Sleeper hitters for Week 24 (Sept. 1-7)
I could point out that the Padres have the fourth-best hitter matchups this week, including three games in Colorado, but given that Ramon Laureano has an .899 OPS on the year and a .935 OPS since joining the Padres, it seems immaterial. Start him now, and start him forever.
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Mark Vientos has fallen well short of expectations following his breakout 2024, but he's beginning to resemble a middle-of-the-order masher again, batting .340 (18 for 53) with eight homers in his past 14 games. The Mets' matchups this week are nothing special, but the kind of impact he could make when he's hot like this makes him a priority play.
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By Statcast's estimate, Jo Adell should have a .276 batting average and .560 slugging percentage on the year, and over his past 13 games, he's brought his actual numbers closer to those theoretical ones, batting .313 (15 for 48) with five homers. Here's betting it continues with the Angels having the second-best matchups this week.
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Would you believe that Jakob Marsee, a left-handed hitter, has even better numbers against left-handers than right-handers during his month-long assault on the league? Don't let the four lefties on the schedule for the Marlins this week deter you from using him.
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Weird things can happen in small samples, and one such oddity is that Luke Keaschall, a right-handed hitter, has gotten shredded by left-handed pitching so far. His .397 batting average and 1.130 OPS against righties should give you confidence in a righty-loaded schedule that includes Davis Martin, Yoendrys Gomez and Michael Lorenzen.
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Mike Yastrzemski has been surprisingly excellent since joining the Royals at the trade deadline, hitting the ball harder and with more loft en route to a .268 batting average, six home runs, and .976 OPS. He'll enjoy the fifth-best hitter matchups this week, and it looks like every game will be against a right-hander. Lefties have held him to a .139 batting average and .420 OPS this year.
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Luis Matos has suddenly become a fixture for the Giants, starting 10 games and batting .432 (16 for 37) with three homers during that time. That's no reason to buy into him fully, but with the Giants having the top hitter matchups this week, he makes sense as a hot-hand play.
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Jung Hoo Lee has connected for just one home run since mid-May, but he's batting .300 (30 for 100) in August. It's a fairly hollow batting average, but the Giants' matchups are so favorable this week, featuring three games at Coors Field, that he should enjoy a nice little run and RBI bump.
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Matt Wallner can deliver bunches of home runs in a short span of time and is on a pretty nice run right now, homering seven times in August and four times in the past nine days. The seven righties on tap for the Twins in Week 24 give him an even better chance of making good on the third-best hitter schedule.
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Luis Garcia has hit .280 with a .767 OPS against right-handers this season, so whenever the Nationals are scheduled to face one left-hander or fewer, as is the case this week, he's a pretty good play. The Nationals just missed the cut for the top five hitter matchups, too, facing such mashable righties as Adam Mazur, Javier Assad, and Colin Rea.
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