AL Lineup Analysis (4/26/19)
Angels
- Justin Bour could be droppable at this point. He is not starting against lefties and has only played in five of the last 10 games.
- David Fletcher (.301/.341/.410) has started 14 straight games. Fletcher has been playing at third with Tommy La Stella (.232/.329/.551) at second which means the struggling Zack Cozart (.109/.157/.125) is on the bench. Recently promoted Luis Rengifo looks to join the infield mix.
Astros
- The top-six spots are set.
- One outfield spot rotates with Josh Reddick, Jake Marisnick, and Tony Kemp taking turns.
- Tyler White is a half-time DH with regulars rotating through it for a break.
Athletics
- One of Robbie Grossman, Chad Pinder, and Stephen Piscotty will sit each day as the other two will be the corner outfielders.
- Kendrys Morales (vs RHP) and Mark Canha (vs LHP) remain in a first base platoon.
Blue Jays
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will need to hit somewhere. The Jays don’t have a typical leadoff or #2 hitter, so I could see Vlad hit second before the sluggers. Brandon Drury time has come to ride-the-pine-for-nine.
- Eric Sogard (.367/.406/.533) is leading off.
Indians
- With both Francisco Lindor and Jason Kipnis off the IL, the lineup has stable over the past four games.
- Jake Bauers is hitting .281/.395/.500 over the past two weeks.
Mariners
You Aren't a FanGraphs Member
It looks like you aren't yet a FanGraphs Member (or aren't logged in). We aren't mad, just disappointed.
We get it. You want to read this article. But before we let you get back to it, we'd like to point out a few of the good reasons why you should become a Member.
1. Ad Free viewing! We won't bug you with this ad, or any other.
2. Unlimited articles! Non-Members only get to read 10 free articles a month. Members never get cut off.
3. Dark mode and Classic mode!
4. Custom player page dashboards! Choose the player cards you want, in the order you want them.
5. One-click data exports! Export our projections and leaderboards for your personal projects.
6. Remove the photos on the home page! (Honestly, this doesn't sound so great to us, but some people wanted it, and we like to give our Members what they want.)
7. Even more Steamer projections! We have handedness, percentile, and context neutral projections available for Members only.
8. Get FanGraphs Walk-Off, a customized year end review! Find out exactly how you used FanGraphs this year, and how that compares to other Members. Don't be a victim of FOMO.
9. A weekly mailbag column, exclusively for Members.
10. Help support FanGraphs and our entire staff! Our Members provide us with critical resources to improve the site and deliver new features!
We hope you'll consider a Membership today, for yourself or as a gift! And we realize this has been an awfully long sales pitch, so we've also removed all the other ads in this article. We didn't want to overdo it.
- Daniel Vogelbach has slowly pushed himself up the lineup hitting second, fourth, and fifth over the last week.
- Mallex Smith (.180/.275/.270) has lost his hold on the leadoff spot and his now batting 8th or 9th.
Orioles
- Dwight Smith is sitting against lefties.
- Cedric Mullins II (.094/.181/.156) has been demoted with Joey Rickard (.219/.288/.411) taking over for him in centerfield.
- Chris Davis plays every now-and-then.
Rangers
- Logan Forsythe has started 15 straight games while hitting (.233/.347/.400). He might be worth a look in OBP leagues.
- Isiah Kiner-Falefa has started at catcher in half the games and not any other infield position. His owners may need to re-evaluate him to see if he’s still rosterable in one-catcher leagues.
Rays
- The Rays were running out a set lineup but with injuries to Joey Wendle, Austin Meadows, and Ji-Man Choi, the lineup is a mess. Check tonight’s lineup for any clues on how they’ll move forward. I think Choi will return with Daniel Robertson moving to second base and Yandy Diaz back to third.
- With the open outfield spot, Avisail Garcia is a must-own in most formats.
Red Sox
- It’s been set for a while with the only recent change being Michael Chavis batting seventh and playing second base.
Royals
- A few small injuries have messed up the lineup some but it has stabilized since Hunter Dozier moved up from seventh to fourth.
- Ryan O’Hearn and Lucas Duda are splitting time at first.
Tigers
- They shook up the lineup four games ago. Jeimer Candelario (.239/.323/.318) is now leading off with Josh Harrison (.163/.223/.244) batting 7th.
- Brandon Dixon (.429/.467/.571) is batting fifth and playing at 1B/DH for the last three games. He’s replaced John Hicks who is now only catching. Hicks’s value plummets on this change.
- Gordon Beckham is forcing himself into full-time at-bats by hitting .243/.349/.568.
- So is Ronny Rodriguez at .333/.350/.722.
Twins
- It’s the same guys every day with someone taking an off day here and there.
- Willians Astudillo played in four of the last seven games.
White Sox
- It’s another lineup in flux.
- Tim Anderson has hit second in the three of the last four games. Moncada moved down to 5th in for two of those games.
- Daniel Palka has been demoted with Ryan Cordell taking his spot in the outfield. I pegged him as a sleeper and he has delivered by hitting .296/.345/.593
- Nicky Delmonico has gotten some time in the outfield with Eloy Jimenez on bereavement leave.
Yankees
- Though the wrong team, my thoughts on the current Yankees:
- DJ LeMahieu is leading off and Tyler Wade is batting ninth. The rest is a complete mess.
- In some deeper leagues, I may grab Giovanny Urshela (.283/.358/.435). He’s hitting and while there has been some positive news on Miguel Andujar, he’s a ways off from playing third.
Jeff, one of the authors of the fantasy baseball guide,The Process, writes for RotoGraphs, The Hardball Times, Rotowire, Baseball America, and BaseballHQ. He has been nominated for two SABR Analytics Research Award for Contemporary Analysis and won it in 2013 in tandem with Bill Petti. He has won four FSWA Awards including on for his Mining the News series. He's won Tout Wars three times, LABR twice, and got his first NFBC Main Event win in 2021. Follow him on Twitter @jeffwzimmerman.
great work. thanks
Vlad is batting 5th tonight with Drury moving to 2B and Sogard leading off and playing SS.
I’m surprised to see Smoak move up
Jays have said Drury is their starting 2B now, and will occasionally play third when they give Vladito a break at DH. Sogard is the utility IF, he’s only starting for the moment at SS since Galvis tweaked a hammy.
He had a horrible start to the season, but Drury is the starter I’d figure. A walkoff, and them multiple 110 mph linedrives last few games helps him keep his spot.
re: white sox, Anderson 2nd & Moncada 5th has been the standard lineup vs. lefty starters while Eloy was on bereavement– Eloy’s been hitting 5th vs. both lefties & righties. Also, Eloy is back now, so Delmonico/Cordell will probably be in some kind of platoon in RF, since the roster spot for Eloy was created by DFAing Ervin Santana. Anderson will stay in the 2 spot vs LHP, and Moncada most likely slides to 6th vs LHP.
Unless they call up Dylan Cease, currently unlikely, the 5th rotation spot appears to be Manny Banuelos’ for the time being, and Delmonico will probably be sent down for a reliever, probably either Covey to replace Banuelos as the ‘pen longman, or Caleb Frare to replace Banuelos as a lefty arm. Ian Hamilton is still building up from injury at AAA.
Good stuff, thanks!
I think your overlooking Lowe on the Rays tonight’s lineup none withstanding. He plays every day vs righties and even some days vs lefties. They probably play him over Robertson