Stream the Summer’s Hottest Platoons this Weekend

In fantasy baseball, it’s sometimes safest to avoid platoon hitters. That’s the conventional wisdom, anyways. And in many cases, that’s the right advice. 

During drafts, hitters tagged with platoon risk, like Jarren Duran and Oneil Cruz, are often best avoided, as their upside is severely capped. In shallower leagues, when chasing upside and  racking up counting stats is particularly important, they should be especially eschewed. 

But there are formats and circumstances when platoon bats are worthwhile.

In Best Ball formats for example, or in leagues with daily lineups, especially 12- and 15-teamers, platoon bats can offer values. The opportunity to add value by zigging when others zag, that classic strategy. 

In head-to-head formats with weekly lineups, platoon bats can be streamed like pitchers when a juicy week of matchups, like having six games all against right-handed starters, presents itself. And in daily lineup head-to-head leagues, adding Noelvi Marte or Spencer Steer at home for that extra weekend against a pair of lefties can seal the deal. 

In this article, I’ll run through some of the summer’s hottest platoon bats, focusing first on those hitting from the right side before stepping over, stopping to highlight some of those worth adding this weekend

We’ll start with the righty bats. 

Heriberto Hernández: It’s not often that any hitter can walk nearly 10% of the time and strike out well below 20% of the time. And among those hitters, most don’t hit for much power. As I pointed out last week, the Marlins’ platoon outfielder is battling Griffin Conine for playing time in left field. 

Hernández has started just three of his team’s last six games, of which five games had right-handed starting pitchers. The rub is that Hernandez may actually have a shot to start against righties too, with a .739 OPS and 102 wRC+ against them in 128 plate appearances this season. 

He’s hot enough to take over for Conine soon, with a 1.735 OPS and four homers since the beginning of July. He’s pinch hitting when he doesn’t start, because his bat is far too potent to leave out (see Exhibit A below).

And his .222 BABIP is almost 50 points lower than his .269 BABIP this season against righties. There’s room to grow for the 26-year-old outfielder. Plus, he’s fun to watch (please refer to Exhibit A, above), with a violent swing that screams “No Doubter!”

The Marlins face two lefty arms in Parker Messick and Joey Cantillo this weekend. 

Mark Vientos: The star of the Mets’ playoff surge in 2024 has not started a game against a right-handed pitcher over the last six games. And with Jared Young and Jorge Polanco both taking at-bats at first base and DH, there is not a clear window for the 26-year-old. 

But this weekend, Vientos will likely be in the lineup to face Ranger Suarez and Payton Tolle at home, where our protagonist has a 104 wRC+ and .201 ISO in his career. And when he has gotten to play of late, he’s been much better than that, slashing .292/.357/.792 in his 28 plate appearances since June 1 against southpaws. He’s worth a shot. 

Spencer Steer: The Reds’ utility man is rostered in 77% of CBS leagues, so Steer is more of a shallow league streamer for this weekend, when he faces Shota Imanaga and Matthew Boyd in the Great American Smallpark. Count me in. 

Steer is less of a platoon bat than teammate Noelvi Marte, but he still does sit against the occasional righty. He hits in the top half of the lineup when he does play though, hitting third against the last lefty the Reds faced. 

After hitting .304 with 21 runs scored in May, Steer still hit six homers in June, but hit just .159, meaning he was jettisoned from many, if not all, shallow leagues. But in his 27 plate appearances against lefties since June began, Steer is walking more than he strikes out and has an OPS over 1.000. Especially given the homer difficulties that Imanaga is dealing with this summer, Steer should be streamed in daily lineup leagues as a cheap power speculative play. 

On to the lefty hitters now, which is where the fun really begins. 

Garrett Mitchell: Mitchell has manned center field for the first-place Brewers in five of their last six games, ceding one start, against a righty, to upstart prospect Luis Lara. But really, Mitchell should continue to play the lion’s share of games. 

The 27-year-old is slashing .348/.408/.681 since the start of June with the platoon advantage, backed up by a 29.4% HR/FB rate. That sounds like a reason to ditch the Mitch, as does a .442 BABIP during that span. Regression mUsT bE cOmINg. Paul Revere rides through Milwaukee’s cobbled streets! 

But Mitchell has earned at least some of that BABIP, as he has a 2.1% soft hit rate against righties since June 1. Let that sink in. That’s good for the third best mark amongst left-handed hitters, trailing only Ben Rice and Kyle Schwarber (who are both at 0%). Mitchell isn’t hitting his eggs over medium either, as he carries a 47.9% hard hit rate. He faces a trio of righties in hitter-friendly Pittsburgh this weekend, with Braxton Ashcraft, Bubba Chandler, and a struggling Paul Skenes taking the bump. 

Josh Bell/Victor Caratini/Kody Clemens/Trevor Larnach: So the Minnesota Twins. How about them Twins, eh? They face three righties this weekend, with Grayson Rodriguez, Ryan Johnson, and a suddenly human Jose Soriano set to start. 

This fearsome foursome has been absolutely crushing right-handed pitching since June 1 began, and I doubt they’ll be stopped by this trio. 

If you have your pick amongst this litter, Clemens is the clear top option right now. In what has been a career year for the son of Roger, Clemens has 16 homers to go with a .500 SLG and is more than 70% rostered now in CBS leagues, so he’ll be reserved for those in shallow leagues. He’s worth rostering, even when he isn’t facing a nicely plated serving of Anaheim Righties. 

Since June 1, Clemens is tenth amongst lefties with the platoon advantage in soft hit rate, trailing Mitchell with a still tiny 5.4% rate. Meanwhile he is pulling more than 50% of pitches he sees from lefties and is lifting the ball more than 40% of the time, too, pushing his HR/FB above 30%. 

He’s been running hot since last season, squaring up everything he sees, but especially since June 1, in which time he’s squaring up both his groundballs and flyballs more than 80% of the time. He’s scorching! So add him where you can. 

If you need a budget Twin, I give you Victor Caratini, rostered in 17% of CBS leagues, who has been hitting fifth or sixth for Minnesota of late, and who has caught five of his team’s last six games, including two against lefties. The veteran backstop is walking more than he strikes out against righties since June 1, and is one of the best catcher options to plug in if you need batting average help, as he’s hit .321 with a 168 wRC+ against both lefties and righties since June 1.