and every week later he stays 100 % profitable with an AL-leading 11 thefts. He is additionally hitting .367 towards southpaws this season, so he is rather more than only a speedster.
Mauricio Dubon, 2B/SS/OF (43%) — The common leadoff hitter for the defending-champion Houston Astros is accessible in 57 % of leagues! And what a month of April Dubon loved — he hit safely in his first 20 video games of the month and closed it out with 29 hits, 18 runs, and a pair of stolen bases. The runs will solely proceed to ramp up for Dubon because the season progresses, particularly if Dusty Baker ever pushes Jose Abreu down the batting order. You are able to do so much worse than Dubon, particularly contemplating he has multi-positional eligibility.
Brett Baty, 3B, Mets (41%) — We’re remaining bullish on Baty, who initially didn’t dwell as much as his large expectations after getting the call-up from Syracuse. He has 9 hits over his previous six begins, together with his first dong of the season. His slash line is now as much as .333/.394/.467, and we expect the sky is the restrict with Baty’s energy swing as soon as the climate warms up.
Fantasy Baseball Week 6 Cheat Sheet: High prospects to look at
Christian Encarnacion-Strand, 1B, Reds (Four % rostered) — Encarnacion-Strand has been hitting the quilt off the ball for the Reds’ triple-A affiliate in Louisville ever since he returned from a three-week absence as a consequence of a herniated disc. He went 4-for-his-first-13 with a stroll, double, and residential run, however then went nuclear on Thursday. Towards rehabbing White Sox nearer Kyle Hendricks, the 23-year-old singled. An inning later, he homered an oppo-blast off lefty Anthony Kay. Within the sixth inning, he added a three-run moonshot to left-center. All mentioned, Encarnacion-Strand completed the day with 5 hits, six RBIs, and a ton of raised eyebrows from fantasy baseball managers.
Elly De La Cruz, SS, Reds (14%) — One other hopeful midseason call-up, De La Cruz has the sort of dimension, velocity, and energy that lands guys on 14 % of fantasy rosters earlier than even sniffing a call-up. He joined Encarnacion-Strand on the Bats’ mash present on Thursday, going 4-for-6 with a double and a triple. He additionally took Hendricks to the warning observe within the first, finally leaving him simply ft away from hitting for the cycle. He clobbered two balls over 105 miles per hour within the recreation — and on his triple, he went from residence to 3rd sooner than any minor leaguer this season.
Matt Mervis, 1B, Cubs (12%) — Mervis stays a robust stash not simply because he has an elite energy ceiling, but additionally as a result of present Cubs first baseman Eric Hosmer has no big-league energy left. The 25-year-old Mervis is batting .295 with six homers and 27 RBIs by 88 at-bats for the Iowa Cubs, and we might be astonished if he is nonetheless down there by the summer time solstice.
