Batter’s Box: Come Avisail Away With Me

It’s just about every other game lately that White Sox OF Avisail Garcia notches another multi-hit game, and Thursday marked his tenth such effort. Garcia went 2-5, R, 2 RBI, K at the expense of the Kansas City Royals. The standout cleanup man is mashing at a .371 clip, and he has been the model of consistency even when veterans Jose Abreu and Melky Cabrera might have been slower to get in gear this year. He’s got 23 RBI and should be owned in all leagues.

Let’s take a look at what else happened hitting-wise around the league:

Josh Bell (1B/OF, PIT) – 2-4, R, K. Bell slapped a double into play, his third of the year. He’s managed three multi-hit games in the last eight outings, and the slugging percentage has been in the .400s for the same exact span of time. I’d like the RBI production specifically to increase, but he’s worth a look for back-end depth. The positional flexibility helps.

Francisco Cervelli (C, PIT) – 2-4, R, RBI, 2 K. He returned nicely Thursday from a right foot injury. And while the .218 average is suboptimal, he seems to be at least close to turning the corner. Cervelli has habitually been an OBP monster over the course of his big-league career, but he’s currently suffering from an unfortunate combination of a .224 BABIP and a mediocre BB/K ratio of 0.57. The good news is that his hard- and soft-contact are above 40% and under 12%, respectively. Hang tight, as the ride should get smoother.

Joey Votto (1B, CIN) – 2-3, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB. Exactly what we’ve come to expect of Votto, minus the power, which has made itself evident on other evenings. The BA of .270 looks fine, and the 24 RBI look gorgeous. Oh, and both hits were doubles, for you points league aficionados.

Adam Duvall (OF, CIN) – 2-4, 2 RBI, K. Trying to keep pace with Votto in the RBI department with 22, Duvall has been one of the most pleasantly surprising offensive machines of the first month of MLB action. He hit his first triple of the year Thursday, and it plated Votto for one of the RBI he earned on the night. He should be owned in all formats, yet puzzlingly is not in almost 10% of Yahoo and ESPN leagues.

Arismendy Alcantara (OF, CIN) – 3-3, SB. He’s always in the pinch-hitter conversation but tends not to start for Cincinnati, so this is a very dicey situation for almost everyone except those engaging in NL-only leagues and DFS play. However, if any injuries happen to the Reds, Alcantara will almost certainly be turned to for fill-in duty, so keep him on your distant radar.

Michael Taylor (OF, WSH) – 2-2, 2 BB, 2 SB. The guy who looks to be the permanent replacement for Adam Eaton after he tore his ACL last week, Taylor is already making a splash and has a .275 BA. I’d be very surprised if he’s not still available in most leagues, and he should be a safe plug-and-play starter even for those who didn’t have Eaton.

Trea Turner (2B/SS/OF, WSH) – 2-5, R, K, SB. This kid is nowhere close to stopping. The .316 BA is delectable, as is being leadoff before two of the hottest bats in the game in Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman come up at third and cleanup. He’s at 17 runs and counting, and the only wish for Turner owners is that he can hit a few more homers.

Jake Lamb (3B, ARI) – 1-2, R, RBI, HR, RBI, 2 BB, K. Lamb is tied for tenth in MLB with 23 RBI, and the .282 average is lovely. Meanwhile, the bomb was his seventh overall, and he’s got three in Arizona’s last five games. If he keeps up at this rate and plays in the same number of games as 2016, he would currently be on pace to hit 39 homers. Good grief.

Ryon Healy (3B, OAK) – 2-5, 2 R, HR, RBI, 3 K. Yard missile No. 4 was also his 11th RBI. Healy is hitting .236 and has perhaps started slower than many expected. The BABIP is sitting at .296 though, so this might be what we must learn to expect from Healy: a brutal BB/K rate and serviceable work in run production with some splashes of power thrown in for good measure.

Stephen Vogt (C/DH, OAK) – 2-5, R, 2 RBI, K. The night featured both a double and a triple, but the .222 makes it tough to stomach when you see he’s only got five runs and five RBI. He’s a backup catcher at best in mixed leagues.

Eddie Rosario (OF, MIN) – 1-3, 2 R, HR, RBI, BB. He’s hitting .293 and this was his third jack so far. Ten runs coupled with 10 RBI have me paying attention: when the Miguel Sanos and Brian Doziers tend to be snagging most of the fantasy focus up in the Twin Cities, it can be fun to identify a sneaky sleeper that’s doing just fine. Danny Santana got some work Thursday alongside Rosario, and he went 2-4, R, HR, RBI, K to boot in relief of a resting Max Kepler.

Marwin Gonzalez (1B/2B/3B/SS/OF, HOU) – 2-3, R, HR, 2 RBI, BB. I kept waiting for the crowded roster in Houston to leave Gonzalez on the outside looking in, especially since the average was previously a concern. And yet he would just prove me wrong by wiggling his way into the lineup and delivering all throughout April. This was the fourth straight game in which the Venezuelan utilityman has homered. That’s unbelievable. Pick him up since you can play him at literally any slot you like.

Carlos Correa (SS, HOU) – 2-4, 2 R, BB. While his competition for 2015 ROY in Francisco Lindo is lighting it up in Cleveland, the talented Correa has had a more meager beginning to the current campaign. Now he has three multi-hit games in five outings and could be finding a rhythm at last.

Rougned Odor (2B, TEX) – 1-4, R, HR, RBI, BB, K. He’s too talented defensively to lose his job by batting sub-.200, but a homer was nice to see after a pretty brutal slump of late. They’ve tried him at the 5-spot and at cleanup recently before he slotted in at second before Nomar Mazara the last two games: manager Jeff Banister is going to do whatever it takes with a long leash to get Odor back to being Odor.

Elvis Andrus & Carlos Gomez (SS & OF, TEX) – 2-5, 2 R each. Andrus hit a solo shot T9 and sports a turgid .284 average, while Gomez was plated by a Joey Gallo homer and is back on the road to redemption with a .243 BA.

Kris Bryant (1B/3B, CHC) – 4-5, R, BB. The .321 average is a thing of beauty.

Cesar Hernandez (2B, PHI) – 4-7, RBI, 2 BB, 2 K, SB. Other than hitting a home run, Hernandez’s day at the office couldn’t have been much better. He’s hitting .336 and tallied his fourth steal.

Maikel Franco (3B, PHI) – 2-5, R, HR, 2 RBI, BB, K. I’m pulling for this guy, since so many were dogging him and giving up entirely on him when his average dipped to .148 back on April 19. He since has turned in seven multi-hit efforts and the BA is at .231 with an exceptional 25 RBI total.

Aaron Altherr (OF, PHI) – 2-5, RBI, 2 BB, 2 K, SB. An unsung hero doing work in the Philly outfield, Altherr’s name keeps cropping up when I research these pieces. Third steal of the season and he’s got a .333 average that says “Stream Me,” like a strange fantasy baseball note Alice in Wonderland might receive and hopefully heed.

Manny Machado (3B/SS, BAL) – 2-5, R, HR, 3 RBI, K, SB. That’s more like it from the 5×5 beast we’ve been waiting to show up as the tour de force he needs to be for this Baltimore team. Seven homers and his second steal are gravy, but the average of .223 still could use some assistance.

Jonathan Schoop (2B, BAL) – 3-5, R. Vaulting up into .300 territory is Schoop, who’s hit safely in nine of his last 10.

Seth Smith (OF, BAL) – 4-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB, SB. One of the hits was a double, and this one outing alone elevated his average from .222 to .286.

Dustin Pedroia (2B, BOS) – 1-3, R, HR, RBI, BB. Only remarkable in that he finally hit a homer. The .281 average is not the problem, the run production is. Batting leadoff bodes well for his numbers, however, as was the case last night.

Tim Beckham (1B/2B/SS, TBR) – 2-4, 2 R, 2 HR, 4 RBI, K. A Tampa Bay utility infielder not named Brad Miller is doing good things from a fantasy standpoint: back-to-back multi-hit games and he’s got a sneaky 15 RBI and 14 runs to his credit now. Toss in an average of .278 and you’ve got a quality streamer in Beckham.

Ian Desmond (OF, COL) – 2-5, 2 R, K. Manning LF while Mark Reynolds posted up at first base was Desmond, owner of a sparkling .368 since his return from the DL to the heart of Colorado’s order.

Keon Broxton (OF, MIL) – 4-5, R, HR, 2 RBI. He was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle, and his average enjoyed the boost to .234 that is hopefully indicative of his bat experiencing a resurgence at last.

Aledyms Diaz (SS, STL) – 3-5, R. He’s at .236, well below what he’s capable of. So hopefully Thursday kickstars a renaissance for the Cuban multi-category stud.

Kolten Wong (2B/OF, STL) – 3-4, R, RBI. Suddnely rocking a .303 deep in the Cards’ order, Wong has a ton of versatility to be deployed in your lineup.