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Fantasy Baseball Category Targets: Week 11

Fantasy Baseball Category Targets: Week 11

It’s Week 11 for Category Targets and as always, I’ll be using ownership percentages from ESPN leagues to give you mostly available options who can help in each of the 10 standard fantasy baseball categories. If you’re desperate for steals or saves, there’s no need to waste time, go ahead and scroll down to see my recommendations in your category of need this week.

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Batting Average

Ben Zobrist (CHC): 49.9%
Jeimer Candelario (DET): 41.9%

Zobrist isn’t an exciting fantasy player anymore. At age-37, he’s not a big power hitter (four home runs) and isn’t running much (one stolen base), but he’s hitting over .300. Batting towards the top of the order on a team like the Cubs, that’s enough for Zobrist to contribute in three categories as his RBI and runs totals are boosted by his teammates. Zobrist has seen his ownership percentage on ESPN more than double recently as he’s been hot going 11-for-28 (.392) in his last eight games entering play Wednesday.

Candelario is exciting in that he’s young and has power (nine home runs). Like Zobrist, he also tends to bat towards the top of his team’s lineup, allowing for ample RBI and run-scoring opportunities. A four-category contributor, it remains a mystery to me why Candelario is still mostly available in ESPN leagues. I’ve recommended him a few times already this season. While Candelario left the game on Tuesday with a sore wrist and was given the day off Wednesday, he was available off the bench so the disabled list isn’t in his future.

Home Runs

Greg Bird (NYY): 45.8%
Max Muncy (LAD): 12.1%

Bird has two home runs in nine games since coming off the disabled list. He’s mostly been occupying the third spot in the Yankees batting order since coming back, giving him a ton of protection as well as RBI and run-scoring opportunities. Injuries have limited Bird to 103 career games at the major league level despite debuting in 2015. He does have 22 home runs in those 103 games, showing that when healthy he’s a legitimate power hitter.

Muncy’s swinging a hot bat lately as he has four home runs in his last nine games. His hitting is keeping his bat in the lineup at second base now and that will only add to Muncy’s versatility in fantasy as he’s already eligible at first base and third base. As long as he continues to control the strike zone and spray line drives, his versatility should keep him in the lineup somewhere. Since the end of April, Muncy’s hit seven home runs and has 19 RBI in 29 games.

RBI

Yonder Alonso (CLE): 43.1%

The Indians lineup is starting to live up to its lofty expectations and Alonso has been a part of the Tribe’s recent run. He has nine RBI in his last 11 games. Despite his .240 average on the season, Alonso is making good on the contract the Indians gave him before the season as well as his preseason average draft position with 11 home runs and 34 RBI. Cleveland starts a series with the Tigers on Friday before going to Chicago to play the White Sox for four games. If Alonso is still available in your league this seems like a good time to pick him up with those matchups on deck.

Runs

Johan Camargo (ATL): 5.2%

The Braves didn’t bring in a long-term solution at third base in the offseason and have already moved on from Jose Bautista after giving him a chance at the hot corner earlier this year. Camargo, almost by default, has been giving an opportunity to run with the third base job for now. Though his .208 average isn’t pretty, he’s been unlucky with a .222 BABIP this year compared to his career BABIP of .319. Camargo’s other numbers have been fine as he has five home runs and 20 RBI in 41 games. He’s come on strong in the runs scored category lately as he has eight runs in his last 10 games.

Stolen Bases

Jose Iglesias (DET): 8.5%

Iglesias hadn’t stolen more than seven bases in a season since 2015, but somehow has nine steals on the season already this year. It’s unclear why Iglesias is running more this season, though perhaps he’s paying more attention to his statistics as he approaches free agency. It’s likely that Iglesias is still available on your waiver wire as his ownership percentage remains in the single digits despite a brief spike recently as he has two steals in his last five games entering Wednesday.

Wins

Frankie Montas (OAK): 20.1%

Who did you want me to recommend, Clay Buchholz? Buchholz (32.1%) has pitched well (1.88 ERA 0.83 WHIP) in four starts for the Diamondbacks, though he’s won just one of those games. With other options out there this week, I can’t bring myself to actually recommend him. Instead, go for Montas, who has won each of his two starts for the Athletics. Last time out he blanked the Royals for eight innings while allowing just seven hits and no walks. He gets another shot against Kansas City on Friday and this time he’ll be at home.

Strikeouts

Joe Musgrove (PIT): 44.1%

Musgrove picked up his first loss of the season in his last start after winning his first two starts. He allowed three earned runs in five innings against the Dodgers. Still, he’s sporting a 1.89 ERA with 17 strikeouts in 19 innings over his three starts. Musgrove’s next start will come in Chicago on Sunday against the Cubs, who he held to one earned run in seven innings on May 30th.

ERA

Marco Gonzales (SEA): 41.8%

Gonzales has won his last three starts and allowed just one earned run in 26 innings over his last four starts. He now has six wins and a 3.38 ERA on the season. Gonzales’ production is completely different from a year ago when he had a 6.08 ERA and 1.75 WHIP. His next start comes against the Rays, who he just beat, but this meeting will be in Tampa Bay on Friday.

WHIP

Nathan Eovaldi (TB): 22.1%

Eovaldi took the loss in his second start for the Rays. He allowed four earned runs in five innings, but was similarly stingy with base runners just like he was in his first start. It’s only been 11 innings, but Eovaldi has a 0.55 WHIP in two starts. Needless to say, but he’ll be quite helpful in the WHIP category if he can even approximate that pace. Eovaldi gets his next start at home against the Seattle Mariners on Sunday.

Saves

Kyle Barraclough (MIA): 38%

Barraclough was finally named the closer by Marlins manager Don Mattingly. Brad Ziegler, who had the job to start the season, wasn’t working out as he had a 7.83 ERA in 23 innings. Barraclough picked up his second save of the season on Tuesday. With 27 strikeouts in 26.1 innings so far this season, Barraclough should be a solid source of saves and strikeouts going forward.

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Nick Shlain is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Nick, check out his archive and follow him @electricsnuff.

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