Granted, it's been only three days, but June is picking up where May left off. Last month, a near-record number of homers were smacked, and so far this month, the pace is even greater. Things don't look to slow down Sunday with several weak arms on the ledger. On the other end of the spectrum, the top pitcher in the American League (and perhaps all of baseball), Chris Sale, will be tested in Camden Yards. As usual, the focus will be on the hurlers in between, though -- those owned in less than 50 percent of ESPN leagues, but worthy of a start on the last day of the fantasy scoring period. We'll also take a look at batters who are in a good spot to keep the home run binge going forward.
Pitching
Pitchers to stream
Matt Moore (L), 31 percent ownership in ESPN leagues, San Francisco Giants at Philadelphia Phillies: Often, home versus road splits contain too much noise to be useful. However, when your home is AT&T Park, they're a little more believable. Thus far, Moore has been nails at home, sporting a 2.57 ERA and 1.09 WHIP, while floundering away; he carries a bloated road 7.78 ERA and 1.90 WHIP into Citizens Bank Field. Moore is in a great spot to chip away at his road deficiencies on Sunday, facing a Phillies club that's in the lower third of the league in terms of weighted on base average (wOBA) versus southpaws and strikes out at an above average clip against lefties.
Trevor Bauer (R), 32 percent, Cleveland Indians at Kansas City Royals: A 6.00 ERA and 1.39 WHIP to end May is certainly nothing to write home about, but considering Bauer was sporting 7.67 and 1.59 ratios on May 1, it's a step in the right direction. His surge was fueled by 42 punchouts to just seven walks over his last 30 innings. Bauer is in a favorable position to keep that positive run going, facing a Royals club with the fourth-worst wOBA versus righties.
Ariel Miranda (L), 20 percent, Seattle Mariners vs. Tampa Bay Rays: The Rays are a Jekyll and Hyde club, crushing right-handed pitching while struggling against southpaws. The commonality is that Tampa strikes out excessively in both cases. Miranda has been inconsistent, but an 8.0 K/9 suggests he can take advantage of the Rays' weakness versus left-handers.
Brad Peacock (R), 20 percent, Houston Astros at Texas Rangers: There's risk any time you use a pitcher in Arlington, but to this point of the season, the Rangers are a league-average offense with a right-hander on the hill. Peacock isn't stretched out yet, having gone, just 4 1/3 and 4 2/3 innings in his two starts since joining the rotation. That said, he has fanned eight in each outing and if he can last five frames, he should be able to hand his bullpen a lead.
Pitchers to Avoid
Sonny Gray (R), 67 percent, Oakland Athletics vs. Washington Nationals: After spinning three consecutive quality starts, reminiscent of the lower-tier ace from a couple of years ago, Gray was lit up by the Indians in Progressive Field last time out. The rejuvenated righty has another tough opponent in store, with the Nationals closing out an interleague series in the Coliseum.
Bullpen
As previously alluded to, Peacock will need some help from his former bullpen-mates. Not only is Chris Devenski continuing to mow down hitters, he's been racking up holds lately, if you're in a league using that as a scoring category.
Projected game scores
GS is the projected game score for the pitcher. A "*" means that the pitcher lacks requisite career major league data to produce an accurate rating; these are the author's ratings.
Hitting
Catcher
Tyler Flowers (R), 7 percent, Atlanta Braves at Cincinnati Reds (LHP Amir Garrett): Garrett is expected to return to the Reds' rotation on Sunday. In his first go-round, the young lefty allowed 12 homers in just 45 stanzas. Flowers should be in the lineup, hitting sixth, after having Saturday off.
First Base
Lucas Duda (L), 16 percent, New York Mets vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (RHP Trevor Williams): Hitters can put the ball in play against Williams and his pedestrian 6.2 K/9. When Duda makes contact, good things usually happen, especially with a righty on the hill.
Second Base
Brandon Phillips (R), 36 percent, Atlanta Braves at Cincinnati Reds (LHP Amir Garrett): Phillips obviously isn't the hitter he was in his salad days, but he's still productive. The platoon edge doesn't help him, but it also doesn't hurt.
Third Base
David Freese (R), 7 percent, Pittsburgh Pirates at New York Mets (LHP Tyler Pill): Like Phillips, Freese doesn't exhibit extreme platoon splits, but facing a raw lefty avails him an advantage.
Shortstop
Brandon Crawford (L), 51 percent, San Francisco Giants at Philadelphia Phillies (RHP Jeremy Hellickson): Pardon me for stretching the limit of the 50 percent cutoff, it's just that Crawford is in such a great spot, it's worth bending the rules.
Corner Infield
Joe Mauer (L), 9 percent, Minnesota Twins at Los Angeles Angels (RHP Ricky Nolasco): We've taken some ribbing in this space, referencing Mauer Power, so let's focus on his elevated hard hit rate this season. Nolasco is always around the plate and sports an unsightly 2.4 HR/9 through the first two months of the season.
Middle Infield
Chase Utley (L), 4 percent, Los Angeles Dodgers at Milwaukee Brewers (RHP Zach Davies): The Dodgers' infield remains banged up, so Utley should continue to play against right-handers. Regular playing time has resulted in an impressive .928 OPS the past month.
Outfield
Byron Buxton (R), 16 percent, Minnesota Twins at Los Angeles Angels (RHP Ricky Nolasco): Buxton's still wallowing at the Mendoza line, though he's been getting on base more lately. When he does get on, Buxton has been running, with three steals the past week and seven for the month.
Gerardo Parra (L), 9 percent, Colorado Rockies at San Diego Padres (RHP Jarred Cosart): Parra continues to hit sixth against right-handers. Petco Park is obviously a downgrade, but Parra has the line-drive, gap stroke suited for the cavernous outfield.
Max Kepler (L), 26 percent, Minnesota Twins at Los Angeles Angels (RHP Ricky Nolasco): Thus far in his short career, Kepler has hit righties well. As cited above, Nolasco has surrendered 16 homers in 60 1/3 innings.
Hitter matchup ratings
Notes: Hitter ratings account for the opposing starting pitcher's history (three years' worth, as well as the past 21 days) and ballpark factors. "LH" and "RH" ratings account only for left- and right-handed batters, respectively. Weighted on-base average (wOBA) is the primary statistic used in the calculation. Ratings range from 1 to 10, with 10 representing the best possible matchup, statistically speaking, and 1 representing the worst. So, for example, a 10 is a must-start rating, whereas a 1 should be avoided (if possible); a 1-2 is poor, 3-4 is fair, 5-6 is average, 7-8 is very good and 9-10 is excellent.