Weekly Fantasy Baseball Sleepers: Scooter Gennett Gets His Platoon Advantage

This week I dove extra deep into the numbers and came up with four quality under-the-radar guys poised for huge weeks, all owned in under 25% of leagues. When looking at the numbers, it can be hard to imagine how the vast majority of owners are sleeping on these guys, but their oversight is your reward, so without further ado, let’s get down to business.

Note: All ownership statistics are current as of 11:00 pm EST on 6/8/14 and are an average of ESPN, Yahoo and CBS ownership numbers.

Kevin Kiermaier - OF, Tampa Bay Rays

Sometimes it can be easy to overlook players who are excelling when they play for a bad team, which makes it understandable why some haven’t picked up on Kiermaier yet. It makes sense, given that the Rays currently have the worst record in Major League Baseball, but to be owned in 1% of all leagues is where I stop following this logic. Kiermaier hit .292 last week and is hitting .356 (16 for 45) over the last two weeks with 5 runs scored, a home run and an RBI. Kiermaier best split is at home against right-handed pitching, hitting .458 with 5 doubles, a homer, 2 runs and an RBI, which is good news for you. Both of the Rays’ series are at home this week, with five out of the seven matchups against right-handed starters with a combined 17-18 record and 3.91 ERA.

Scooter Gennett - 2B, Milwaukee Brewers

Another player with criminally-low ownership numbers (5.1%), Gennett is widely overlooked because of his platoon status, starting almost exclusively against right-handed pitching. Gennett has been red hot as of late, hitting .412 last week and .395 (15 for 38) over the last two, with 9 runs, a homer and a pair of runs batted in. The Brewers face five righties (with a combined 15-20 record and 4.44 ERA) on the road this week in Arizona and Colorado, which makes him the perfect candidate to continue his recent offensive surge. Do not miss out on this one.

Russell Martin - C, Pittsburgh Pirates

When compiling research for this article, I had to triple check that I was indeed reading Martin's ownership numbers correctly. Despite being the fourth-best scoring fantasy catcher since returning from the DL on May 23rd, Martin is owned in just 13.5% of leagues. Over the last two weeks, Martin has hit .324 (12 for 37) with 5 runs, 5 RBI and 3 stolen bases, all while posting a .350 average over the previous seven games. Martin is an oddity, hitting right-handed pitching the best (.301 average, .346 at home vs. RHP), despite batting from the right side of the plate. The Pirates face all righties except for Travis Wood this week, and Martin’s been hot enough recently to warrant overlooking his matchups this week.

Kole Calhoun - OF, Los Angeles Angels

Another player overlooked because of his platoon status, Calhoun has been punishing opposing pitchers recently, batting .438 last week and .344 (11 for 32) over the last two weeks, scoring 5 runs with a homerun and 4 RBI. The Angels face all right-handed starters except for Joe Saunders this week, giving Calhoun six likely starts against a Cleveland Indians’ foursome sporting a combined 4.63 ERA, and a pair of Texas Rangers' starters with a combined 5-8 record and 5.09 ERA. Calhoun also has the added bonus of playing at home all week, where’s hitting .275 (best split) against righties. He’s only owned in about 23% of leagues, so if you can get him on your roster, go for it.