The following Spotlight Hitters & Stacks were selected by Awesemo.com writer Jake Hari. For more analysis on the slate, check out Awesemo’s Rankings and Ownership Projections.
Orioles (@ Rangers)
Baltimore will have the pleasure of hitting against Mike Minor, and even though they aren’t anywhere close to a powerhouse offensively, they still have some solid bats and a near 5 total. Minor is allowing over 40% hard-contact to righties with a below-average strikeout rate, and the weather will do him no favors, as temperatures are neat 100 degrees in Texas once again. The first 5 (Villar, Beckham, Jones, Trumbo, Valencia) are my favorite, but Mancini and Caleb Joseph also grade out as decent values for me.
Twins (vs. Royals)
At home against the worst bullpen in the MLB, the Twins make for one of the best stacks on the night. The two hitters that I love here are Eddie Rosario and Jorge Polanco, as they’ve both crushed righties all year, but Logan Morrison, Max Kepler, and even Miguel Sano are solid add-ons for a stack. If they can get to Smith early, they’ll get to face this terrible Royals bullpen, which has the highest WHIP and 2nd-highest xFIP in the MLB in 2018.
Diamondbacks (vs. Giants)
Andrew Suarez has solid numbers against lefties, but righties are a whole different story. His 42.5% hard-contact and 23.3% Line Drive are among the highest of all pitchers on the slate tonight, and he should see at least 7 D-Backs righties. Goldschmidt and Pollock are two of my favorite plays on the entire slate, but the stack doesn’t stop there. Ketel Marte, JR Murphy, and Eduardo Escobar are all on my radar for a full-on stack against Suarez, as I think Arizona will go somewhat overlooked outside of the top-two obvious lefty-mashers.